Fiction – Page 8 – WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

The Villain Makes the Story

Posted on May 4, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Have you ever wondered what a story/movie would be like if there were no clashing forces going against the main character? It would be boring to the point there would be no story. Not really anyway. Believe it or not villains create that extra zing of emotion for the reader/viewer to the point we sometimes feel as though we’re in the story/movie.

I finished reading a book a few days ago that had me talking back to the characters, and I mean saying things like, “Really? Don’t you see it has nothing to do with terrorism?” At one point I said, “Oh my gosh, this author.” My husband asked, “What?” To which I responded with, “The author drug this out way to much.” Actually, the author did his job, and he did it well. The villains were smug, very smug, and they thought they had everything going the way they wanted it to. Well, they did. The reader (this reader) wanted them to get what was coming to them (and they did eventually). That folks is story, suspense, emotion building writing.

So remember….when you are creating your villains, make sure to give them lots of tender loving care. You want them to connect with the reader too.

The book I spoke of above is linked below just in case you might want to read it. It’s book 5 in the Alton Blackwell Files series by Steven F. Freeman.

Characterization

Character Names

Posted on May 3, 2022April 30, 2022 by L. M. Montes

How do you choose names for your characters? Do you merely assign them a name without giving much thought to it? Do you use a process? There are quite a few things one can do to assign names to their characters. I’ve used a baby names book. Looking names lists online works too. If your character is of another culture or country whose names are different than those used in your own, some baby names books have lists of common names used in different countries.

In one of my pieces of writing I used characters of 4 real life people. I asked them permission first. Please, if you are ever going to do this, ask that person or persons permission to use them in your book/story. When I was renaming these 4 people for my story, I tried to choose names that fit their personalities. Trust me, this wasn’t as easy as it may have appeared to be. One gentleman helped me with that, so that one was easy enough to put a name to. The other three took some thinking. I got my baby names book out and browsed male names. I thought of each person individually and then tried out a name on them. I went through several before settling on some that worked well and matched each of their personalities. There was only one problem. One of the guys I couldn’t think of a name for. At all. So I, for the time being, left his name alone and used his real name until I could think of one that suited him. FINALLY, after writing 25 chapters, I thought of the perfect name for him. Of course, I had to go back and change his name throughout the manuscript, but it was worth the wait.

Most often you’re not going to use real people. But the same thing still rings true. The people you make up will have personalities and you will have to choose a name that fits that personality. Also, if you are going to assign a name to a character that sounds funny or out of place, you might want to explain why they were given that name by making that part of your story. For example, if you give one of your female characters the name of Spunky Dickson (a funny name for a female anyway), have the character tell why her parents named her that. Maybe the whole story centers around that. Maybe Spunky is a nickname.

Have fun choosing names for your characters. Don’t make it a chore. Work with it and mold it into your story.

Scenes

Beginning a Scene (Part II)

Posted on April 30, 2022July 19, 2023 by L. M. Montes

I posted on October 22, 2021 an article about beginning a scene with action. Continuing that, we move to beginning a scene by creating a question in the reader’s mind. This doesn’t mean the author asks a question in the first paragraph. All it means is the situation at the beginning of the scene is done in such a way that the reader must continue reading in order to find the answer to what the information at the beginning of the scene is hinting. See the example below.

Example
Dan did a double take as he glanced up at two women, a blond and a redhead, entering the club. He’d seen the blond female before but couldn’t place her. Maybe she was only a face in the crowd. A nudge on his right shoulder interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey,” said Dwayne with growing impatience. “You join in the rest of the gang or what?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dan turned back to the two women, but they’d disappeared. Shooting a glance in each direction proved fruitless. He ran outside and peered in each direction to no avail.

The rest of the evening, though full of laughter all around, continued to plague him as his thoughts returned to the blond.

The reader is left with a couple of questions:
1. Who is the blond woman?
2. Why is she so important?
There is enticement here. One wants to continue reading to find out who she is and what is the situation behind his familiarity of her. No action is really needed here. Although, one could easily add some to increase the velocity of the story pace.

Fiction

World Building

Posted on April 27, 2022 by L. M. Montes

What’s in the world around you? Do you at times cringe at what you see? Do you take pleasure in what beauty befalls your eyes at various times? Or do you turn your back on it and say “BAH”? Well, I say there should be a happy medium of both good and bad and then make it what you will.

When we as adults are learning something (whatever it may be), be bring to this new knowledge our prior experiences so as to make comparisons. In turn this brings understanding. Plus, we can use the prior experiences of others to learn from as well. What you are doing here is building your knowledge, increasing it even, so you can draw upon it later and use it.

In creating a fictional world, we are doing essentially the same thing. We draw upon what we know of our everyday world around us and places we’ve traveled to and fictionalize them, or we use bits and pieces of it and create a world of fantasy and magic.

