Want to Improve Your Writing? Change Your Thinking

By Janice Hardy

A mental shift in how we think about our writing and process can change our perspective, and thus, help us see the things we’ve been missing.

A long time ago, when I was still fairly new to writing, I had my mind blown by a simple “change of perspective” in how I looked at writing. It was a light-bulb moment that finally made me understand something I’d been struggling with at that time—point of view.

In the years that followed, I’ve had plenty of moments where changing how I thought about something writing-related helped me understand it, or use it better. As I’ve spoken with other writers, I’ve seen the same lights go on in their eyes as they looked at something they’d struggled with and finally saw things click into place.

The Line Forms Where? Knowing Where to Start Your Novel

By Janice Hardy

If your first pages don’t grab readers, your problem might not be the writing—it might be where you started.

Openings are hard, especially if you're not sure if you're starting in the right place. The sheer amount of "is this opening working?" submissions I get in Real Life Diagnostics is testament to that.

The old "start with the action" has frustrated many a writer due to its ambiguity, and even when we think we've done it all correctly, beta readers can still feel the opening isn't grabbing them.

I've talked about first lines and first pages before, so today, let's focus on figuring out where to start your story, and how to diagnose it if you're worried you're starting in the wrong place.

First, analyze your current opening, either the first scene or the first chapter if it's only one scene:

5 Ways to Hook Your Readers

By Janice Hardy

It doesn't matter how you hook your reader, as long as you hook them.

"You need a strong hook" is advice you hear a lot in writing, and it's good advice. A strong hook pulls readers into the story and makes them want to read on.

A hook is something that captures reader attention and piques interest in the novel. It can also be the gotcha or twist that makes the novel compelling and fresh, intriguing readers even further. It’s the “ooooh” factor that probably got you excited about the idea in the first place. It might be a plot point, a character goal, or a conflict. It could even be the theme.

In harsh terms, the hook is why a reader (or agent) should care about your book and not pick up someone else’s. Readers choose a novel because one book will stand out and sound more appealing than another—one “hooks” more than the other.

How to Make an Unhappy Character "Likable"

By Janice Hardy

Novels don't always have a happy hero at the core—but that doesn't make the character any less "likable."

It's ironic that there are so many terms in writing that aren't clear exactly what they mean, or have multiple definitions or uses. "Likable" is one such term.

All the advice says we want a likable protagonist readers can root for, someone they'll want to hang out with for four hundred pages, and someone readers will connect with.

But likable isn't really the issue, and the word can be problematic.

Back in 2013, I received a question from a writer struggling to make her depressed character "likable." She also suffered from depression, and was worried readers wouldn't want to live in the head of a depressed character. It wasn't something "emotionally healthy folks are going to want to spend time with." I answered her question best I could.

10 Signs of a Great Protagonist

By Janice Hardy

At the heart of every story is a person with a problem, and the more compelling that person is, the better the story will be.

Imagine you’re having lunch one day when you overhear an animated group at a table, gossiping about a bunch of people with crazy lives. Some of them debate which hottie Jess should end up with, while others discuss the terrible behavior of Selene, and not one of them can agree on what Alastair is really up to.

You lean closer, curious about this wild group, and soon realize they’re not talking about life on the cul-de-sac, but their favorite novel—or more specifically—their favorite characters.

If you’re a writer (or a reader), discussing fictional people as if they really existed is normal. For writers, it’s even encouraged.

What’s the Emotional Core of Your Character?

By Janice Hardy

The guiding force at the center of a character. 

When we’re developing characters, there’s a lot to think about. We need to create names, backgrounds, personalities, likes, dislikes, flaws, strengths—the list can go on and on. But at the center of all those traits is a guiding force that influences them all.

The character’s emotional core.

Although people (and thus characters) can be complicated creatures, the emotional core is a simple thing.

It’s the primary driving emotion behind a character’s thoughts and behavior.

You're So Emotional: Describing a Character's Emotions in a First Person Point of View

By Janice Hardy

A first-person narrator has a unique set of challenges, and describing emotions is one of them. 

For many readers, emotion is a big reason why they picked up a particular novel. They want to feel connected to the characters, experience life through their eyes, escape into their worlds. Bringing those emotions to the surface is critical to bringing the story to life.

Except sometimes, we go overboard and shift from emotion to melodrama. Our protagonists are too whiny, too stuck in their heads, too self-aware of what they're feeling all the time and that draws attention away from the story.

This is particularly easy to do with a first person narrator, because everything is so deep in that character's point of view. If we go emotionally overboard, our characters don't feel like real people, because no one walks around fully aware of every little feeling they have and why they have it.

5 Ways to Make Your Characters Hate You (And Why You Should)

By Janice Hardy

To be a great writer, it helps to be a terrible parent (but only to your characters).

I have this philosophy for my characters—what doesn’t kill them makes them more interesting. It allows me to be as ruthless and mean to them as I want, because I know that in the end, all their suffering will make readers love them even more.

My characters aren’t happy about this, of course, but they understand the necessity.

One of my favorite “evil things” to do to them is force them to face horrible, if not impossible, choices. Choices that will tear them in two, make them question themselves and the path they took, and often leave them in dire situations with no hope in sight.

<cackles gleefully>

Open Up! Writing the Opening Scene

By Janice Hardy

The primary goal of an opening scene is to make readers want to read the next scene. 

You’d be surprised how often writers forget the whole point of an opening scene, because their focus is on establishing the setting, introducing the protagonist, and telling readers all about the cool story waiting for them. 

Don't get me wrong, these are all important things, but on their own they’re not going to do what an opening scene needs to do—grab readers and keep them reading.

And the best way to grab readers is to give them a puzzle they’ll want to know the answer to. 

An intriguing first line that poses a question (literal or metaphorical), an unusual situation, a mystery, a contradiction that doesn’t quite make sense. A great voice and character they want to get to know better is another way to hook readers. As long as it’s something or someone that makes them think, “I want to know more about X.”

3 Ways to Deepen Your Novel’s Premise

By Janice Hardy

The premise is the core of the novel. Make sure it's solid.

When I first started The Shifter (the first book in my trilogy), I didn’t know it was going to be part of a series. But as the story developed, I saw the bigger picture and where the problem facing my protagonist, Nya, could lead to.

As that story continued, I focused more and more on Nya’s journey, because stories are about characters in trouble. But by the time I got to book three, I’d forgotten something really important.

I was ignoring the broader implications of my original premise.

Nya was a “shifter,” someone who could heal by shifting pain from person to person. This included pain of her own, so anytime someone hurt her, she’d be able to shift it right back into them. Which made for some fun fight scenes.

In the first draft of book three, Nya was shifting pain almost without thinking, and while she struggled over the moral aspects of it, getting hurt was no longer an issue for her.

Which was all wrong.