Why Titles Matter
5 Things to Do In Your First 3 Paragraphs
Three Strategies For Snaring The Senses
Foreshadowing and Establishing Conflict
Active Verbs
Revising Through a Single Lens
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Why Titles Matter
5 Things to Do In Your First 3 Paragraphs
Three Strategies For Snaring The Senses
Foreshadowing and Establishing Conflict
Active Verbs
Revising Through a Single Lens
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
Here’s your challenge – write either a beginning or ending inspired by this image that invokes at least three senses – and doesn’t take place in a museum. Feel free to share in the comments!
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So, as some may know, I’ve been working on a particular book for a loooong time. Looooong time. It’s the first in a fantasy trilogy and this manuscript has undergone so many convulsions and rewrites that I was getting to the point where I was worried I’d kill it if I went much further. Based on some solid feedback from an interested agent, I started wrestling with it again and performed some major surgery: excised a number of points of view (which will end up in Book 2), removed some extraneous (but charming!) bits misguidedly intended as textual amuse-bouches between chapters, and switched one point of view from 3rd person past to 1st person present.
I was encouraged, but worried that the patient might not have survived the surgery. So I dumped it on my writing group, whose members rose whole-heartedly to the challenge, and we critted it last Saturday.
That, in an ideal world, is what a writing group does. They don’t pull punches when something needs fixing, but they do it in a way that helps you figure out how to fix it. Their feedback is valuable; their support even more precious. So to the wonderful folks who valiantly waded through the book despite the lateness of my turning it in – thank you. Persephone d’Shaun, Caren Gussoff, Keffy Kehrli, Tod McCoy, Vicki Saunders, and Emily Skaftun, you all rock. Consider yourselves thoroughly appreciated.
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5 Responses
Five Things to Do in Your First Three Paragraphs was fantastic.
I would like to see a post on how to plot short stories, and how to keep control over the story in a way that suits the intended length, etc. Plot arc and narrative scope are things I sort of “feel my way through,” and I’d like to be more tidy about it.
That sounds like a great topic to me, maybe even two really. I’ll start thinking about those!
“5 things” was my favorite of the recent posts. I’ll use it every time I’m going over my finished draft to be sure I have all of those covered. Thank you!
I agree with the first comment. I’d really like to see something about plotting and narrative scope as well. I also appreciated the exercise you did with the first sentences, and wouldn’t mind more exercises if you had others. Really my favorite part of your posts is that you use such good examples and easily explain why they work and how novices can aim for that level of skill. I’m sure I’ll find any topic useful if you write about it in the same instructional way.
Thanks again for posting these!
I think it’s important to use examples to show what you mean, since language and meaning can be so wobbly sometimes. 🙂
You are quite welcome! Am I going to get a chance to chat with you at Norwescon?