Lisa Hall-Wilson's Blog, page 11

How To Recognize When Your Protagonist Isn’t Your POV Character

Is your protagonist the best POV character for your story? Just because the story is about them doesn’t mean they’re the best storyteller in your cast of characters!

Deciding which character is the best one to tell your story can be tricky. Sometimes it’s a no-brainer, but sometimes an author makes an unusual choice that has us scratching our heads. Having a child’s point of view in ROOM was not what I was expecting when I picked up that story. Yes, Jack was an important character but he had...

5 Pro Tips You Need To Write Deep Point of View Effectively

This blog is about going Beyond Basics so the posts here aim to help you take your writing to the next level. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you know I LOVE Deep Point of View (POV). Deep POV aims to create an immersive experience for readers. Think of it like strapping a GoPro to your character or giving your reader a virtual reality headset. That’s how deep readers want to be in the story.

The problem many have learning Deep POV is that most of the books and workshops out...

5 Pro Tips You Need To Write Deep POV Effectively

This blog is about going Beyond Basics so the posts here aim to help you take your writing to the next level. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you know I LOVE Deep Point of View (POV). Deep POV aims to create an immersive experience for readers. Think of it like strapping a GoPro to your character or giving your reader a virtual reality headset. That’s how deep readers want to be in the story.

The problem many have learning Deep POV is that most of the books and workshops out...

3 Reasons Writing in Deep Point of View Should Not Bloat Your Word Count

Deep Point of View (POV) is a writing technique, a style choice, that’s become very popular among writers over the last five or ten years. The goal of Deep POV is to create an immersive experience for the reader where they’re experiencing the story along with the POV character(s). It’s like strapping a GoPro to your character or giving your reader a virtual reality headset while they’re reading. Deep POV is often THAT immersive.

Deep POV is a stylistic choice and it doesn’t suit every story....

3 Reasons Writing in Deep POV Should Not Bloat Your Word Count

Deep Point of View (POV) is a writing technique, a style choice, that’s become very popular among writers over the last five or ten years. The goal of Deep POV is to create an immersive experience for the reader where they’re experiencing the story along with the POV character(s). It’s like strapping a GoPro to your character or giving your reader a virtual reality headset while they’re reading. Deep POV is often THAT immersive.

Deep POV is a stylistic choice and it doesn’t suit every story....

Why A Compelling Emotional Arc Means Your Character Has To Lose Something

What kind of novel do you want to write? What kind of ending do you want: Happily Ever After (HEA) or a realistic ending? There’s only a right or wrong answer for you. HEAs are quickly consumed and deliver an emotional high for readers looking for a brief escape from reality. Those writing realistic endings are hoping to challenge or teach readers indirectly and take the character on an emotional journey where the reader learns something about themselves too.

My intent in asking is not to de...

Editing In Layers Part 6: Consistency

This is the final step in the 5-pass read through editing plan. If you haven’t read the previous posts in this series I encourage you to do that. This is about the final read through. You’ve fixed all the issues (hopefully) and this is the last pass.

Let’s recap:

You can’t skip ahead. There may be early layers that you work through in the planning stage, but confirming the structure underpinning these beginning layers is crucial. If those first layers aren’t solid, the rest is a house of car...

Editing In Layers Part 5: Layering Emotions

This is part 5 in a 6 part series on getting a manuscript ready for beta readers. This is a systematic process where you read through your work 5 times and each pass focus on a specific element. This makes the editing more efficient and consistent. In the end, you’ve got something so much better than what you first envisioned when you sat down and typed that first word in chapter one (or wherever you started).

You can’t skip ahead. There may be early layers that you work through in the plann...

Editing In Layers Part 4: Weakness Plus Characterization

Non-writers think the majority of the work of writing a novel happens in the first draft. The first draft is where the heart of a novel is, but the writing craft happens during the editing. If you tend more towards pantsing than planning, the first three steps will help tighten things up and get you on track. If you’re more of a planner, you’ve likely already thought through those early steps and addressed those issues before you wrote your first draft.

The next three layers are where we get...

Editing In Layers Part 3: Scenes and Sequels

Get off the hamster wheel of revisions and begin editing smarter and more efficiently! We’re working our way through a 5-layer process that streamlines the editing process so you can get a draft to beta readers faster!

Prep Work: Goals
Layer 1: Plot
Layer 2: Scenes and Sequels (you are here)
Layer 3: (Weakness) Plus Characterization
Layer 4: Emotions
Layer 5: Consistency

Last week,  part 1 looked at establishing story goals, character goals, and an emotional arc. Part 2 broke down the main...