Now Novel
Jordan Kantey is an editor, writer and writing workshop facilitator. He’s been helping authors develop their stories for ten years. He achieved his Honours in English Literature with distinction from the University of Cape Town. He has had poems published in several journals and an anthology. He blogs about writing craft and process at Now Novel and loves to help aspiring authors reach their goals.
Conflict in fiction is a crucial ingredient of tension and suspense. Whether it involves character vs character or character vs environment, conflict makes plots tick onward. Read tips for creating man vs nature (or person vs nature) conflict that shows characters struggling with their environments:
One of the oldest and most compelling types of conflict we encounter in stories is man vs self. Man vs self – or person vs self – is a staple of tragedy in particular. In tragedy, a character’s ignorance, arrogance or other trait often leads to downfall. Read a definition of this type of story conflict, along with man vs self examples from books:
Learning how to write dialogue in a story is crucial. Writing gripping conversations that include conflict and disagreement and further your story will make readers want to read on. Here are 7 steps to improve your dialogue writing skills:
Knowing how to start a scene so your reader is involved from the beginning is a skill anyone can develop. Read the following tips to ensure each set of unfolding events in your story captivates from the first few lines:
The inciting event or incident – the situation that ignites circumstances fueling your story – is an opportunity to intrigue and win your reader’s commitment. Remember these 7 tips to write riveting inciting action:
If you search for alternative dialogue tags to use in your story, you’ll find many lists. While some synonyms for ‘said’ read naturally (such as words conveying volume like ‘whispered’), others come across as overwritten and forced, particularly in the wrong context.
Writing prose, like writing poetry, involves specific challenges. Although prose is closer to ‘ordinary’, ‘everyday’ speech than poetry, it is easy to write purple prose and make other small mistakes. Here are 5 steps to refine your prose writing style:
Sayings such as ‘the road to hell is paved with adverbs’ scare many aspiring authors off using adverbs to describe characters’ actions. Yet writers say this because there are often more descriptive, common verbs you could use instead of a duller verb-plus-adverb. Use this list of descriptive strong verbs to create stronger mood, atmosphere, and characterization.
First person narrative lets your main character take the reader into their confidence. The intimacy and immediacy of first person, how it closely involves your reader in your narrator’s world, makes this point of view (POV) naturally engaging. Here are 5 tips to make a good first person narrative even more lifelike:
