This will be the last of my posts about understanding the basics before preparing to write. Next I will move on to a number of posts and articles about Preparing to Write.

Before you write your first piece of dialogue you should understand what tags are and why they are used. Basically, a tag added to a piece of dialogue should make it clear to the reader who is speaking. Sometimes a tag isn’t even necessary. If it is clear who is speaking, then don’t clutter up the writing by adding a tag.

Another key thing about dialogue tags is that they shouldn’t be intrusive, they shouldn’t pull the reader away from the story. If “he said” or “she said” will be enough, use that. The word “said” disappears to a reader. Yet by adding a name or “he” or “she,” the speaker can easily be clarified.

Study how dialogue is written in the books you read and analyze the tags. Why were they used in a certain situation? Were they necessary? Were the correct grammar rules followed? Did the tags draw you away from what was said or the storyline? Did they seem excessive or silly? Also, remember that just because a well-known author got away with using a poor or excessive dialogue tag doesn’t mean that you will. You want to present to your agent, editor, and readers your very best work.

My article on Using Dialogue Tags has been added to the Writing Tools on my website and to the Writing Tips on this blog.

Tags: Definitions, process, Writing Tips

Before you sit down to write your masterpiece of a fiction novel, you need to understand how to get from point A to point Z (from the beginning to the end). You have characters in mind and a basic theme/plot line.  You know where you want to start the story and how it will end. Although I hate to burst your bubble, from my experience, it is never that simple and my ending never ends up being what I first thought. But that’s another item to discuss at a later date.

What I want to discuss this time is the basic structure for your plot line, using and understanding turning points. To make a story interesting for a reader, you can’t just let the characters start off with definite goals, march merrily along through the story, and then simply meet those original goals. This would be boring and not at all realistic, even for fiction. In life we set goals for ourselves and then struggle to meet them. Someone gets in our way. Something makes us try another way to reach our goal. Usually we end up changing the goal somewhat so we can obtain something loosely similar to what we originally wanted. This same experience should be true for your characters.

You need to give your characters goals, not necessarily set-in-stone goals but something they believe at the time they want or need. See the article on Understanding Goal, Motivation and Conflict. You give them motives as to why they want whatever it is and then shove obstacles (conflicts) in their path.

Turning Points are the obstacles (events, people, experiences, etc.) the characters run head-first into or stumble across on their way to meet their goals. There should be scenes leading up to these turning points, the revelation of the problem, and then scenes adjusting to what happened.

The number of turning points best used depends on the length of the fiction piece. In a longer book, having three turning points plus the black moment (the final turning point) works well. In a novella or smaller book, you might only have two turning points and the black moment. Or possibly only one major turning point and the black moment point. But even in a short story there must be at least one turning point and a black moment point or the story is too simple and boring to the reader.

As always, the article on Understanding Turning Points has been added to the Writing Tools on  my website and to the Writing Tips on this blog.

Tags: Definitions, process, Writing Tips

There are a lot of details to learn before you sit down to write a story. One of the most important areas you need to focus on deals with understanding Goal, Motivation and Conflict. If a character doesn’t have a goal to reach in a certain time span, doesn’t feel strongly motivated about obtaining the goal, or doesn’t face obstacles along the way to reaching that goal, then there is NO story.

Nobody wants to waste time reading a story where the characters are just existing day-to-day with no real plan, no something they must have or someplace they must get to. They are simply there doing stuff to fill a certain page count. Boring.

A reader also will become bored with reading a story where the character’s goal could have easily been reached. Likewise a reader will not enjoy a lazy writer who uses weak motivation for the characters to reach their goals, like coincidence or a misunderstanding that can be talked out.

All main characters in a story must have a definite long-term goal, must be strongly motivated to obtain the goal, and face numerous obstacles trying to reach the goal. Villains also need these things. And to make the story most enjoyable for the reader, make the characters have opposing goals.

As always, I have added an article on Understanding Goal Motivation and Conflict to the Writing Tools on my website and to the Writing Tips on this blog.

Tags: Definitions, process, Writing Tips

Moving along with the things to understand before you start writing…Romance is romance is romance, some say.

It is a bit more complicated than that. There are stages that most people go through in getting from first meeting to either walking away from one another or going for that HEA (Happily Ever After). As a romance writer you should be aware of these stages and body language signs. By incorporating some of them along the way in your stories you will give greater depth and more belief to the developing romance.

The article on Stages in Romance has been added to the Writing Tools on my website and under My Writing Tips: Pre-stuff.

As always, I would appreciate hearing comments and suggestions for more information to share with fellow writers. You can respond on the blog or email me at starlakaye.romance@gmail.com.

Tags: Definitions, process, Writing Tips