Every emotion has to be timed perfectly. If you've ever read Lady of the Trilluim, you'll know emotional outbursts every twenty pages exasperates the reader.
Characters with good motivations for their feelings are what makes readers want to stay in your world. It's tempting to get to the big emotional/fighting showdown immediately, but take your time. If your best scene happens on chapter five, no one wants to read through chapter thirteen. Don't let tension slack though. Build up to a great climax, and blow people away when the character development and plot is fully grown.
Sometimes this takes great patience. Originally in a book I'm writing, I disclosed some information about the main character in the first page that gave insight into his life. Now I'm putting it off till about my two-hundredth page.
Any comments?
9 comments:
Yeah...once I finish the first draft of my book, I'm going to rewrite the whole beginning, or at least add stuff and change things. More suspense and mystery will be required - right now, I've explained everything right away, which seems like a boring way to operate.
:)Ian(:
i do have a comment but its actually of topic- not too long ago you posted comment on my blog about me graduating early, and you said at 16, well with the math I will be graduating at 17 - i turn 17 on march 27 2009 then grad in june .... so but in all sense its still pretty rad !!!!!!
now on to your book - true!
I love the name thing you previously posted about don't name them unsless they play a part
wow ur good at giving ppl help on their writing, and you have great technique and advice
can i read your book when you are finished? like maybe be one of those ppl you let read it before you publish it and they get to comment to you about it and put quotes in the book then it gets published ??
^_^
- Amber - YBT
I love that Tim Hawkins video. I showed it to my friends about 1 million times!
For the poll I like fighting and thinking. The Redwall books have a lot of both in them (author Brian Jacques).
I have a hard time not telling the readers every single detail about the character on the first page! I could not wait till page 200...I don't have the patience.
I have a hard time telling the readers anything about the character...I just get too wrapped up in the plot...I have a bad priority list. :D
I agree with ybtolerant, you're advice is great. I can't believe you're only seventeen.
-Judi
Yeah, Ian, rewriting can be a pain, but someone wise (not me) said, "I'm not a good writer, I'm a great rewriter." :)
That's close enough for me, Amber! I remember once when I had to change a character name the night before showing it to someone. When the guy commented on that character, I forgot I made the change. That was ackward. I'm considering starting a Yahoo! group for everyone who's writing books around here. Just kinda a thing where people can send it in and get HONEST feed back.
Tim Hawkins will get me up in the morning! He's got to be my favorite comedian, Paris.
I guess that's find as long as people know the person's name at the climax, right? :)
AHHH! I bloat under compliments.
Awesome advice, and I agree that this can be hard, but what are first books, and first drafts of first books (in my case) for?
~Elliot
Hey, you should tell me if you start that Yahoo! group, I would probably be interested in joining. I want as much honest opinion from someone skilled as possible. I know I'm not a great writer, but I want to be able to take someone's honest advise and consider changing things, knowing that my book isn't going to be perfect, but that I want to make it as close as possible with other's advice.
~Elliot
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