Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

#1 Learn how to improve.

Have you ever heard the advice to write every day?

There’s something about using your writing muscles every day that can help you stay in the flow of your story and keep you productive.

But don’t just write every day. Write to improve every day.

Yes, that’s right.

Make sure today’s ability to write stories is even better than yesterday’s.

#2 Prove that you’ve improved.

Look at the page you’ve written. 

You want to see real evidence of your new super powers physically on the page, in the texture of your story, in the characterization, plotting, conflict, and on and on.

There are thousands of things to improve.

Your stories themselves should be getting better.  The ideas.  The choices.  The drama.  And the language you use to project the illusion into the mind and heart of the reader.

If you want to be truly great, then it’s not just about increasing your understanding.  It’s about greatness ending up on the page.

“Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before.”
–William Goldman, author of Princess Bride

#3 Surprise yourself.

It’s easy end up in the proven land of “things that work.”

So surprise yourself with things that shouldn’t work but do.  Come out of left field.

Create your own Cliffs of Insanity.

#4 Take risks, even when you think you’ll ruin everything.

There’s awfully good traction you can gain from playing out on the bleeding edge, where you could “ruin everything.”

If you start to panic too much, your friends will calm you down.

Then do it anyway.  Could be a pretty good scene.

From Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman talks about “that one scene” in When Harry Met Sally:

”What you cannot imagine now is the shock value of that scene.”

Some scene, eh?

#5  Learn how not to worry.

Sometimes all that improving and risk taking is scary.

But, really, all you need is a giant.

And you’ll be fine.

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Need more Princess Bride-inspired writing advice?

Read  JulieD’s “Have Fun Storming The Castle – Writing Lessons From The Princess Bride.”

Bonus:  Nice article about the process of converting visitors (or even potential readers) into customers (such as book buyers).

“Conversion statistics, rodents of unusual size and the finest swordsman that ever lived” Posted by: Scott Tuesday

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Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

FX Network’s Justified is a modern day Western, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s books and created by Graham Yost.   It’s some of the best writing out there, and you can learn a lot by following along.

Today, I’m featuring writer and creator, Graham Yost, director Michael Dinner, and editor Bill Johnson in a video on what it takes to create one simple scene.

Why?  Mastery, baby.  That’s why.

One thing that’s dang hard to communicate in writing fiction is how to have a “sure hand” in storytelling.  Well, here are 10 takeaways from these Big Guns on what it takes to put together a killer scene.

The catch? When you write novels, you have to be the writer, the director, the editor, and all the actors.  Just you.  So cowboy  up.

Justified episode: The Gunfighter (301)

Bad Guy: Fletcher Nix (Desmond Harrington), stone-cold killer for hire (or just because he wants to).

Good Guy: Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a deputy U. S. Marshall, enforcing justice in his backwoods hometown of Harlan, Kentucky.

Raylan’s Girlfriend: Winona Hawkins (Natalie Zea), the woman he loved, left, and came back to.

Hint:  Someone’s gonna die.

Insights

1) Parallel Scenes.

There’s cool power in crafting parallel scenes, where action, dynamics, and story repeats.  When it comes to the second time around, the reader/audience shows up knowing (and dreading) what’s going to happen.  She has insider information and expectations that make for a juicy payoff.

2) Recognize a good idea, even if it isn’t your own.

3) Orchestrate the action like a dance.

Do it by the marks until it flows, 1, 2, 3.  Then let it rip.  And remember, every character has his own rhythm.

4) It’s not right until you feel the electricity.

There’s an electricity that happens when things get real and the camera’s roll.  Everything else is just practice.

5) What’s he gonna do next?

It all comes down to powerful characters watching each other’s behavior, figuring out what’s gonna happen.

6) People develop a shorthand with each other, complete each other’s sentences.

This is also true of characters.  They remember what happened when they met before.  They develop a shorthand based on personality and experience.

7) Have a concrete idea, but look for lucky accidents.

You’ve got to be confident enough to throw it all out the window,  because you found something even better.

8) Show the wheels turning inside your character’s head.

Make it visual.  Turn strategy into action, nuance, and the twitch of a muscle.

9) Look for moments that work beautifully.

That right there.  That’s the moment you want.

10) Give context and grounding, like the sound of trucks going by.

The sound of a truck can create the reality where it’s possible, just maybe, for a killer with an ice pick to lose.

Write on.

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Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.