Posts Tagged With: creative-writing

Messiness—important plot & character tool

Posted on November 12, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

At a recent library presentation I showed attendees my very messy notebook page (8.5×11 inches) scribbled with the beginnings of a new novel plot. The entire novel was on that messy page.

I had scrawled a line across the 11 inches and added marks to represent the must-haves in structure: three acts and Midpoint Crisis. White space on that notebook page contained scribbles of characters and names, relationships to the suspect, a possible motive, places for bad deeds, and notes about possible serious actions.

That messiness is familiar to most writers.

Now transfer “being messy” to your key characters. Characters who get themselves into a mess and then get out of it are the stuff of great stories.

As soon as we see a messy situation on a page or in a movie, we’re hooked. How will the character get out of the MESS?

Messiness gets you out of a rut with a dull character or plot or chapter.

Messes lure us. Messes mean multiple issues or problems happen at once or are compounded.

It takes work to create character and plot messiness and resolve messes, but we live messy lives and we love witnessing how characters get out of messes.

The best writers in all genres create a character in the middle of a mess of some sort from the start and add to it certainly at the Midpoint Crisis and Climax.

A story might start without a mess, but readers seem to want to see a mess unfold within only a few paragraphs or pages. Give us a mess as the hook, then even more of a mess for your cliffhanger.

Here’s an example of revising for messiness:

Consider the classic scene: A driver with an urgent need to get to a hospital to see a buddy has to suddenly stop for cows or sheep crossing a road. You could have your character wait (maybe even impatiently) and your character gets around the sheep and zooms onward to the hospital to visit their friend.

Boring. Seen it before.

What if you revised for messiness? Give readers more entertainment that will sell your book or script.

A mess is more than just pausing for sheep. Messiness is created by a series of problems and decisions that often go wrong quickly.

As an example of a revision, the scene is now a sequence of scenes: Your character stops for the sheep, but this time is more impatient so your character decides to turn around and take a different road, BUT that delivers him to an encampment with people who steal his car and take his shoes and phone. THEN, he decides to walk a certain direction and that’s a mistake and he becomes filthy, and then he hitches a ride with a minister who is late for a funeral so NOW your character has to ride along before getting shoes from the church donation box and FINALLY your character in a hurry begs for a ride in the now-empty hearse and gets an interesting driver in the bargain to give him a ride to the hospital.

Messiness gives us a glimpse of how DETERMINED your character and YOU can be.

Messiness is usually more ENTERTAINING and SELLABLE than the opposite of it.

Personality fixes everything

Posted on October 14, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

That’s a good notion. With multiple interpretations of course.

Writers who are introverts may already be running away from this post. Wait!

This post is not about us as people, but about how to IMPROVE our WRITING in general to impress readers.

How do you inject personality without going too far?

I recently attended an in-person conference where not only the agent panel talked about “looking for personality” in your query and writing, but panels of authors, contest judges, poets, and others boiled things down to “personality.”

Personality sells. It’s a tool to improve your writing project, even making it seem easier or more satisfying for you.

Even social media are important. Agents said they look at social media to see if you are “lifting up people” with your messaging versus otherwise.

Let’s stick with personality in the writing project in this post.

We know we shouldn’t be dull. Let’s get more helpful for techniques you can apply right now.

The dictionary gives small clues. “Personality” means the PATTERNS and the QUALITY of the behavior as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes. Right there you have a handy list of several things to use to develop a new character or to massage a character that isn’t yet capturing reader attention.

The conference “horror workshop” gave another clue for building better personality in all types of stories. Horror relies on EMPATHY for the character. That’s true of any type of story, whether romance, thrillers, general fiction or even memoirs. How soon do we learn three important things about your character that will draw us into the story? I advise writers strive to have those three things on page one or somehow hinted there.

At this conference keynoter Christina Clancy said she works on “personality” in her prose in other ways.

“You always remember the vibe of a book even if you forget the story.”

Wow. VIBE. What is the vibe your pages are giving off to readers?

Again—what is the personality?

Clancy also mentioned a practical technique: When you get stuck on page 72, go back and think about why you wanted to write the story.

Her advice holds true for poems or anything—remember why you started your project in the first place. Re-capture your vibe—the PERSONALITY you so loved in the beginning.

In the picture book workshop, the same sentiment came out this way: “Lean into your weird.”

Figure out what makes your project WEIRD in the sense that it’s truly YOU. Is it the character? Structure? Voice? Word choice? Emotion? Action? Objects? Your weird makes you unique and worthy to readers.

Our own personality drives our writing. “Remember in the middle you are OPTIMISTIC,” Clancy said. “Editing is an act of optimism.”

