This week, Alida and Kathryn discuss writing with whimsey. Whimsical writing can add humor and charm to writing, but it’s not only for children’s stories. Lighthearted, quirky, and funny moments add levity to otherwise serious or dark tales. After this week’s episode, you might just find yourself writing whimsically.
This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida and Kathryn talk dialogue. We’ve noticed what may be some poor advice and some frightening trends in dialogue floating around out there. Time to bust some myths and pop some speech balloons!
How should dialogue be formatted and how does it differ from interiority and thoughts?
When and why does it make sense to honor trusted conventions?
How would “experimentation” work in the voice of AI?
We draw on the past two Writers Book Club short stories for examples of dialogue, interiority, and narrative point of view. There is a lot of craft to unpack in this week’s episode, a bit of silliness, and a writing prompt, too!
“Dialogue is an art form all in and of itself. So be aware of what you’re putting on the page.”
“Dialogue should reveal something to the reader.”
How can you use a sentence to evoke mood? What about varying sentence structure to reflect different characters voice? Should you change your sentence structure by genre? Or by book? We all agree, reading great sentences make yours better!
This week at the Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, and Robert continue their conversation about writing great sentences in novels of any genres. How many types of sentences are there? Do sentences need to be grammatically correct to be great? Do they need to be lyrical to be great? No. The sentences we craft serve a variety of purposes in our prose.
What did we find when we set out to find great sentences? Is it all about the grammar? We talk about the categories a sentence can fit into, and why looking at the paragraph and sentence level is so important in your writing. We look at a couple of sentences from The Passion and Unaccustomed Earth. FInally, we talk about long sentences, poetic sentences, and use of metaphorical sentences to spice up your writing!
Writing groups, are they helpful? If you are a part of a writing group, how do you give helpful feedback to your writing partners? We cover etiquette, how to mark manuscripts, and the time and effort you should put into being a good critique partner. Even as you critique you are learning as a writer, so have fun and grow together!
What details about our story do we miss in first draft? And what can we do to solve them? Is it possible to know everything before you start drafting? And what should your attitude be toward those missing pieces? We dive into how to revise those scenes that you love, and how to use rewriting in your revision process. In the end, it’s all writing! So be excited about making your story the best it can be.
Kathryn explains an exercise in pre-writing she has been using to deepen her character arcs and relationships within her novel. We explore how it would affect sub-plots, character relationships, and arcs. What problems could this help you avoid? And how could you use it to develop your antagonist as well? We talk about how Kathryn got into this kind of development, and whether or not it would work for every kind of story!
What do we mean by “do bad”? And when should you let your characters make these morally reprehensible decisions? We talk about how to use the emotional bank account, and the motivation of your character to keep readers from losing their sympathy for the protagonist. And what about those snapped moments? Or when your character is acting out of character? Ultimately we decide it’s a powerful tool, so use it wisely!
How do you craft a story where readers buy the implausible? Does every genre have to deal with this issue? What tools can you use in your character, plot, and world-building to keep your reader engaged in the story? When do your genre conventions help your plausibility? And when can they hurt it?
What are some problems with fight scenes? What happens if you go too quickly? Or too slowly? How can you slow the action down in a good way? What does slow action do to the tension within your story? And don’t forget about your character’s wounds!