How to Write Your Blockbuster by Fiona McIntosh

Author:Fiona McIntosh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760140571
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2015-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

This little section is not an ad for editors but a plea for you to ask yourself some essential questions as you write your genre novel.

Are you showing your story, not telling your story? We’ve all heard the ‘show don’t tell’ phrase so much there’s a risk it gets lost in the noise of advice. There is no better pearl of wisdom than this: your reader must be able to see your story unfolding in their mind’s eye. They must be able to feel the tension and drama building. They need to be able to hear the voices of your characters. They should inhale and smell your world: whether it’s coffee beans being ground in a contemporary café or the dab of lavender water in an Edwardian story. And they should be able to taste that sugary doughnut or that rose-flavoured Turkish Delight.

Are you labouring a point? Learn to pare back. Say it once. Saying it again differently is still repeating it.

Are you head hopping? Stick with one point of view per scene. Show it well through the eyes of one character. Shift to another character when you break scene. I’ll cover this in more depth in a tick.

Are your characters interesting? Are they entertaining? Can they carry a reader on their shoulders and not let them get bored for 400 pages?

Is the dialogue important? Does it clue the reader in an important piece of exposition or some vital fact in order to progress the action of the story?

Is the dialogue for your characters convincing? Does it sound like that person talking? Does it read easily and have good rhythm?

Is this character vital to the story? Are you enriching the read by painting details around the characters who are moving around in the story? In other words, can the reader see the world around the story itself? Is it rich in detail?

Is the story in motion? Is something happening on every page of the story?

Is the tension of the story present and escalating? Is there conflict?

Is every scene necessary? Does it add something to the story moving forward?

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