A conference poetry session gave us this exercise, and it’s a good one for a writer OR YOUR CHARACTER to complete.

“I knew I was ____________________when __________________.”

My character knew X when…?

I knew I was a writer when…

…When I was inspired to add more PERSONALITY to my writing.

(The conference referred to is an annual autumn one sponsored by Wisconsin Writers Association.)

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: creative-writing, writing-tips | Leave a comment

Sense of taste—sweet or sour, stand out & sell!

Posted on July 8, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

To fix a bland opening or beginning area of your novel or memoir, even a screenplay—try the sense of taste. You’ll stand out AND join authors who are selling well.

Most writers ignore sense of taste in opening pages—and that’s why it’ll help you.

We writers often focus on action. We also easily fill in colors, smells, and a sense of touch. What if after the tenth, twentieth, or second pass on your material you revise your beginning by including a significant taste sensation? How about trying the quick fix now, before you send out your new material the first time?

Readers REMEMBER tastes, flavors, and food. We gravitate toward taste, and that’s why it can work on pages one and two in particular.

The sense of taste can be used anywhere within the manuscript. The Harry Potter series has Aunt Petunia’s “violet pudding,” and we know about the novel and movie with “fried green tomatoes.” How about “green eggs and ham”? Or “pickled limes” in Little Women?

Look at current authors using food for killer book sales in any genre.

In her suspense/thriller “Sean McPherson” series, Laurie Buchanan puts scrumptious food on the pages and table of her crime-fighter family.

In John Sandford’s Easy Prey, his first paragraph contains this line: “He lay with his eyes closed, breathing across a tongue that tasted like burnt chicken feathers.” The writer means business. I’ll read on.

Harlan Coben’s The Boy From the Woods has this tasty material on page one of Chapter One: “They threw things at her. Paper clips. Rubber bands. Flick snot from their noses. They put small pieces of paper in their mouths, wad the paper into wet balls, propel them in various ways at her.” Coben used our familiarity with the taste of paper to draw us in.

In The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman the mystery begins with Joyce at lunch having shepherd’s pie. We know instantly we’re in England.

Sometimes a certain food is the basis of something special within a plot, tying strands of action, time periods, and family members together. That’s the case with the well-received novel Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Title your novel with food! It’s a draw! By page 15 we have this:

“Black cake. Byron catches himself smiling. Ma and Dad used to share a slice of cake every year to mark their anniversary.”

The author goes on to describe more about that special cake, which ties together the novel’s beginning, middle, and end.

What about memoir and nonfiction? Food on page one sells there, too. Perhaps you’ve heard of the uber-popular nonfiction books by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass. In her shorter book, The Serviceberry, she gets us right into “taste” on page one as a touchstone for how we live and improve our communities.

“They are all around me, Cedar Waxwings and Catbirds and a flash of Bluebird iridescence. I have never felt such a kinship to my namesake, Robin, as in this moment when we are both stuffing our mouths with berries and chortling with happiness.”

Food helps express all five senses. Some foods crackle; colors are vibrant or not; smells might be ambrosial, heavenly, or not; food textures in our hands or mouths may pull in readers, too.

The sense of “taste” makes us pay special attention.

Food references on your page one might lean on food history, recipes, politics, chefs, farmers, gardeners, other people, travel, places, culture, money, adversity, beauty, animals, seasons, surprises, and more.

What is your character’s favorite food? For an exercise, describe it through their POV on page one and add a twist.

Taste success with your delectable writing.

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: creative-writing, fiction | Leave a comment

Dialogue should do 3 things because readers want 6 things

Posted on March 8, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Dialogue can do things that description and action can’t do.

There’s an intimacy with dialogue because we “hear” it as we read or we step into the character roles and emotions. Magic! What a feeling!

Dialogue draws attention—even offers a “rest stop” for our eyes—because of the white space around it in your novel, script, memoir, or short story.

Dialogue helps pacing for reasons including those mentioned above.

Ineffective dialogue—including with punctuation errors or the over-usage or inappropriate substitutes for “said/says”—can kill your prose style and storytelling goal.

Sometimes a project receiving multiple passes can be saved if only the writer would work on the dialogue. This post is about how to start.

Writers I’ve worked with and other authors I admire who have been successful know dialogue does at least three things:

Reveals character,
Moves plot forward, and
Tells the reader or audience something new or needed

How does dialogue do those things? Does it do them at all and consistently?

Employ any or all of these 6 tricks or skills to flesh out a story for readers:

1) Power and power plays

Who is in charge of the scene or chapter? How do we know? Who speaks early on with intention? Does somebody ask a question—always a great technique?

