Tips and Other Things

So yesterday I blogged about writing tips. I forgot one major thing...

CONFLICT!!!

If you want to write a great story, you need a little conflict to keep things moving. Now, I think conflict can be a cheating spouse, or it can be a difference of opinion. It can also be lying in order to get one's way and then taking it back when you decide you don't want what you thought you wanted. Or, it can be a crazy stalker with a gun or something like that.

There has to be something besides just a lot of hugging, kissing, and that sorta violence to keep the reader involved with the story and rooting for the hero/heroine.

One more thing about conflict: you need to make sure you keep your conflict straight in your own head. What I mean, is make sure that if the heroine is held as knife point in chapter three, make sure her recollection of incident in chapter ten matches. This sounds elementary, but it's not. Many writers have the story in their heads and once it makes it to the computer or paper, details can get a little mixed up.

Also: don't write your hero/heroine into a corner that only divine intervention can get them out of. This cheats the reader. I've read things where this has happened and, yes, I felt cheated. You want the hero/heroine to work their own way out by their cunning, intelligence, and might.

This is something I've been guilty of AND dislike now that I can spot it: putting a heroine (or even a hero) in a "Too Stupid To Live" situation. I heard this from an editor and agree wholly. If the heroine goes walking at night (which is something people do), you might not want to send her through a dark cemetery when there are known vampires roaming in said cemetery, that is, unless there's a burning reason for her to go into the cemetery (like she's saving a child or an elderly person or she's s super human fending off the vampires to save the child/old person).

I know there's more and if you have comments, by all means share.

I gotta go. I have two short stories I want to work on and daylight's wasting.

Toodles.