Sometimes, writing is more about inspiration than anything else; other times, it is all about perspiration. We must work at it even when we are inspired, and our work is flowing.
We all know the best stories have an arc of rising action flowing smoothly from scene to scene. Those changes are called transitions and are little connecting scenes. Conversations and indirect speech (thoughts, ruminations, contemplations) often make good transitions when a hard break, such as a new chapter, doesn’t feel right.
A properly placed argument or a moment of internal dialogue gives the reader the context to process the action and understand why it happened. The reader and the characters receive information simultaneously, but only when they need it.
Action – reaction -action – reaction. This kind of pacing isn’t obvious, but a narrative can easily become chaotic without it.
We know dialogue must have a purpose and move toward a conclusion of some sort. This means conversations or ruminations should provide a sense of moving the story forward. These are moments of regrouping and processing what has just occurred. Dialogue and introspection are also where the protagonist and the reader learn more about the mysterious backstory.
Sometimes, we end a scene and don’t know how to transition to the next. We can end it with a hard break or write a short transition scene. I always look at the overall length of what has gone before, and if it’s too short, say 500 or so words, I write a transition scene.
I ask myself three questions: Who needs to know what? Why must they know it? How many words do I intend to devote to it?
I try to keep the conversations and ruminations short and intersperse them with scenes of actions that advance the plot.
Author James Scott Bell says dialogue has five functions:
- To reveal story information
- To reveal character
- To set the tone
- To set the scene
- To reveal theme
So now that we know what must be conveyed and why, we find ourselves walking through the Minefield of Too Much Exposition.
Some authors give their characters long paragraphs with lines and lines and lines of uninterrupted dialogue. This is known as bloated exposition and is something readers will skip over, trying to “get to the good part.”
Information can be dispersed via indirect speech,
Let’s look at a scene that opens upon a place where the reader and the protagonists must receive information. The way the characters speak to us can take several forms:
- Direct dialogue: Nattan said, “I was going to give it to Benn in Fell Creek, but he wasn’t home, and I had to get on the road.”
- Italicized thoughts: Nattan stood looking out the window. Benn’s not home. What now?
- Free indirect speech: Nattan stood looking out the window. Benn wasn’t home, so who should he give it to?
Wikipedia describes free indirect speech as a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third person along with the essence of first-person direct speech.
The following is an example of sentences using direct, indirect and free indirect speech:
- Quoted or direct speech: He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. “And just what pleasure have I found, since I came into this world?” he asked.
- Reported or normal indirect speech: He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. He asked himself what pleasure he had found since he came into the world.
- Free indirect speech: He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. And just what pleasure had he found, since he came into this world?
According to British philologist Roy Pascal, Goethe and Jane Austen were the first novelists to use this style consistently and nineteenth century French novelist Flaubert was the first to be consciously aware of it as a style. [1]
When I began writing seriously, I was in the habit of using italicized thoughts and characters talking to themselves to express what was happening inside them.
That isn’t necessarily wrong. When used sparingly, italicized thoughts and internal dialogue have their place. When they are used as a means for dumping information, they can become a wall of italicized words.
In the last few years, as I’ve evolved in my writing habits, I am increasingly drawn to using the various forms of free indirect speech to show who my characters think they are and how they see their world.
The main thing to watch for when employing indirect speech in a scene is to stay only in one person’s head. You can show different characters’ internal workings provided you have hard scene or chapter breaks between each character’s dialogue.
If you aren’t careful, you can slip into “head-hopping,” which is incredibly confusing for the reader. First, you’re in one person’s thoughts, and then another—like watching a tennis match.
Readers like it when we find ways to get the story across with a minimum of words.
Showing important ruminations as an organic part of the unfolding plot is one way to give information and reveal aspect of a character. I love it when an author writes lean, powerful prose, but delivers the bits of information just frequently enough to keep me reading.
I hope your writing week has been going as well as mine has. I have made headway on my abandoned novel and feel good about what I’ve written. And that is the important thing—enjoying the act of creating a story out of thin air and thinner plot ideas.
Credits and Attributions:
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Free indirect speech,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Free_indirect_speech&oldid=817276599 (accessed Nov 14, 2023).
Crockpot soups are high on the menu here at Casa del Jasperson. I do most of the work for dinner in the morning and get it out of the way along with the other housework, and then I can write and whine about writing.
The work inspired by a visual prompt often has nothing to do with the image. But it has everything to do with the nature of storytelling. The ability to explain the world through stories and allegory emerges strongly in artists of all mediums—painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, and dancers.
These jolly rogues have such vivid personalities that the viewer immediately feels a kinship. Who were they? Did they keep their day jobs? Or were they charming moochers living off the kindness of friends?
