David Morrell
As with the metaphor, you should not give your character too many traits or tics. You must choose those attributes, features, characteristics, or qualities that help to define this character—to make him memorable and, to some degree, predictable.
Walter Mosley • This Year You Write Your Novel
ASSIGNMENT: List # 1: Make a list of all your story ideas. Yes, you read that right. All of them. This is a great exercise because it gets your subconscious churning and invites it to choose what it truly wants to be working on. Your subconscious knows way more than you do about writing. None of us can do the kind of deep work that writing is all o
... See moreAlexandra Sokoloff • Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!): STEALING HOLLYWOOD: Story Structure Secrets for Writing Your BEST Book
Checklist How often do you use narrative summary? Are there long passages where nothing happens in real time? Do the main events in your plot take place in summary or in scenes? If you do have too much narrative summary, which sections do you want to convert into scenes? Does any of it involve major characters, where a scene could be used to flesh
... See moreRenni Browne • Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
It’s always best to give the reader one emotional state at a time to deal with.