Quick and Easy Writing Fixes

Writers know the basic “Who, What, Where, When, Why” of creating a story.

If your words aren’t charming readers (such as publishers, agents, reviewers), try these W words to help you:  WORRY, WONDER, WHY ME?!, WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?!, and WAIT A MINUTE or SECOND!

WORRY

When a manuscript, character, or plot seems flat, look at the WORRY QUOTIENT in the first few pages. 

Is your character worried? Enough? About what?

To WORRY requires something important for readers to care about. Worry is relative to the type of novel and age or experience of both character and reader, however learning how to deal with worries is why we read.

We like to witness characters worried and then alleviating the worry. Check your “worry quotient” on page 1 and certainly by page 3. Can you deepen the worry? Have you used the word “worried”? If not, try it.

WONDER

The feeling of “wonder” goes beyond describing a beautiful sunset or lake or African plain or love as a fluttering heart. “Wonder” is how you use words in a fresh way to describe something that strikes at a truth or way of thinking or feeling.

Can you take your first page and change a word or find word choices that make us pause and savor them?

A fresh word or phrase creates the wonder of you as a writer.

WHY ME?

If you’re writing memoir, the “Why me?” pertains to you.

If you’re writing fiction, it pertains to your protagonist and/or any viewpoint character.

Have your character question—with attitude—why they of all people in the world should be having this bad day (or good day, but bad days make better stories).

Even villains might ask, “Why me (doing anything)?” A villain who whines? Why not!

Try “Why me?” attitude on page 1 or by page 2. Why so early? Once a character questions why they are chosen or must do something they don’t like to do, there’s attitude hooking readers. Try it. Why not you!

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?

We say that phrase after we witness a crazy/amazing event, or an incredible feat, or when something repeats unexpectedly.

If a character lacks excitement for us:  1) Have your character witness or participate in something out-of-the-ordinary, or, 2) involve the character in something that has at least three to five parts or actions to it but don’t draw it out for more than a paragraph or page.

Example of boring:  A person is being chased through the woods. (That’s mentioning only ONE thing.)

Now revise:  The character is chased through the woods, then hitchhikes on the back of a truck, drops off the truck at a stop sign to steal a bike to pedal into a parade where they hop on a float and hide behind cardboard cartoon characters.

…Yes, all of that can happen on page one. You can also write that sort of thing in a pastoral or home setting about something as simple as making a meal. The point is this:  Push it. Make us ALMOST NOT BELIEVE IT.

WAIT A MINUTE/SECOND!

That clichéd phrase said with attitude or in disbelief of something seen or said can be useful to writers.

On any page, create that moment we can hardly/barely believe.

The “Wait a minute or second” sentence or command brings in tension.

Example:  “Wait a minute, Zelda. Did you just say you have a pet zebra in your back yard?”

Example:  “Wait a second, Joe. We’re not leaving until you tell me where you hid the money.”

The “wait” command gives your scene an “edge” because it heralds conflict ahead.

Be careful it doesn’t get repeated too much or your reader will get irritated, but try it with a scene lacking energy. Maybe even on page one.

Novels that have intensity of plot and characterization will often show us the concept of “loyalty” in some way. Award-winning stories of any type usually incorporate a loyalty issue somehow.

If your manuscript has been passed on by agents, publishers, or readers, or if your story feels shallow or too simple, perhaps a quick fix is obvious—develop the concept of “loyalty.”

Loyalty issues give our stories depth.

Characters like to think about loyalty. Does your character value it? In what way? What context? With whom? Have they voiced it in dialogue? Is it in their thoughts? Did you “show” loyalty?

Being loyal is serious business and readers recognize that. Loyalty is the stuff of lovers, of enemies, of soldiers, of citizens of countries.

Humans and nature value loyalty for survival. That’s why tension is related to loyalty, and tension is a necessary ingredient of storytelling.

Set up a loyal relationship in the beginning of your novel, and then challenge it by the Midpoint or later and see how different your novel or script feels.

There is a loyalty to place and things, too, and loyalty to the memory of somebody or something. Where in your novel or story or script have you mentioned that? Try it. It may bring in poignancy that surprises you.

You may need to introduce a new character or situation to help plumb the depths of “loyalty.” Maybe that’s what your manuscript has needed all along.

A breech in a loyalty situation is taken seriously by most or all cultures. That’s another reason it works so well in our literature. You’re writing about something universal.

We also recognize when somebody is loyal to the wrong person or thing or concept, or a tired tradition. Emotions get wrapped up in what the character “should” do or not. Tensions rise—just what you want. Dialogue becomes more pointed, more interesting. Characters have more reason to act perhaps.

When loyalty issues get showcased there is more depth to such a story because readers get involved with their own opinions. Your story becomes memorable.

Are you in the middle of a novel (or nonfiction) manuscript and it’s feeling blah? Have you queried and collected passes or silence?  

Consider evaluating and improving your “Image System.”

The term comes from the movie world but is also used for novels. Why? Because readers and good editors want your manuscript to seem like a movie. Heck, they would love to sell the production rights.

