Fiction University

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy If you don't know who's telling your story, how do you know whose story you're trying to tell? Before I dive in today... A quick reminder that today is the las...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/06/do-you-know-who-your-narrator-is.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY A strong plot starts with a compelling question. A lot of writers I speak with struggle with plotting. They can come up with great ideas and wonderful charact...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/04/stuck-on-your-plot-change-your-story.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY Just like your plot has layers, consider the emotional layers of your story.  Emotions are like a complex soup, where every sip brings a new experience and yo...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/10/do-you-feel-it-plotting-with-emotional.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY If your beginning isn't working, no one will get to the ending. A novel’s beginning is under a lot of pressure. It has to introduce the protagonist and chara...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/5-common-problems-with-beginnings.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Just because you have a plot, doesn’t mean you have a story. The first novel I ever wrote was all about the plot. This happened, and then that happened, and ...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2021/01/is-your-plot-going-somewhere-readers.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY STAKES ARE CRITICAL TO ANY STORY, BECAUSE WITHOUT STAKES, WHY SHOULD READERS CARE ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON? Storytelling problems often appear in one of three a...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/01/three-mistakes-to-avoid-when-creating.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy It’s the author’s job to bring a story to life for readers. Sometimes we envision a story so clearly it plays out in our heads like a movie. We know exactly ...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/04/get-whats-in-your-head-onto-page.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY The whole point of creating conflict and stakes is to use them. My husband and I are big fans of both cooking shows and movies about restaurants, so we were ex...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/what-burnt-can-teach-us-about-conflict.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Deleting words from your novel is easier than you think. Before I dive in, I'm guest posting at Writers in the Storm this week, with  A Handy Trick for Brains...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2024/02/3-easy-steps-for-cutting-words-from.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy  Too many internal questions can come across like the author telling the reader what they ought to be wondering about. Internalization is a powerful tool for ...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/01/avoiding-awkward-or-unnecessary.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Every novel needs description, even when you don't wanna write it. I dislike writing description. Which is funny since I write science fiction and fantasy—two...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2024/01/how-to-write-description-when-you-hate.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy A tighter novel helps keeps readers engaged in the story. When I first started writing, my novels were long. Like, seriously long. This isn’t unusual for a ne...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/08/re-write-wednesday-golden-oldie.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY The narrative distance in a novel has more impact on it than you might think. Especially when it comes to point of view. Over the years, I've critiqued a lot ...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/01/re-write-wednesday-keeping-your.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY I'm over at Writers in the Storm today with Take Advantage of Your Reader’s Expectations . Here's a sneak peek: > To strengthen your story, look at ea...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2023/12/one-road-take-advantage-of-your-readers.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Choosing the right details to describe can be the difference between a scene that soars and one that falls flat. I have a confession. I can’t stand descripti...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2023/12/description-is-more-than-just-what-it.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy  Put yourself in a scene before you put your characters there. Years ago, there was a bit of a scare in the Hardy household. Our oldest cat took a tumble and ...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/03/are-your-characters-living-in-moment-or.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy  We don't always choose the right scenes to dramatize in a story. I wrote a scene for my third novel, Darkfall, where my characters were sitting at a table t...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2010/06/re-write-wednesday-telling-yourself-to.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy You have five great tools for writing better descriptions, so why not use them all? I’ll be honest—description is my least favorite thing to write. I alway...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/04/description-tip-making-sense-of-your.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy The first words you write aren’t always the right words to use. Tuesday, I spent at least a half hour writing one line—and it wasn’t an opening line. I w...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2023/11/turning-good-writing-into-great-writing.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Not every story has a villain at its center—sometimes the problem is the protagonist. For a lot of writers, the hardest-to-write conflict is the Person vs. S...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/02/faceless-villain-what-to-do-when-your.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Sometimes the answer to making a scene work is inside the scene itself. I’ve been struggling with a major turning point chapter revision the past week, and o...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2023/10/when-stuck-in-scene-look-around.html

BY JANICE HARDY, @JANICE_HARDY Opening lines are your novel's first impression on a reader. As long as it's a good impression, how you get there doesn't matter.  The opening line of your no...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/07/in-beginning-which-type-of-opening.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Told prose can steal the oompf from your story and make readers want to skim. As a science fiction and fantasy writer, I was guilty of a lot of telling in my e...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2023/10/3-places-told-prose-likes-to-hide.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Your reader doesn’t know what you’re picturing when you write a scene. Make sure they see what you see.Setting is a vital component of a novel, but it's one o...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/04/are-you-choosing-best-words-to-describe.html

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy If you have to flash forward to hook a reader, you’re not starting in the right place. I admit, flash forwards are a big pet peeve of mine. I find them awkward...

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/07/the-problem-with-flash-forwards-as.html