Posts Tagged With: fiction

Land and soil—your sure-fire way to pull in readers

Posted on January 8, 2026 by christinedesmetauthor

Land speaks to our heart, our emotions. Soil itself crushed in hands or felt by bare feet speaks volumes to a character’s soul.

If you’re not getting traction with your novel or other project, look at your setting. It may offer you gifts.

Do you have the usual house, apartment, café, bakery, coffee shop, mountain cabin, or romantic cove?

We writers so easily construct those things but forget we exist in and on a landscape, on landforms, on soil that has history and a sense of magic with it.

Author and college instructor James W. Hall and his students analyzed bestselling books. Many centered around “land”:

  • Capturing land and lost Eden.
  • Fresh beginnings in virginal wilderness.
  • Struggling to return to the land.
  • A contaminated land.

We humans care deeply about land and soil, even specific types of soil and landforms. But do your character care? What is that relationship? Readers care.

Recall the importance of land in Gone With the Wind, and Pulitzer winner Lonesome Dove—about the last great cattle drive. More recently James and Demon Copperhead showed characters wrestling with difficult relationships with land they worked on or wanted to run from.

There are several popular mystery/suspense series that feature tracking dogs and rangers at national parks. They explore mysterious and interesting landforms. They give us facts about soil, the history of mountains, the plants and animals living there and such. Readers love learning, but this goes beyond that. We feel something special about the mountain itself, the soil itself. Wise writers bring that into the equation to please readers (including agents, editors, publishers, reviewers).

Land can have barriers—a river your character needs to cross and can’t but thought was beautiful just yesterday. Do a “setup” for that “payoff.”

Land and soil can provide a big moment in your plot paradigm/diagram. Consider the Midpoint Crisis literal landmark in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, by William Goldman. Outlaws climb a mountain, struggling against loose soil and rocks, barely ahead of the posse. Robert Redford and Paul Newman arrive at a cliff—high above a river. Their choice:  surrender or chance jumping several hundred feet into the river, which will probably kill them.

Characters working land are considered noble. We love a farmer trying their best. Stories of the Dust Bowl or disasters with land break our heart. If you have a character beta readers or agents aren’t liking, get that character’s hands dirty.

Land and soil matter to readers because our lives depend on healthy, fruitful land. This is elemental stuff.

Around the world readers have land and soil in common. This aspect can expand your readership perhaps.

When writing about land and soil, be specific. What kind is it? Name? Texture? Landforms came about how? Different soils have names.

Soil and terrain resonate with readers. Wine and cheese from different world regions or the next county taste differently because of “terroir” or “gout de terroir,” a French term for the taste of the soil.

In memoirs, read Marc Hamer’s bestseller How to Catch a Mole and subsequent memoirs about tending a rich woman’s garden called Spring Rain and Seed to Dust. Working in soil became a metaphor for the man’s ups and downs in life.

Sometimes a novel can be just about the suspense of a landform. Consider the volcano in the famous Robert Harris novel, Pompeii. The geologist—who knew the “personality” of the soil and landform—couldn’t convince others of what was unfolding.

Popular nonfiction journalism books tackle “land” a lot, such as Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Classic, older regional books have loyal readership, too, and will give you ideas, such as The Land Remembers by Ben Logan.

Soil reacts to how we treat it; experts consider soil “alive.” Soil is truly a “character.”

Did you know every U.S. state and territory has an “official soil”? Lists and info about soil anywhere in the world are online.

So, instead of your cop meeting somebody at the clichéd coffee shop, what if they meet in the city park where the cop volunteers to weed flowers with children, get their hand dirty? What do they name their soil? Find in the soil?

What do YOU love about land and soil? Use that to enhance plot, characters, setting, and your unique voice.

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Attach “attachments” to attract readers

Posted on August 13, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Attachment (dictionary meaning):  anything added or attached; affectionate regard or devotion.

In storytelling an “attachment” means things you add to a character to make them not only distinct but to possibly take away and thus challenge them.

An attachment is part of the plotting exercise, and can also be used in the sales wording for the novel’s back cover or inside jacket.

The attachment—when messed with—is also a handy tool to force change in a character and the trajectory of the story.

Attachments can entertain effectively. They draw in readers.

Example of attachments:  In the classic movie The Wizard of Oz the girl Dorothy has an aunt as her advisor/protector (attachment) who is lost when Dorothy is whisked up in the tornado. After she’s in Oz, Dorothy gains three helpful friends (attachments) but almost loses them, and later the Wicked Witch wants to take Dorothy’s dog (attachment from the start) and the new mysterious, magical ruby shoes (attached at a significant plot point). Dorothy is forced to change and grow when those attachments are threatened. We feel for her emotionally.

Attachments help us care about a character, even laugh, as in the dogs, cats, and other pets attached to protagonists in mystery novels and more. Those attachments show up on the cover on purpose—they draw readers.

