I'm Not Evil: Writing from the Antagonist's Point of View

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Should you write scenes in your antagonist's point of view? Maybe.

The first novel I ever wrote “for real” (with the intent to submit it to agents) used points of view from both the protagonists and the antagonists. It was one of those epic fantasy monstrosities with about twelve point of view characters and a backstory history I thought could become its own series (I shudder at the thought now).

This novel will never see the light of day, but it still has the best villains I ever wrote.

They were layered. They were compelling. They were interesting. But mostly? They were fun to both write and read about.

I had no idea what I was doing back then, so I think the reason they turned out so well was because I wrote from their perspectives. I had to know them to do that, so they became real people with real problems they were just trying to sort out, same as my protagonists.

3 Steps to Crafting a Stronger First Draft

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Don’t just write a good book. Write a great story.

Fiction is an odd combination of skills. The craft of writing is technical, with rules and techniques to achieve different results, yet the art of storytelling is visceral, relying on creativity and instinct to pluck the best pieces from our imagination.

While the story is often what grabs us first, it can quickly get overshadowed by the technical aspects, ad we start second-guessing ourselves. 

• Is the opening line hooking readers? 
• Should this be first or third person? 
• Is there too much backstory? 

Instead of crafting a story readers can’t put down, we’re counting how many adverbs are in each chapter.

Focusing only on the technical aspects of writing might lead to technically well-written novels, it doesn't usually lead to great stories.

Now, I’m not saying ignore the technical side of writing—that’s how you bring a wonderful story to life—but don’t lose sight of the joy and magic you felt when that story idea originally came to you.

Why You Should Have Judgmental Characters

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

For a strong point of view, let your characters have strong opinions.

In real life, being judgmental might cause a few problems, but in fiction, it's something every character should aspire to. How characters—especially the point of view characters—judge the world around them shows readers what that world is like and how it works (and even non-genre writers need to world build, it's just a little different in the details).

Our characters see something, they judge it as it pertains to their personal views. If we write a scene where a girl walks a dog down the street, how our characters judge that will determine how we'll describe it and even how they'll react to it.

Someone afraid of dogs will see details that support that: large size, straining on a leash to bite them, big teeth. The judgment is "dogs are bad" and the reaction will reflect that.

Are You Showing or Telling Your Internalization?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Show, don't tell doesn't just apply to the action in your scenes. It also affects a character's internalization.   

When writers worry about showing, not telling, we typically think about the descriptions--the explanations of backstory, infodumps, and the mini-history lessons that "tell" readers what they need to know.

But telling can also occur in a character's internalization. Telling in internalization can distance the reader from the character, creating detachment instead of the closeness good internal thoughts excel at.

These emotional and motivational tells sneak into a manuscript when the author stops the story to explain what's motivating a character to act, or why that character is feeling what she's feeling.

I Had to Do This: Clarifying Ambiguous Pronouns

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Ambiguous pronouns can muddy a scene, and cause unintentional hilarity. Make sure yours are clear. 

Ambiguous pronouns creep into our work and they're not always easy to spot. We know what they refer to because we wrote them, but if the pronoun isn't near what the referenced noun was, or there are a lot of nouns in the sentence, it's not always clear to readers. It can trip them up and make them pause to figure out what we mean.

It, this, and that are prime offenders.

Exactly what is it referring to?

It is used often when writing, and most of the time it's easy to figure out what it refers to.

Let's try some examples:

Bob grabbed the shotgun and ran for the box of shells sitting on a crate by the ax. It wasn't enough, but he needed every weapon he could find right now.

Okay, what is the "it" here referring to?

How to Set Tone and Mood in Your Scenes

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Setting the right tone can go a long way to drawing readers into your story and keeping their attention.

I'm a little weird when it comes to scary movies. I enjoy (most) of them, but sometimes I also get so tense I can't watch them. I figured out ages ago it the music that gets me, not the scene itself. It pokes at my emotions, and builds the tension in a masterful way that raises my anticipation and fear. This also happens in games during boss fights or any mission with really stressful music.

When a movie or game starts getting to me, I mute the volume and all that built-up tension drops to the floor.

What do movie scores have to do with tone and mood?

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:

The Frankendraft: Putting Life Back Into Overly Revised Novels

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

My first real novel (one I wrote with the intent to try and sell) was a mess of characters and subplots. I had eight or nine POVs, a main character that didn't have a POV, but was a person everyone was connected to in some way so I was trying to show "her story" through their eyes, and was about 140,000 words long. Very few  of them were good words.

I knew it was too much, so I did what any brand-new novelist would do. Decided to make it a trilogy! (does any of this sound familiar? Yep. Thought so)