Florence Witkop's Blog, page 49

Is it okay to make up an imaginary place for only one spin-off when the place bears no effect on the plot but I’m only using it cause I have never been to a real place like that?

Sure you can. You can do whatever you want because you are the author.

 

That said, there’s one caveat. Make sure it fits in with the rest of your story. If it takes the reader out of the story because it’s so different from everything else that it screams ‘I’m not like anything else in this story’ then don’t do it.

Soooooo —- just make sure the reader won’t know that it’s made up.

It’s done all the time.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone to a map to see if a place in a story I’m reading is real or not. Because I can’t tell by reading. And I don’t care which it is, really, I’m just curious.

Should I write detailed back stories for my characters, or is there a better, easier way to understand who they are?

 Some writers really need the exercise of creating detailed back stories for their characters or else they won’t know them well enough to tell their stories. If you are that kind of writer, then there’s not another option for you.

On the other hand, if you believe that you know your character well enough to get into his/her mind and tell his/her story, then do it. Start without that back story.

If, at some point in the telling, you realize you don’t know them as well as you thought, you can always stop and do the work then. It’ll work because, if you are this kind of writer — the kind whose subconscious knows your characters even better than you consciously realize — then you’ll be eliminating a lot of unnecessary work. If not, you can still stop writing long enough to give them a past.

It’s what I do and it’s worked for me for over thirty years. Occasionally I must stop mid-story and think about my character’s past. Usually, though, it’s not necessary and I’m glad I didn’t waste any time on unnecessary stuff.

How do I write a scene that works?

The secret to good scenes is to make them essential to the story, make them move, and don’t weigh them down with too much extraneous material.

Figure out what the scene is about. The how, why and what of it.
Figure out how you want it to end. Yes, scenes have endings just as stories do. The only difference is that, after one scene ends another one follows that’s related to the one you just finished.
Figure out what characters will be in the story. And make sure there are no more than three because few writers are good enough to handle more than three characters in the same scene without the reader getting confused. So if your scene requires a crowd, divide that crowd into segments until there are no more than three segments. Then write the scene as if each segment is a character.
Plot the scene. Beginning, middle and end.
Write the scene.

Protected:

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.

When writing a scene, should I really describe the clothes of each character? What is the best way to not mess it?

When you write a story, the plot is the big deal. Everything else must point to or enhance the plot. The story. What happens.

So —- if describing your character’s clothes helps move the story forward, then you describe them. If describing their clothing enhances the story by telling the reader something about the characters, which is logical since what people wear says something about who and what they are and what their immediate plans are (since people dress for the occasion), then describe their clothes.

But in both cases, think of the story itself when describing what they are wearing and only describe enough to get the point across to the the reader and use words that go with the kind of story you are writing. Colorful words if the story is a colorful one or if the characters are colorful characters. Drab words for characters in a depressing situation. And so on.

Subscribe to my newsletter!

[image error]

Subscribe to Florence Witkop Author Newsletter

I will never sell or trade your information. You will have the choice to opt out of mailings from me if you feel it’s not what you’re after. Thanks for following me and I hope to run into you on the web!

How can I think of ideas for the plot of a story?

 There’s a fun exercise that does exactly that. It might not lead to stories that will change the world but it will lead to stories that people will like to read. And who knows, you just might win a prize with one of them.














On a small slip of paper, write a one-sentence description of a character you’d like to see in a story. Any kind of character. (A note here. The characters will probably be the kind you’d like to see in a story so some writers might describe real people while others will describe science fiction or fantasy characters. Whatever trips your trigger.) Repeat this until you have several characters. At least five, ten is better. Put them in a pile.
Use more slips of paper to write down descriptions of places: a castle in Spain — the asteroid belt — a cottage in the woods — an apartment in New York — whatever comes to mind. Write several and put these in another pile.
Repeat with more little slips of paper on which you write action phrases: run to town — escape the fire — climb the tower — fly the plane — You get the idea. Lots of actions here. Put them in another pile.
Use more slips of paper to jot down lots of emotions: love — hate — fear — boredom — All you can think of and put them in a pile.
On more slips of paper, write down several possible conclusions: they lived happily ever after — everyone dies — good triumphs — evil wins — the world is never the same again — the world isn’t annihilated. And put them in a pile.
Take 2 slips from the character pile. You now have the 2 main characters for your story. Then take 1 from each of the other piles and you’ll have your plot. You might find you want more than 1 from the ‘action’ pile to provide lots of action for your story.
Use your imagination to connect the slips of paper and concoct a story that will knock readers’ socks off.

What’s the difference between a novel, novella and short story?

 The difference is length.

A short story is anything less than a novella. Since most novellas are approximately 20,000 to 40,000 words, a short story is anything less than that. The usual length for a short story back in the day when they were printed was 4,000 words because publishers allotted that much space in their magazines.

A novella used to be unusual because not many publishers had a place for them, wanting either a short story in a magazine or a full-length novel in book form.

A novel normally starts at 50,000 words and goes up to anything. 150,000 words isn’t uncommon these days because publishers want readers to think they are getting their money’s worth by giving them long novels.

I know authors who strive to shorten their books to a mere 100,000 words. I don’t and won’t ever write such long books but a lot of writers do.

Can you have multiple POVs in a novella?

 Yes you can. A novella is just like a novel except shorter. As such, it can contain everything that a novel contains but in more compact form.

If you decide to have multiple viewpoints, make sure the reader is clear as to which character’s mind you are in at the moment. That’s not hard, it just requires that you truly BE in that character’s head when you are writing from their point of view.

If you are truly thinking from that character’s point of view, then more than likely your reader also will know what’s going on and who is doing the narrating at the moment.

Check by having someone else read the story and ask what they think. Ask if the point of view caused confusion. They probably won’t know why you are asking because it’s totally clear to them.

[image error]

Do you write your story linearly or do you write chapters as you go and put them in order later?

For me, the answer is —- both.

I plot out a story as a synopsis in a linear manner, pretty much one paragraph describing what will happen in each chapter. But then I go back over the whole thing and, often, move chapters around until they make as much sense as possible and lead nicely to a climax.

[image error]