What does loneliness feel like?
Shout out to Emine Beasley for her lovely response to last week’s prompt.
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
What does loneliness feel like?
Shout out to Emine Beasley for her lovely response to last week’s prompt.
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
What does anger feel like?
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
What does your main character do on their day off?
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
What does happiness feel like?
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
How does your MC celebrate their birthday?
If you want, write a story about their festivities, or lack thereof.
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
Hello writer bees!
If there’s any silver lining to this chaotic time, it’s that writers are using their time to work on new projects. And with new projects comes a daunting task; Choosing the perfect title. It’s a huge question for any writer with a WIP. How do you create an interesting title that catches the readers attention and perfectly represents your story?
Today, I’m showing you what story elements can lead you to a read worthy title. Here are some ideas for where you can find the name of your book.
If you have a character focused piece, pick a title that highlights the main character. Although it might be a simplistic option, a book named after a protagonist can be compelling to potential readers. And it doesn’t necessarily need to be the character’s name either. Think about the role the character plays in their world.
Examples
Consider naming the book after a prominent location featured in the story. Do the characters live in a specific town or residence? Or are they traveling to a certain destination? Settings transport the audience to a different time and place. Intrigue your readers with an invitation to a new world.
Examples
Is the adventure centered around a coveted object? Or is there a sentence/phrase that sums up the entire novel? A memorable line or item featured in the story can become a great book title. Search through the text and find those stand out bits that you feel represent the entire novel well.
Examples
When coming up with a book title, focus on the core elements of the story. A character, a setting or even a memorable line can become a read worthy title.
What is the title of your WIP/Novel and how did you choose it? What are some of your favorite book titles? Lemme know in the comments.
Stay safe and keep writing!
– Lady Jabberwocky
What’s your main character’s favorite food?
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
Hello writer bees!
Today, I’m sharing some tips on removing unnecessary characters from the narrative. No, I’m not talking about killing off a character, I’m talking about not giving life to begin with. While you are in the drafting phase, know that some fictional folks don’t always make it into the finished product. And that’s fine. How do you know a character is useless? When do you “kill your darlings”, as they say? Let’s figure that out together, shall we?
This dilemma has actually happened to me before. Hopefully, you can learn something from my personal experience as a writer.
A couple months back, I decided to remove one of my suspects from my murder mystery WIP. I thought about it for quite sometime. He wasn’t a poorly constructed character, far from it. However, I realized, the story could survive without him, that his presence wouldn’t be missed if he was gone. And that was a problem. If Also, part of the reason I kept him around was because I wanted five suspects total. Bad idea. Now, I realize four suspects is enough. And perhaps this rejected suspect idea can be reused in another story someday. You never know.
A bit of change had to be done. For consistency sake, scenes needed to be rearranged and edited, plot threads knitted together. Relationships between characters shifted a smidge. An aspect of their nature transferred to another character, adding complexity to their personality. Very quickly, I learned an existing character could do the work of an unnecessary character. Because I removed this suspect, I feel like my story is much stronger without him than with him. I believe like I made the right decision.
At the end of the day, every character needs a function. Why is this character in the story? What purpose do they serve? What role do they play? How do they move the plot along? If you can’t answer these simple questions, that’s a real problem. Try to put each character under the microscope and really consider what function they serve in the grand scheme of the story. Then, you can start weeding out the undesirables and letting the true stars of the show shine. And listen, just because one character doesn’t fit one narrative, that doesn’t mean you can’t recycle that character idea in another story. Maybe they’ll be a better fit somewhere else instead. Save ’em for the sequel, I say.
No matter how useless the character, when you do decided to remove them, there will be an empty space. And you don’t want your reader to know or notice a missing piece in the narrative. Think of it like hiding a hole in the wall by putting a picture frame over it, if that makes sense. Be certain all plot holes are covered and tied up any loose threads. That all the relationships and personalities of the existing characters are solid. It might take some rewriting, but don’t be afraid of a little extra drafting. The end result may be even better after these rewrites.
Look, frankly speaking, I don’t think “trope-free literature” is a thing. Don’t be surprised if you find a cliché or two in your work. Keep in mind, too many tropes and clichés will drag the narrative down into total boredom. If the character is considered an overused stereotype, they probably fall in the “cut” category. Insist on keeping this extra character? Okay. Trust in your instinct as a writer. Nothing a little reworking can’t fix. Be creative and original and break the mold of a trope. Flush out a character’s personality and motivation, giving their real depth and complexity.
Bottom line, every character needs a function. No one wants dead weight in their story. Really consider what purpose a character holds in your narrative. Weed out unoriginal characters. And if you do decide to remove the character, the changes should make the plot stronger.
Have you ever had to cut a character from your story? Are you considering it? Talk about it in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
Keep writing and stay safe, writer bees.
— Lady Jabberwocky
Write a story based on the phrase “a new chapter.”
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky
Write a story based on the word ”bird”.
Write your response in the comments below. Best entry gets a shout out next week!
Stay safe and keep writing!
—- Lady Jabberwocky