on Fiction University:

Finding the right balance between a fleshed-out setting and an under (or over) developed one can be tricky. Ann Harth shares a three-step plan for describing a setting that’s just right.

~~~~~

You’re reading through a scene at a blistering pace.

Peter, the young prince of Agapanthaland, is running for his life. The palace walls have been penetrated by an inhuman multi-fisted fiend. Its neck stretches, thrusting gnashing teeth after the sprinting boy. Prince Peter’s heart pummels his chest, his breath tears at this throat. He pounds down the hallway and bursts into the kitchen.

Rich broth bubbles in a copper pot on the black cast iron stove. Bunches of carrots, parsnips and celery lay beside a dark grey bowl on a wooden bench while herbs swing in clumps above, adding their spicy scent to the room’s meaty aroma. The bench has been well used, scarred by…

on Fiction University:

The climax resolves the plot problem and makes readers glad they picked up the novel.

There’s a popular series* with a climax that made me so furious I stopped reading that author. Until that moment, I’d devoured all eight books, loved them, and in that last 10% of the final book, the author had the protagonist make a decision that invalidated the entire series and made me go from “Yes, I want you to win!” to “You don’t deserve the victory what the heck were you thinking???”

I was livid. I had to stop reading and call my niece (we were reading the series together) and we hashed out how awful this ridiculous decision was. I gritted my teeth and dived back in to finish it, and then watched in horror as the story I’d loved dissolved into a pointless, deus ex machina ending.

This is not

Amanda Shofner & Farrah Daniel

on The Write Life:

Have you ever wanted a magical editing wand?

Just imagine: A flick of the wrist is all that would stand between you and the end of editing your writing. No frustration. Minimal time investment. An amazing manuscript or blog post.

Alas, no such magic wand exists.

But we do have grammar checker tools, which are the next-best things.

Just remember grammar checkers are designed to make editing easier, not to eliminate the work completely.

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