And what other symbolism was incorporated in this painting that art patrons in the 17th century would know but we who view it through 21st-century eyes wouldn’t? Eelko Kappe’s article on this painting, 
Artist:
The well of inspiration has gone dry.
Arcs of action drive plots. Every reader knows this, and every writer tries to incorporate that knowledge into their work. Unfortunately, when I’m tired, random, disconnected events that have no value will seem like good ideas.
As you clarify why the protagonist must struggle to achieve their goal, the words will come.
Food scenes serve as transitions between events. The act of dining occurs, but the conversations are the point of that scene. This is an opportunity to rest and regroup.
I’ve read many unforgettable fantasy books. One that shall go unnamed stands out, but not for a good reason. The author gave each kind of fruit, bird, or herd beast a different, usually unpronounceable, name in the language of her fantasy culture. She must have spent hours devising that hot mess of fantasy foods.
In my current work in progress, my people have a melding of familiar European and New World ingredients for their diet and do a lot of foraging. Fish, maize, and potatoes are essential staples, as are beans and wild greens. For a good list of what this diet might entail, visit this link: 
Title: After the Rain Gloucester
On Monday, I had to drive to Seattle to take the hubby for a consult with a neurosurgeon. Getting to the doctor was fine. It was a matter of spending one hour sitting in traffic trying to leave Olympia and another hour of actually rolling forward once we made it past the Nisqually River. I had planned ahead for that, so we were on time. The upshot is no back surgery for him unless there is no other option, as Parkinson’s patients do very poorly after surgeries.
So, what am I writing today? I’m working on the second half of a novel I began writing seven years ago, so all the world-building and character creation has happened. The plot for this half is evolving. I know the ending, and over the next thirty days, my characters will take me from this high point in the middle, through several hurdles yet to be determined, to that final victory.
I’m settling into the new office. In my old house, my ramshackle desk was in the Room of Shame, a jumbled mess of a storeroom. My new desk is not duct taped together and has the right amount of storage for what I need.
Today, the office/guestroom walls are barren, but I hope to have all the family pictures hung by the end of this week. The hide-a-bed sofa and side chair make a pleasant conversation area or guest room, whichever is needed. All I lack is my new desk chair, which is on its way here from Norway. (Yes, I splurged on a Stressless desk chair since I spend most of my time sitting in front of my computer.) It should be here in a week or two, and I can hardly wait as my current desk chair loses its appeal after an hour or so.
What are some of my planned treats? Cranberry and walnut shortbread, for one thing. Shortbread is so easy and affordable to make that it always surprises me when people don’t. I have veganized all of my old traditional recipes, so everyone can sneak a treat now and then.
Getting those ideas out of your head now is what is important. The bloopers and grammar hiccups can all be ironed out in the second draft.
Yes, we do need to show moods, and some physical description is necessary. Lips stretch into smiles, and eyebrows draw together. Still, they are not autonomous and don’t operate independently of the character’s emotional state. The musculature of the face is only part of the signals that reveal the character’s interior emotions.
Bad advice is good advice taken to an extreme. But all writing advice has roots in truth. So, when it comes to making revisions, consider these suggestions:
I recommend investing in a grammar book, depending on whether you use American or UK English. These books will answer your questions, and you won’t be in doubt about how to use the standard punctuation readers expect to see.
I recommend checking out the NaNoWriMo Store, which offers several books to help you get started. The books available there have good advice for beginners, whether you participate in November’s writing rumble or want to write at your own pace.
I study the craft of writing because I love it, and I apply the proverbs and rules of advice gently. Whether my work is good or bad—I don’t know. But I write the stories I want to read, so I am writing for a niche audience of one: me.
Magic or the supernatural are core plot elements in most of my work. I see them as part of the world, the way the Alps were a core plot element in the story of the 
Hannibal paid a heavy price for bringing his superweapons (elephants) to the battle. The ability to use magic should come at some cost, either physical or emotional. Or it should require coins or theft to acquire magic artifacts. 
It’s fair to write stories where magic is learned through spells if one has an inherent gift, and it’s also fair to require a wand. That is how magic was always done in traditional fairy tales and J.K. Rowling took those worn-out tropes and made them new and wonderful.
I can suspend my disbelief when magic and supernatural abilities are only possible if certain conditions have been met. The best tales featuring characters with paranormal skills occur when the author creates a system that regulates what the characters can NOT do.
A crucial reason for establishing the science of magic and the paranormal before randomly casting spells or flinging fire is this: the use of these gifts impacts the wielder’s companions and influences the direction of the plot, creating tension.
or the paranormal in your NaNo novel, how can you take these common tropes in a new direction?
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