A bland character might have few or no attachments, but can be improved when you add or change the attachments.

Attachments are planned and planted by wise authors.

A plot may sprout from characters with attachments. A plot may also be improved by revising with a new attachment.

Introduce a supportive best friend early, for example, who leaves before or at the Midpoint Crisis so we can see the protagonist shine on their own. The attachment was necessary in order for readers to witness your character suddenly cope without a buddy. We empathize with the loss of a friend or “going it alone.”

Effective stories strip away or mess with a character’s attachment(s) in order to make the character DESPERATE enough to make decisions, take ACTION, and GROW.

If a character or plot is too shallow or “thin,” add an attachment early on, revise, and see where it takes you.

If critique buddies aren’t connecting with your manuscript, experiment with an attachment or two.

If the publishing and producing worlds aren’t connecting with your character, think about how attachments can bring in needed layering—and fun for the audience. Superman got a dog, after all, in a recent movie.

Attachments are superb when they have “weight.”

Example:  Saying a character lives in a two-story house doesn’t have weight. You can’t sell that. Yawn for page one of your novel. Instead, what if your character reveals they saved for years to buy a historic house built by a famous mobster or poet? And they’ve lovingly restored it to its former beauty. Now the house has “weight” for readers. Losing that attachment would mean something to the character and readers.

How would you sell that scenario to an interviewer? Just give us the attachment info:  “After lovingly restoring a former mobster’s house for years, Fred discovers…(you fill in the blank).”

Dorothy in Oz had 1) a dog, 2) ruby shoes literally attached, and 3) various friends/mentors who helped her journey. We rooted for those attachments.

What are one to three significant things your character might be attached to that you can use to improve characterization and plot?

Attachments help you create a character that grows and a plot that wins readers.

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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.

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Passion (by any definition) wins over gatekeepers & readers

Posted on May 12, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Literary agents, editors, producers, and readers look for “passion” in writing.

Agents rejecting a submission often say, “I just wasn’t passionate enough about your material.”

Solution? Take “passion” seriously. It means having a deep respect for something or someone, and also writing and storytelling.

Passion is evident from page one onward in bestsellers such as The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, or James by Percival Everett, or in nonfiction such as Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Many authors in your favorite genre write with true passion. What sets them apart? Vigor!

“Vigor” occurs by working on one more draft, whether it’s Draft 2 or 10. Vigor in verb choices, better action, and more meaningful dialogue and characterizations win over readers and agents every time.

Vigor means the author is vigorous in weeding out mistakes. No matter how skilled you are, it’s wise to hire a line editor before sending material into the world and especially before publishing it yourself.

Sloppiness cancels out vigor and passion.

The dictionary notes passion can be an “extravagant or strong fondness or enthusiasm for anything.”

How and why might we be enthused about your characters on page one? What’s fresh? And authentic? If your opener is ordinary or derivative of other books, change it and find your voice. Be you. Dredge into your own experiences, your childhood, your schooling or travels, or go exploring now and enjoy research.

Passion has its own type of special effects. A character’s personality must come through instantly.

Passion shows a character’s conviction about something but this is NOT about preaching, which can kill a manuscript.

We like characters that believe strongly in something or someone, even if they are wrong at first. Passion—however misguided—makes them interesting and sets up a mystery or at least a big quandary.

For an easy page-one rewrite, answer this:  What is it YOU (in memoir) or CHARACTER (in a novel) believe in strongly? Don’t save truths for the big middle blowup or the end. Passion makes us pay attention. Be evocative or provocative. Surprise us. (For examples read the opening pages of the books I mentioned.)

Another passion exercise:  Add a talent or expand your character’s talent.

Readers are interested in skills and talents or the lack thereof because we relate. The more relatable, the easier your sale. Let’s say your character never played guitar in your first draft. You never played guitar. Do a little research. Now have your character grousing on page one about their guitar lesson. How would that change things? A reader or agent will pay attention to your fresh, honest stuff.

It’s always fun in early pages to mess with a simple passion. Push it. Write outside your usual “box” or “lane.” Does your character love plants to excess? Have a neighbor’s dog break in and ruin them all, preferably within the first three pages. The literary agent will likely continue reading.

Can a passion turn into an obsession for a character? Yes. A positive can turn into a negative, depending on type of character and conditions. In general, “passion” is positive while obsession is more negative. But a character can be passionate about one thing and obsessed by another and still be loved, funny, strong or whatever you make them. Try the combo!

If writing with “passion” feels awkward, try starting with “enthusiasm.” Enthusiastic characters are more willing to act and speak with passion.

Passion will elevate your writing in an instant. Get passionate.

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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:

  1. Reveals character,
  2. Moves plot forward, and
  3. 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?

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