Janice Hardy's Blog, page 80
March 4, 2019
You Get One Page to Hook a Reader. Yes, Really.
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Most readers really do decide before the end of the first page if they’re going to keep reading.
A lot of attention and pressure is put on the opening page of a novel, but for good reason. It’s the first impression a novel makes on a reader, and if the reader isn’t hooked in some way, they won’t move on to the second page. As unfair as it seems, 250 words (roughly one page) is all you get to convince readers to stay with your story and your book.
But you don’t have to pack the entire story into that first page. All you have to do is give readers something that promises them that your novel will be worth reading. Which is much easier to do in a single page.
One caveat before we move on: I’m referring to new novels and authors without an established readership. If you know you like an author, you typically buy their new book without reading a test page first. Well-known authors and bestselling novels can also skip the “testing” phase of a new reader based on reputation and personal recommendations.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
March 3, 2019
Sunday Writing Tip: Revise Unnecessary Passive Voice
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Each week, I’ll offer a tip you can take and apply to your WIP to help improve it. They’ll be easy to do and shouldn’t take long, so they’ll be tips you can do without taking up your Sunday. Though I do reserve the right to offer a good tip now and then that will take longer—but only because it would apply to the entire manuscript.
This week, revise unnecessary passive voice.
Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence gets all the action instead of the subject doing the acting. Such as, “The ball was thrown by Troy” vs. “Troy threw the ball.”
The easiest way to find passive voice, is to look for "to be" verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, have, had, has, do, does, did, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being. By is another red flag word often seen mixed in with passive voice, such as “Kenny was run over by the runaway snowmobile” vs. “The runaway snowmobile ran over Kenny.”
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
March 2, 2019
Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Romantic Thriller Opening Work?
Critique By Maria D'Marco Real Life Diagnostics is a weekly column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and we diagnose it on the site. It’s part critique, part example, and designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.
If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines.
Submissions currently in the queue: Four
Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through April 6.
This week’s question:
Does this opening work?
Market/Genre: Romantic Thriller
On to the diagnosis…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
March 1, 2019
Choosing the Right Words for the Scene: Subtle Changes Can Make a Difference
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy This week's Refresher Friday takes an updated look at how a single word or phrase can alter how a sentence reads. Enjoy!
It always tickles me how a single edit can dramatically effect a piece of writing. The power of language and how we choose to wield it is what sets one writer apart from another. It's in our voices, our styles, and how we tell our tales.
Mark Twain famously calls it the difference between lightning and a lightning bug, but it's more than that. The decision to use filter words versus not, to use description versus internalization, to embrace a character's voice or the author's voice--these choices all shape the writing in unique ways. It's also why ten writers can take the same premise and create ten different novels. Just look at how many re-tellings exist, from Romeo & Juliet, to fairy tales, to stories that all draw from the same thematic archetype.
The words we choose matter. It makes a story ours.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 28, 2019
Scheduling for Writing Success
By Shanna Swendson, @ShannaSwendson Part of The Writer’s Life Series
JH: Finding time to write is a challenge many writers face--even when writing is their full-time job. Please help me welcome Shanna Swendson to the lecture hall today, to share a tip that helped her optimize her writing life.
Shanna Swendson earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas but decided it was more fun to make up the people she wrote about and became a novelist. She’s written a number of fantasy novels for teens and adults, including the Enchanted, Inc. series and the Rebel Mechanics series. She devotes her spare time to reading, knitting, and music.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Take it away Shanna…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 27, 2019
One Common Way Writers Weaken Their Descriptions
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Good description doesn’t just list the facts.
I recently came across an article by Chris Winkle over at Mythcreants that resonated with me, because it's something I’ve written about a lot here—choosing the right description details and how that ties into point of view. Chris referred to it as listing facts instead of establishing relevance, which sums this idea up perfectly.
Everything in a novel is basically “description,” because it’s our job as writers to describe the story to our readers. We have multiple tools to do that, from dialogue, to narrative, to exposition and more, but it’s how we choose to wield those tools that sets an "okay" book apart from a "great" book. There’s a difference between describing what’s in a room and having a character interact with it.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 26, 2019
What Type of Violent Offender Is Your Villain?
By Bonnie Randall Part of the How They Do It Series (Contributing Author)
Within my work with Violent Threat Risk Assessment, I share characteristics of the four most dominant violent offenders; what motivates them, what personality traits each has, their inherent goals, and how they are most likely to react if / when they are caught.
The four types of offenders are easily identifiable in fiction, film, and real life once you know what you are looking for. And, in turn, villains are much easier to create when you have the recipe of characteristics that create the perfect storm that forms The Violent Offender.
So, without further ado, let’s examine the four types of violent offenders, starting with:
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 25, 2019
The Difference Between Archetypes, Tropes, and Clichés
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Understanding archetypes, tropes, and clichés makes writing original stories a lot easier.
Before we dive in today, just a little heads up that I’m also guesting posting on The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, with 4 Things Every Novel Should Strive For. Come on by and say hello!
A lot of elements in writing are either interconnected or used interchangeably, and archetypes, tropes, and clichés are three of them. What one writer views as an archetype, another might consider a cliché, and how they use them in their writing can differ. Some writers can wield a trope like a master, others can sneak cliches in so they feel germane to the scene, and some write such nuanced archetypes readers don’t even realize they are archetypes.
As a writer—especially as a genre writer—it’s vital to understand the differences between these terms and how they work in fiction.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 24, 2019
Sunday Writing Tip: Identify Your Protagonist’s Fatal Flaw
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Each week, I’ll offer a writing tip you can take and apply to your WIP to help improve it. They’ll be easy to do and shouldn’t take long, so they’ll be tips you can do without taking up your Sunday. Though I do reserve the right to offer a good tip now and then that will take longer—but only because it would apply to the entire manuscript.
This week, take a moment and identify your protagonist’s fatal flaw, and make sure that it plays a role in both the character arc, and the plot.
Unless you’re writing a series with a non-changing protagonist, such as a detective, spy, or “person with a specific job” type who doesn’t have a character arc, you’ll likely want a fatal flaw. This is the flaw at the center of the character arc, and the issue the protagonist needs to overcome or grow out of by the end of the book.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
February 23, 2019
Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Middle Grade Opening Draw You In?
Critique By Janice Hardy, @Janice_HardyReal Life Diagnostics is a weekly column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and we diagnose it on the site. It’s part critique, part example, and designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.
If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines.
Submissions currently in the queue: Three
Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through March 16.
This week’s questions:
Does this opening page work? Does the first paragraph pull you in? Or does it sound to young and ordinary?
Market/Genre: Middle Grade
On to the diagnosis…
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com
