Do you know what a logline is? If you’re not a screenwriter, chances are good that you don’t. And that’s a shame, because loglines are great tools for any writer.
Allow me to enlighten you. A logline is a very brief summary that gets across your story in the smallest possible space.
Most importantly, when you story starts to get confusing and messy, loglines can help you get your story back on track.
Is there one secret for success when writing stories? Yes!
Just as the secret in retailing is location, location, location, so the strategy for enduring success in fiction writing is Structure! That seems odd if we consider that real life has little or no structure, other than that imposed on us.
We need a sense of form in our lives just as we need food. It seems to be engrained in our genetic structure. The perception of form creates meaning, all by itself. If we look at a flower, a miracle of structure, we infer a sense of meaning in its creation.
I recently finished writing my first book—an action-packed thriller that’s a 110,000-word whopper of a tale.
It was the most fun I’d ever had, but I learned a lot during the process (as we tend to do when we write a book for the first time!).
Part of the process for me was in structure, outlining, and building characters that didn’t seem like cardboard cutouts, but what I want to talk about today is the idea of pacing.
In a thriller, like Dan Brown’s or James Rollins’ stuff, pacing is everything. Lose the tempo, and you lose the reader.
Arguably, it’s no different in any kind of fiction, so I thought this might be a helpful topic to other writers. Here’s a breakdown of things to keep in mind as you write:
Earlier that morning, the reigns jingled softly in my hands as we rode along a split-rail fence. A velvet breeze rustled the meadow. Prairie grass rose and fell, rose and fell as eight hooves rose and fell, rose and fell. We would talk occasionally, but never for very long. Cowboys don’t talk much, but that wasn’t the reason why. I didn’t know the reason why.
This is a guest post by Mariane Vest.
I recently read a book by Charles Baxter called The Art of Subtext – Beyond Plot. Subtext is what is not said, not told, but is implied.
Plot is a twisting bridge over a chasm, says Baxter, a chasm that, in my mind, contains the hauntings, the past, the subterranean, the things people either cannot or will not say, things that we are only partially aware of.
“A human being is a deciding being,” said Victor Frankl.
My dad and I have been talking about his novel. It’s a fantasy novel that takes place in a mythical, magical realm. The story involves love, intrigue, and war. I actually believe it has a lot of potential.
The problem is, it’s 650 typed, double-spaced pages. That’s a long novel!
From San Antonio to Houston we talked through the plot, and it wasn’t until we were almost there that I realized the problem.
His hero didn’t make any decisions.