An Image System creates or enhances emotion, plot action, pacing, and character depth. Effective images make a story interesting rather than ho-hum.

Become the “director” of your novel from the start or in the next draft. 

Light and Shadow

Award-winning directors—and novelists—play with light to create moods and enhance action.

How does your character REACT to light or shadow? The cliché is to fear the dark. What if your character was quite active in darkness? Doing what? Why? How?

It’s not enough to tell readers it’s “sunny” or “foggy” or “dark.” How does that light condition affect your character’s emotions and at least two of the five senses?

Do you vary light and shadow to keep things interesting?

Color

Movies have a color “code.” Some are dark and broody with browns and grays while others work with bright red or yellow or pink, as examples.

People remember colors and tones.

What about your novel? Does your character wear a certain color for a reason? Note:  Mentioning hair color a lot is a cliché.

Bringing an object with a memorable color into a plot often helps.

What about the colors of buildings? Why those colors? Paint trends and colors have history.

Is there a dull scene where color can re-energize characters, action, setting?

Were you good about a color theme in the first chapters but less so in the last half? Or do you need to pull back on mentioning color so much?

Architecture

Movies excel with building designs symbolizing something or to evoke a feeling or for plot action. Novels are no different.

How do we know we’re in France or Peru or your character’s hometown?

Buildings become props for action. Is there a lot of glass, for example? That gets broken later? Ah, suspense or terror!

What are the architectural shapes? Textures? When and why does your character notice these things?

Is your character in one place too long? Or stay in one place, but can buildings change in some way as your plot pushes forward? Are you in a genre in which all the small towns seem alike? Change something! Be memorable! Build a new city hall or have a fire destroy the beloved library. Those things happen in real life; readers like to see how your characters handle it.

Can the architectural design make things HARDER physically or emotionally for your protagonist and antagonist? Good!

Geography

Movies move through terrain to great advantage. Did you describe geography in the early pages and then forgot about it?

Do you mix close-ups and long shots of the landscape for interest?

What do we learn about rocks, hills, streams, desert, etc.?

Can the geography hinder or help your character more?

How can weather help you work with geography and the reactions of your characters? Rains, floods, drought, fire, or winds create challenges. Could weather events create better hooks in Chapters 1, 5 or 25 or 50 or your Midpoint Crisis area?

Put your novel’s Image System to work for you. 

Sometimes a manuscript, or even a published novel or movie doesn’t work as well as it could have.

That may happen because we didn’t experience enough danger or danger that was deep enough or serious enough.

Our novels are about danger.

A character is in a dangerous situation. The plot is about learning something to improve or strengthen the character and thus control or conquer the danger.

Writing “danger” can feel off-putting at first to a new writer because, after all, we’re nice people. Stories, though, are about how people are in danger or put themselves in danger and then get out of danger or save somebody else from a dangerous situation.

Danger can be intellectual, romantic, emotional, physical, environmental, and so on. Danger can come from supernatural or science fiction entities.

In the hand of good writers, danger can be funny, too.

There’s danger at the core of all genres. Dinosaurs eat children in picture books, after all. In Young Adult novels teens deal with murderers, drug dealers, abusive parents, and more.

Remember:  Show how to fight the danger and survive it (or not).

Make the danger important enough or big enough to last a novel’s length.

The opposite of danger may be more than just survival; often it’s “triumph.” Your novel’s last act or ending has to fit the level of danger you present from the beginning.

If you get stuck in the middle of your manuscript, re-assess how you’re working “danger” in the story.

Do you have a very strong protagonist but the danger you put him or her in is rather tepid?

What about secondary characters, or the sidekick? What is dangerous for them? How will they deal with it?

Fiction is about danger. Danger sells. Analyze how you’re using danger. Perhaps revise.

Write dangerously and all will be well.

Sometimes it’s tough to get your character to change, but the writer knows change is good, even necessary. After all, we know about the necessity of a “transformational arc.”

What if your character doesn’t want to change? What if you are getting lackluster responses from agents, editors (or reviewers if you self-published)?

Some characters don’t change much, but change still has to happen to something or someone in the story because the lesson about “change” is why a story exists.

Great stories also transform an ENTITY, according to James Bonnet in the writing guide called Stealing Fire From the Gods.

He suggests writers ask:  What “unit” does your story change? A town? A family? He points out Star Wars changed a whole galaxy.

Your novel or script might be about something smaller. What might your character help fix or build? It might be as small as them re-decorating a room or fixing a car during the story.

Here’s the KEY:  Let the process push your character to think about how they might change, too, as the “entity” of your story changes. The REFLECTION by your character is important to include.

Bonnet points out, “The fate of the entity is linked to the destiny of the hero who is caught in the middle.”

Keep things credible. The larger the entity, the slower the change.

Map out how the “entity” might change in your story start to finish.

Then map out your character’s reactions to the entity’s changes.

Often, a protagonist will be reticent in the beginning but dive in at the climax to help push the entity to a new status. And voila, you have a more interesting character with a transformational arc that sells better.