Keep Your World Open: You probably don’t know everything about your world, and that’s a good thing. New ideas could be better than old ones, as long as this series in in progress. Once it ends, everything can take it’s final form, and set. Until then, nothing’s really tied down. That means new problems can arise, and that means I need new solutions. If you had all the answers, you’d already be finished.
Handling the Everyday Extremes: Some things in fiction walk the line of being too fun in the real world, or too unpleasant in the real world to enjoy reading about. Think about how these things make you feel as a reader, and write accordingly.
For pleasant things: If your characters have been through enough to deserve one of these too-perfect moments, the means they achieve it make sense, and the readers have been waiting for it long enough, go for it. Otherwise, it’s just not satisfying.
For unpleasant things: Make sure they don’t shadow the story. You don’t want too much reality interfering with your fiction, but it’s no good to delete everyday worries from character's lives altogether.
Training your inner critic: Critics are made, not born. Start training your inner critic by being more observant of traditionally published books and popular movies. Review them in your head after watching/reading them. Assess these things as though they were made by a first time, independent creator, because the standards we hold self-published vs traditionally published authors are wildly different.
Assuming the Intelligence of the Reader: Assuming the intelligence of the reader is like telling a joke into a void. It's very tempting to yell "did you get it?" minutes later. Remember that the reader is adding in a good deal of story themselves, and the golden rule here is always leave them wanting more.
No One is Looking at You: If you’re in a group situation where you all have to come up with an interesting fact/idea and share them, you’re probably too self conscious to even listen to what others are saying. “My idea is so dumb, everyone will judge it.” Right? But what if else is thinking the same thing, and no one heard a word anyone just said, because they were all too focused on themselves? How often does this happen? Maybe we should all be a little nicer to each other, and ourselves.
And always remember our Three Golden Rules: Keep on reading, keep on writing, and keep on keeping on!
Handling the Everyday Extremes: Some things in fiction walk the line of being too fun in the real world, or too unpleasant in the real world to enjoy reading about. Think about how these things make you feel as a reader, and write accordingly.
For pleasant things: If your characters have been through enough to deserve one of these too-perfect moments, the means they achieve it make sense, and the readers have been waiting for it long enough, go for it. Otherwise, it’s just not satisfying.
For unpleasant things: Make sure they don’t shadow the story. You don’t want too much reality interfering with your fiction, but it’s no good to delete everyday worries from character's lives altogether.
Training your inner critic: Critics are made, not born. Start training your inner critic by being more observant of traditionally published books and popular movies. Review them in your head after watching/reading them. Assess these things as though they were made by a first time, independent creator, because the standards we hold self-published vs traditionally published authors are wildly different.
Assuming the Intelligence of the Reader: Assuming the intelligence of the reader is like telling a joke into a void. It's very tempting to yell "did you get it?" minutes later. Remember that the reader is adding in a good deal of story themselves, and the golden rule here is always leave them wanting more.
No One is Looking at You: If you’re in a group situation where you all have to come up with an interesting fact/idea and share them, you’re probably too self conscious to even listen to what others are saying. “My idea is so dumb, everyone will judge it.” Right? But what if else is thinking the same thing, and no one heard a word anyone just said, because they were all too focused on themselves? How often does this happen? Maybe we should all be a little nicer to each other, and ourselves.
And always remember our Three Golden Rules: Keep on reading, keep on writing, and keep on keeping on!
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