The Key to Creating Suspense Is...

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Suspense matters in all novels, not just the thrillers and the horror stories.

The most memorable experience I've had with suspense and storytelling, was watching the final episode for season one of "Why Women Kill." Despite the name, the show is a drama, not a documentary, and is brilliantly told through three sets of characters, in three time periods, all in the same house. All you know going in is that one of the women in each time period is going to kill. You don't know who, you don't why, and you don't know how.

The final episode where all is revealed is sheer genius.  

I literally sat on the edge of my seat, knees pulled to my chest, hand over my mouth. I was riveted. 

The Rule of Three and How it Helps Our Writing

By Janice Hardy 

Three is a magic number in writing, and can help you craft stronger stories.

There was a joke in my house growing up, that things always happened in threes—good luck, bad luck, it didn't matter. If the car broke down, that meant two other things were sure to break within a few weeks. Someone got a raise, well, then two more good things were certainly on the way.

Most of the time it did actually happen—but probably not for the reasons you'd think. Good and bad things happen all the time, but we don't always notice them or make the connection to other similar events. It’s part of our culture and so ingrained in our subconscious that we notice (if not seek out) patterns that fit this rule. 

3 Common Mistakes Writers Make with Conflict

By Janice Hardy

Conflict has caused more than its fair share of writer frustrations.

Like many writers, I’ve spent countless hours creating conflict in my novels. I’ve thrown exciting obstacles in my protagonists’ paths, I’ve developed sinister antagonists to thwart my heroes, I’ve devised cruel ways to put my characters through mental anguish—and my beta readers still told me, “This scene needs more conflict.”

Because what we “know” about conflict is often wrong.

It’s not about the obstacles in the path, or the bad guy with the evil plan, or the mental anguish of the hero. It’s not the plot or the character arc, even though we often talk about it like it is (me included).

The Pros and Cons of Having an Alpha Reader

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy 

Do you really want feedback on those first draft pages? 

At this stage in my career, both my crit groups are "first draft, in-progress" groups. They read the pages right after I write them, and sometimes, those pages are a hot mess. 

These gals are my alpha readers, giving me thoughts on rough novels I dump right from my head onto the page. Bad pages. Messy pages. Pages that don’t always make sense. It's a tough job, but they're worth their weight in chocolate for the invaluable feedback they provide me.

The merits of beta readers (people who read and offer feedback on a writers’ manuscript) are widely known, but having alpha readers, folks you trust read brand new pages, can be equally valuable.

That Sounds Familiar: Cut Often-Used Words in Your Writing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

It takes a lot of work to write well, and sometimes we go for what's easiest instead of what's original. 

During the drafting stage of a manuscript, some phrases and combinations of words tend to roll off our fingers and into our stories because they're easy. These phrases aren’t clichés, per se, but they’ve been used so often by enough writers that they carry the same feeling as a cliché when readers read them.

• Beamed a smile
• Cacophony of sound
• Shrugged a shoulder
• Hair flowed down her back
• Any kind of glow from any kind of light
• Releasing a breath you didn't realize you were holding

They also tend to sound “right” to us, and that's the problem. 

We automatically use them without thinking, and that robs us of the chance to write something unique to our voice and style.

What's the Best Way to Tell (and Write) a Story?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Storytelling is more than just well-written prose.

No matter what anyone tells you, there is no "right way to write." It’s a process that varies from writer to writer and even book to book. What works for one writer doesn't always work for another, and might even squash their ability to write at all.

Which really stinks if you’re just starting out and looking for the right path to take, or you’ve been struggling to develop your storytelling style and nothing seems to fit you. 

It's a pain for all of us, really, because even if we do have a process that works for us, there’s always that one story idea that doesn’t fit with how we usually write.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, take heart that you are not alone.

Nope, Not Buying It: How Do We Maintain Believability in Our Writing?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

You don't want your readers to think, "Yeah, right, that'll never happen."

My brother-in-law is a nurse, and he can't watch medical TV shows. It annoys the snot of out him how wrong so many of the details are. My husband is the same way with anything computer related, and I notice the screw-ups in publishing and graphic design. Odds are you have your own area of expertise, and you notice when a show, movie, or book gets it wrong.

The number of authors who goofed by putting a safety on a Glock is pretty high. And readers catch those goofs. 

All stories in all genres get bonked on the head when they lack credibility. Readers don’t believe a character would act a certain way, or they doubt a situation would ever happen, they find details that are flat-out wrong, or they call BS about how something is handled. 

Once you blow your credibility with a reader, it’s really hard to earn back their trust. 

Expect the Unexpected: Creating Plot Twists

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Readers pay attention when they don't know what's coming next.

When someone asks, "What's a story with a great plot twist?" your mind probably conjures one of the classics. Soylent Green. The Sixth Sense. Fight Club. The Lottery. Even Newhart. 

You no doubt have your favorites. Stories that shifted and turned and blew your mind.  

A great plot twist is a wonderful thing, be it in the books you write or the ones you read. Readers revel in that unexpected event or revelation that changes everything they thought they knew and takes the story to a whole new level. They delight in the surprises that make them think, "wow, that was awesome. I never saw that coming." (And then they tell all their friends). 

Trouble is, knowing you want a plot twist is a lot easier than coming up with a good one. 

There's no formula for devising a great twist, because every plot is different and any number of things can work in a novel.

My trick for twisting my plot is pretty simple:

Moving Forward Into 2025

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

A new year, and new opportunities and hopes on the horizon.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I wish you all the best and hope your 2025 is starting off well. Fingers crossed it doesn’t go totally off the rails.

2024 was an interesting year for me. It didn’t go as planned (it never does, right?), but I had several accomplishments and positive momentum with my writing and career. I always review my previous New Year’s post when I write these, and noticed I never did one for 2023 (I’ve skipped a few the past couple of years), so it was interesting to see my list of hopes for 2023.

And, um, yeah, two years later, I didn’t do any of them.

The fact that I laughed about this shows I’ve grown in those two years, and I’m no longer putting the crazy pressure on myself to “Do it all!” like I used to. That’s a win in my book.

5 Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Making some simple word edits can turn a flat scene into one that sings.

Back when I was first learning how to write, I loved discovering a great writing tip--the ones I could immediately apply to my work and see actual improvement were the best. I got especially excited over lists of words or specific examples, because I could search and find the weak areas right away. Which is probably why I like to do a lot of lists and examples now in my own articles.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with a "weak word," they do tend to hang around trouble areas--just like those red flag words with show, don't tell. They're good places to start when something feels off in your work or you're getting negative feedback and aren't sure why. 

If you're looking for easy ways to improve your writing, here are great words to search for to identify potentially weak areas.

Let's a take a peek at a few of the more common troublemakers that often pull readers out of a story.