2) Attitude

Allow a character to express worry or any emotion through word choices and the cadence of their words.

“Worry” propels story because, after all, plot is about a problem or goal needing attention. Readers are drawn to those who are worrying; we’re empathetic and sympathetic creatures. Humor also draws attention, try being funny—you are funnier than you first think.

3) New stuff flying at us all the time

Stories excel after a character reveals new information. Bring in the “new” through dialogue constantly. Have you fallen into too much chatting? Repeating things? Find a way for a character to announce surprising information.

4) Passion

How deep is the character’s conviction for what they’re saying? How do we know? Can you improve word choices?

Would using questions help? Instead of swear words (often a cheap trick), try shaping a question or statement with something profound or a confession. Or reveal a secret about their personality or problem.

5) Sex and other basic needs

Relationships, romance, love, sex, money needs, food and housing needs—talk of such things never fails to engage readers.

Do you have a character willing to nudge or force another character to talk about those aspects? Sympathy and empathy are powerful tools. Sometimes a writer needs to add a character like a grandma or friendly shopkeeper who can ask about important needs in a mentor-like way.

6) Subtext

Subtext is the meaning beneath the words. Try having characters occasionally speak in ways to get what they want by not talking about it directly. If a child says, “Cake shouldn’t be left out for a second day or it spoils,” the child’s subtext is perhaps “Can I have another piece of cake right now, Dad?”

Subtext operates like a “hint.” A character might say “I’m all right” but your description or action portrays them as a mess. Subtext works in humorous exchanges, too, and in horror. Criminals will talk “nice” but the unspoken meaning is “You’re in trouble.”

There you have it—the dialogue “3 and 6.” Your task:

Examine your project. How are you utilizing the 3-and-6? Is there at least one page where you can improve dialogue?

How do your opening pages stack up with “3-and-6” techniques?

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: creative-writing, dialogue, fiction, writing, writing-tips | Leave a comment

Invigorate or revise a plot with the character’s “plan”

Posted on October 7, 2024 by christinedesmetauthor

Is something’s wrong with your manuscript but you can’t put your finger on it?

You’ve done everything. Solid plot. Interesting characters. Each scene has “goal/conflict/cliffhanger.” Stellar setting. Details fascinate your critique group. Yet, publishers or agents lack enthusiasm. They might even say your writing is competent and interesting but they pass! So what’s the problem?

Often, I find writers miss something mighty simple: “the plan.”

Not your plan as a writer. Your character’s plan!

How does your character THINK?

Frontline characters need to operate by hatching plans constantly and using those plans.

A big enough story to fill a book, a script, or a memoir involves layers of plans.

A “plan” means a character cares enough to worry, think, fear something, want something, and they are willing to put forth effort to PLAN to get it.

Characters conjure many plans during a story, never just one plan.

The big plan could be the plotline, such as how to commit the biggest heist in history, or your character has to tell somebody they love them by the end of the story. But…

Novel pages are nests for the hatching of many small plans that entertain readers.

To reach the end of any plot, your characters must have a series of plans. They voice plans in their head, through dialogue, and certainly through action.

Let your character think about “Step one, step two, step three that I need to do.” Let them fear some steps, change some steps, mess up their plan.

Novels such as A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman (mainstream fiction) and THE LEMON MAN by Keith Bruton (comic gritty suspense) prove the point. Each protagonist creates one plan after another; they often backfire; at all times the plans propel the protagonist forward to the next phase of his plot (and growth).

By the way, effective romance novels, horror stories, fantasy, YA novels—or any genre or type you read or write in—will have stellar standouts with a plan always operating to make things interesting.

We read partially to see if the plan even works. There lies the tension that makes reading a sublime activity.

Look again at your opening pages of each scene and each chapter opener.

Does your character express they need a plan? Are they in the middle of a plan—and more importantly, does the reader know that? If you’re at a loss as to how to do this, have them think in words such as “I need to get/do X, but that will mean I need this and that. It might also mean I’ll get busted/fail.”

Have the character need to do at least two steps next. Why two? Because taking two steps propels your character AND THE READERS (who might be agents/publishers) forward.

Readers like “plans.” We love being “in on the plan.”

Let a plan backfire now and then, too, as happens in all good stories. Obstacles should abound.

Finally, a plan is almost always physical, too. How does your character think ahead? Do they write things down? Do they mumble their plans to their plants? Dog? Friend? Do they go out and buy stuff for the plan? Do they visit a psychic or a priest? Do they bulk up their muscles over months of time? Etc.

Plans = pacing, plot, and sales.

Creating plans on most pages is a simple quick fix.

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: Books, creative-writing, fiction, writing, writing-tips | 4 Comments