Plot Holes Take the Bite Out of Your Story!

Disjointed Jottings by Robert Smith (A.K.A. TyCobbsTeeth)

Tweet, Tweet — Twiddle, Twiddle, here comes another plot with a hole in the middle.

If you fail to explain how A connects to B, or state something that doesn’t make sense (without explanation), then you have left a plot hole.

You want your readers to get swept away in your story and be completely immersed. A plot hole can destroy that experience. If the reader drops out of the ride, in order to examine something that doesn’t make sense, you’ve lost them.

You may be too close to the story to see the holes. As you read through it, those gaps may be appear bridged, since the story did come from your head. The answers to those questions are in your noggin, so it doesn’t seem off. Have someone else read through your book, to make sure you didn’t leave any plot holes.

Remember, the reader badly wants to…

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BITE FIRST! –Ask Questions Later

Disjointed Jottings by Robert Smith (A.K.A. TyCobbsTeeth)

Your novel must open with bite.

One doesn’t hook a voracious reader, one creates a voracious reader by stimulating appetite.

I can tell you, as an avid reader, that I–so badly–want to be invited in. I crave an invitation that cannot be refused.
That opening must build appetite and by appetite I mean, the desire to read –felt as hunger. Appetite exists in all bibliophiles, and serves to regulate adequate literary intake to maintain creativity, imagination, and contentment.
Once you’ve stimulated that appetite, your reader wants to sit down at your table and devour your book. They’re hungry and they need to eat.

How do you stimulate appetite? Well, as a reader, I want — nay, I need something to grab my attention. If it’s properly presented the reader won’t just skim across it — their pupils should grow as they soak it in. You need a statement of…

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WE DON’T HAVE A CHOICE –They did.

As war and armed conflict rage around the globe, we who live in relatively peaceful countries, have a lot to remember --and a lot to be thankful for. Between November 9 and November 11, thoughts of the many brave and selfless souls, who have given life and limb for our freedom, will grace our consciousness, and at eleven …

I Believe

Life with a Voice

Life with a Voice

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Essential writing skills: understanding points of view and other novel-writing puzzles

Matthew Wright

The other week someone asked me how many points of view it’s possible to have in a novel. It’s a tricky question. The best answer – certainly for novice or learning novelists – is ‘one’. That’s the simplest.

It’s simplest because the author is dealing with but one major character arc, and a single point of view can be handled from various writing angles – first person singular (‘I’), as if the novel was a personal narrative. The reader only gets to see what the narrator sees. It’s closely related to ‘third person singular’ – which is the same as first person, but where the author steps back and refers to the lead character as ‘he’ or ‘she’.  But they don’t reveal anything that anybody else sees.

Both angles offer differing advantages, depending on what the author has in mind. With first person singular, for instance, it’s possible to play…

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Good Vibes II

Eclectic Blogger Girl

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BITE FIRST! –Ask Questions Later

Your novel must open with bite. One doesn't hook a voracious reader, one creates a voracious reader by stimulating appetite. I can tell you, as an avid reader, that I--so badly--want to be invited in. I crave an invitation that cannot be refused. That opening must build appetite and by appetite I mean, the desire …

Poem – I Slept For An Hour

Today I sit weary, for sleep left unpaid, Today more cheery, for the progress I made, Now armed with notes, from my slumbering thoughts, Dark thunder clouds build, for two brutal attacks, For it's almost time, for the epic climax. --TyCobbsTeeth