Posted in Action Words, Emotions

Narrative

When reading a book, I enjoy the story’s visuals brought on by the author’s well crafted writing. Narration can be boring if it isn’t spiced up with words that get the readers attention. Believe me, I’ve read some books that were boring in parts because there wasn’t any ‘flavoring particles’ in the narration. It was just relaying information. I get that information must be conveyed to the reader somehow, but there’s a way to tell/show that entices the reader to keep reading. Make it interesting.

  1. Keep linking verbs to a minimum and use action verbs instead.
  2. Use words that depict feeling. Example: The hammering continued its incessant bang, bang, until I my teeth ground. I shot out of my chair, stomped to the window, and opened my mouth to scream at the culprit wielding the damn thing. But then it stopped. Everyday for the last week someone next door hammered like that all day. Yet, when asked what they were working on, the answer was “not a damn thing.”

Below is a paragraph taken from my second book entitled The Cross’s Key. The character’s name whose point of view this paragraph is from is Kyle. He’s in another realm called Between Time, and he’s looking for a particular cave.

‘As he walked, thoughts of his last conversation with Nadira haunted him. Didn’t she have confidence in him? What if something did happen to him here, and the Quivicar was out of reach? How would he get a message to her? He glanced at his left palm. The Quivicar sat nice and mesh with the inside of his hand, an anomaly that occurred when it was in use, so it was unlikely to move. The edges of the inner workings of the artifact glowed a feint golden light.’

However you make your narration interesting, whether using action verbs, words conveying emotion, or by any other means is up to you. But keep your reader turning pages.

Posted in Characterization, Plot/Story

Backstory or Bust

Your main character’s backstory, or history, is presented in the first act. Sometimes in act 2 but never in act 3. The bulk of it gets inserted in act 1. I like to think of the backstory as a spring board for what is to come. Will all of it have a bearing on the main story? No. Some of it will work toward the reader getting to know your character and even creating empathy for your character within the reader. But how do you introduce backstory, and what will your character’s backstory be? I will tell you how I did it, and you can take it from there.

So far, I have had to create backstory for three main characters. Once in book 1, once in book 2, and now in book 3. Each time I accomplished this, I did it a different way. In book 1 I used a flashback and introspection with the main character to convey her personal history. By doing this, the reader gained insight into the main character’s state of mind and the relationship she had with her mother. It also conveyed insight into her past behaviors. Where did I get her backstory from? I used a little of my own history and embellished it.

In book 2, we meet Kyle Stevens as our main character. For his backstory, I presented it in a vision he had while in another realm. So, he was actually seeing a memory being played out in front of him. Mixed in with it were memories he had no idea he had. Everything he saw in that vision played an active role in the story to come, physically and mentally. Later in act 2 more backstory is peppered throughout but sparingly. Remember that. Kyle’s history just jumped at me as I was writing it. I made it up as I was going along. That’s a rare thing. I had so much fun writing book 2. Can you tell?

Now, I am in the middle of writing book 3. John Cummings is now the main character. He was a side character in books 1 and 2, but we never gained any real detailed information about him. Until now. The way I present his backstory to the reader is through verbal means. In other words, he has to tell the love of his life about his past. So this time it comes out in a way that’s straight forward. The back story for book 3 I am still working out. I have a journal I write notes in, so this morning as I was working on my manuscript, I got to the part where John is to tell Maggie about his past. I had an idea, but it wasn’t coming clear (not like it did for Kyle in book2). So I sat thinking about John and the other players in the story and the events thus far. Ideas started to click but not to the point where I could make it up as I went along, as before. So I pulled out my journal and jotted down notes about John’s history. That’s where I’m at with that at this point.

Do you have to do what I did? No. You can if you choose, but take my ideas and use them as springboards to other ideas you may come up with. We’re all different and do things in ways that work for us.

Posted in Poetry

Oceanic Symphony by L. M. Montes

In the roar of the ocean
the waves whisper–
breezes tickle–
feathering their way
over waters so vast,
conducting a symphony
so loud yet so fair.

Photo by Zukiman Mohamad on Pexels.com
Posted in Poetry

The Storm by L. M. Montes

Thunder cracked and split a booming blast,
darkness shut the sunlight with one whap,
winds whirled wide and slapped me like a gnat,
rain encased within a cloud-filled sky
pelted passionate pellets till I die.
Lightning stung dark clouds and lit the night,
as day passed on and waved a sad good bye,
wind a swirl threw its tantrum true,
tearing trees and tossing them askew.

Posted in Emotions

Story Tension

Tension within a story is the sense that something ominous/foreboding is around the corner. What are some ways you can create tension within your story?

Forms of Tension

  1. Increase conflict between your characters.
  2. Make the situation worse for your character(s). Ahh, the tension of the task. Don’t make what your characters have to do easy. Don’t allow them to get what they want right away.
  3. There is tension in surprise. Readers like to be surprised, whether it’s good or bad. Prolong it. Keep stringing them along until just the right time.
  4. Create an air of mystery. We all love a mystery.
Posted in Emotions

Character Reactions within a Story

When throwing the unexpected at your characters, it’s important for those characters to react in a way that’s realistic to the situation. If you don’t, the reader is going to end up rolling their eyes or pause in their reading and scratch their head in wonder, which you don’t want. You want your readers to be into your story and to keep going with it. Worse, they could put the story down and never finish reading it.

If you aren’t sure if your characters’ reactions aren’t what they should be, have someone else, like a test/beta reader, read it first before publishing it to the world. Get their feedback. It’s important.

Examples:

Unrealistic: A couple of your characters, let’s say to John and Kevin, are out hunting Big Foot, a.k.a. Sasquatch. They are walking through the forest at night then hear the snap of twigs. They stop and look around. Sasquatch jumps out in front of them and they start laughing.

Realistic: The same characters scream, when Sasquatch jumps out at them, and they run. (Be more creative with their terror besides screaming and running. But you get the idea.)

Unrealistic: One of your characters teleports for the first time in their life and they react as though they’ve been doing it all their life. (Trust me, that’s not a realistic reaction.)

Realistic: The same character teleports for the first time in their life and feels feint afterwards. (Here again, get creative with this.)

Overall, you want your readers to enjoy and take in the story you took so much time and care to write. You want them to experience it and feel it. So don’t ruin that experience for them by causing them to roll their eyes or put the book down.

Posted in Poetry

Pinkish Hues by L. M. Montes

Pinkish hues of gradient splendor
spread your colored robes so free,
across the sky a dance you render
for such souls who yearn to see.

A vacuumed hush with mists of dusk
whisper songs of silence floating,
nature’s calm and slowness brusque
gives way to darkness’ dewy coating.

Nighttime shines with speckled lights’
canopy gently dotting ebony skies,
moonlight hovers beams so tight
commanding coverage until rise.

Morning rays o’er the horizon render
with arms caressing soft and free,
pinkish hues of gradient splendor
for such souls who yearn to see.

Posted in Poetry

Love Beseeches by L. M. Montes

A sea of indifference bobbed
upon waves of unknowing
where life would lead,
currents snatched with need
and hunger overflowing
’til life from all were robbed.

From depths goodness reaches
smoothing waves of worry
when life grows weary,
hands above guide clearly
without swells or hurry
but with love beseeches.

Posted in Poetry

I Shouldn’t Have Blinked by L. M. Montes

Life crept steady when I was little,
speed took a seat for just a while,
days morphed into weeks morphed
into months morphed into years,
then looking back I wondered
where childhood skipped to,
time gazed back, threw me a wink,
then I realized I shouldn’t have blinked.