Use what you see. Take notes of it. Brainstorm ways you can use it. Draw a map of your created world. But don’t stop there. There is more to world building than its looks/appearance. Made up world have their own government, gods, religion, beings, environment, etc. Below are some links to some great books on world building.

Writing

Wielding Words

Posted on April 10, 2022April 9, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Your pen (or keyboard) is your sword, and the words are the blood that’s shed as a result of wielding your words onto the page. Words have impact. It doesn’t matter what that impact is. Whether they create horror, harshness, love, peace, or fear; they have impact. You are the person in charge of creating that impact. So what kind of thrust to you want to use to create that impact?

You can make something everyday appear abnormal, or you could choose something abnormal or bazaar to appear normal or everyday. It’s all in the words you choose. How you wield your words is up to you. It’s your story, your voice, your personality. Write the words you want to write the way YOU want to write them.

Writing

The Love of Writing

Posted on March 29, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Do you love writing? What kind of writing to you enjoy most? I enjoy writing fiction. I wouldn’t mind writing non-fiction, but then I can’t delve into the creative aspects that is so much a part of fiction.

If you love to write, what do you love about it? For me it’s relaxing. Not only that, but I like the writing high when I’ve written something that brings the story home. When I read a book, any book, I am reminded of the love for the writing craft that other authors have. I can see this in their writing. The attention to detail, the well developed characters, the setting(s), interwoven story lines, and much much more. Of course, none of these details runs off the top of authors’ heads. Much thought is given to every aspect of writing a story.

When I visit Twitter, I feel the joy in every author I follow as they talk about their books. Their love of writing comes through their words.

Love your characters. Breathe your story. Embrace your writing. If you love to write? Write. You don’t necessarily have to write a book. You might enjoy writing short stories, or non-fiction.

Starts

Starting Your Novel

Posted on March 8, 2022July 6, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Beginning a novel can be daunting and confusing because you might not know where to start or how to start. Ideas may be flowing from your brain, and you may have written them down; or not. Either way, when it comes to starting your story, you might fall flat…at first. Don’t worry. There’s hope. We’ve all been there.

Writing a story and drawing it out into a lengthy novel reminds me of smoothing out wrinkles. A once over is good, but you might have to go over it multiple times before it’s the way you want it. The process is lengthy, so I’m not going to kid by saying it’s easy. Time is involved. Great care must be taken. Does it get easier over time? Yes. Know this though…everyone is different. The process might be faster for some than others. That’s okay. The point is to do it your way at your pace. When I first started writing fiction I was in high school, but the urge and yearning to write started much earlier than that. I didn’t know how to write a book, when I was aged ten. Although, there were stories brewing in my head all the same. I was a daydreamer. I still am. I didn’t start getting serious about writing fiction until my undergrad years in college.

I started with writing poems and short stories, but writing novels piqued my interest more, so that journey began. I created a general idea of what I wanted to write, and I set out typing my story. The challenge came when I realized I needed to know more about writing a novel. Thus, that journey also began. Here’s what it all looked like; I wrote my novel and learned how to write one at the same time. Yes, it was time consuming, but it was fun. In that time, I put it down on multiple occasions because life happened. Over the course of writing your novel, you will run up against situations that will stop or slow you down as well.

Whether you are stuck in the starting position because you are unable to generate ideas, you are not sure in which literary genre to write, you do not know where to start, or you need to learn more about writing fiction. We are all different with various backgrounds and life events. Do what is comfortable for you. Although, it doesn’t have to be difficult for you. I don’t want you to have to figure it out along the way like I did. If you are wanting to write a novel/book (fiction) and you have questions, please feel free to ask me questions.

My email is as follows: lmmontes777@gmail.com

Fiction

Types of Conflict (Part 4)

Posted on March 7, 2022March 8, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Person vs Technology
This type of conflict is where a person(s) go up against the perilous effects of technology moving in a forward direction. Someone had a great idea that sounded great at the time, but when the idea was tried out or an experiment done, something went very wrong. A classic tale that depicts this is the book by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Some other examples are 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, The Giver, The Matrix… The list goes on.

Characterization

Types of Conflict (Part 1)

Posted on February 24, 2022 by L. M. Montes

Typically there are six types of conflict. The one I’m addressing today is:

PERSON vs. PERSON

This type has to do with conflicts between characters. It could be a conflict between heroes, between hero and villain, between sparring lovers, or between two neighbors. There are others, but we’ll pick on these four.

Story Examples
1. Hero vs. hero: Captain America: Civil War
2. Hero vs. villain: Any of the Harry Potter movies/books. The seventh book comes to mind though because that holds the ultimate battle between hero and villain. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Between sparring lovers: The movie Crazy, Stupid, Love
4. Between two neighbors: The movie Deck the Halls