*roughly
Pitch Wars announced their 2021 and early 2022 schedule. Seeing the deadlines for mentor applications and mentee submissions, and especially seeing the dates chosen for the 2022 showcase, feels so strange. It’s so close to coming up again. I’ll have another post later about my feelings about this, and either in that post or yet another even later maybe some advice for people about to dive into this. Today’s post is a little different.
Coincidentally, I think, around the same day the timeline was posted, a bunch of us in the 2020/21 mentee chat group needed a bit of a boost. (If you’re finding this blog because you’re a Pitch Wars hopeful, you either have already or will soon see a lot on this theme: getting into Pitch Wars doesn’t make all your worries as a writer go away, any more than getting an agent or a book deal will. Don’t expect it to magically make you feel perfect about your writing. It won’t. That’s okay! It’s not supposed to! And while it’s different for different people, for me it’s been overall a great experience. Now, where was I? Oh, yes…) A bunch of us needed a boost and we wound up making a thread listing our own writing strengths!
Listing our strengths evolved into giving a few words of advice about them. And I had the idea to collect those in one place and share them, for anyone who’s interested. Check them out below, included with the permission of a few of my friends and fellow members of the Pitch Wars Class of 2020! (And click on any contributor’s name to visit them on Twitter.)
VOICE
Gretchen Schreiber
https://mailchi.mp/f54c0e1f5761/disabledyanewsletter
1. Music — helps to build flow and pacing of words
2. What does your MC love (like a thing or expertise) — build that into the way metaphors take shape.
3. Line breaks, white space, and hard returns
4. Slang / specific words / personal expertise
MULTI-P.O.V. NARRATIVES
E.G. Fulmer
https://erinfulmerwrites.wordpress.com/
1. Use as few POVs as possible to tell the story—more POVs or swift POV shifts can make a story harder to connect with and follow.
2. Each POV should have a distinguishable “voice,” goal, and arc—they should bring something important/unique to the story and be fully realized characters in themselves.
3. Your structure and plot will be easier to wrangle if you choose a single protagonist out of your POVs, though each POV should still follow your chosen structure/beats at least loosely.
4. When switching POVs, use a scene or chapter break, and try to indicate whose head the reader is inhabiting as soon as possible—ideally in the first sentence, though you can also use a header with the character’s name to help ground the reader.
5. Because of their complexity, multi-POV stories may require very tight writing to feel complete and well-developed, so be prepared to be ruthless about what scenes are necessary and who is the right person to narrate specific events.
CHARACTERS READERS LOVE
R.A. Black
wordsofrablack.wordpress.com
1. Make them fail - it's hard to be invested in someone who never makes mistakes
2. Make them vulnerable - give them something that can be used against them, something that can be exploited, whether that's a relationship, something they need to protect etc. And even better if the reader can see that coming before the character
3. Make them want - give them a goal, something they need to achieve, and something the reader can root for along with them
4. Make them connect - the main character’s interactions with the side characters helps bring them to life more, even if those interactions are less than positive. Relationships changing as the book progresses show growth in the main character as well
5. Make them laugh - it's often easier to relate to a character we've shared a joke or happy moment with, then one who purely experiences misery. And also it makes the moment when they do lose that happiness much more poignant.
DIALOGUE THAT FLOWS
E.G. Fulmer
https://erinfulmerwrites.wordpress.com/
1. Dialogue has a rhythm, like music—develop your ear by listening to real conversations, but also recognize that the way people really speak (often contentless, full of ums and uhs and small talk) doesn’t translate on the page exactly. Written dialogue is a stylized imitation and carries more emotional content than the average real-world conversation.
2. Use beats (physical action/”business” if you speak theater, internal thoughts/reactions, emotional responses, etc.) as a counterpoint to the spoken dialogue—it says a lot more than tags like “she said” (tags are still fine, just use them sparingly).
3. Know your characters’ different voices and use their voices as a vehicle for characterization, i.e. some characters will favor declarative statements over questions, some will qualify and prevaricate, some will be wordy, others terse, some will have verbal tics/catch phrases/habits.
4. Dialogue partners’ spoken lines should respond to each other in some way, but how they choose to respond and what they respond to can be very telling—perhaps they turn something into a joke, change the subject, deflect, lash out to hide vulnerability, or pick out a specific part of the previous speaker’s line but ignore the rest.
5. Dialogue should move the story forward, just like any other aspect of story, by revealing character motivations, catalyzing change, advancing goals, deepening relationships, or sparking conflict—banter is fun but it should carry some story purpose as well.
DIALOGUE
M (half of MK Hardy)
1. Say the words in your head if you can do that and out loud if you can't.
2. Put your face in whatever expression their face is in as they're talking.
3. Don't have them say the name of the person they're talking to unless there's a reason for it.
4. Pick your vocal/verbal ticks and don't mix them up between characters.
5. Finally: start actively noticing how real people talk.
CHARACTERS EXPERIENCING EMOTION
C.J. Dotson
cjdotsonauthor.com (hey that’s where you are right now!)
1. Take time to describe the sensation physically, sometimes, don’t only ever use the words for the emotions.
2. Once you know what emotion your character is feeling, think of the thing that provokes that emotion in yourself; recall specifically how your body felt when you were experiencing that emotion.
3. If you can’t remember that sensation, and if it’s safe for you to do so, make yourself feel the emotion again and write a list of everything you physically feel in response to that. (For example, my eyes water when I’m scared.)
4. Even the coldest, most logical character will probably make at least some decisions based on emotion rather than rational thought; let their emotions push them to act irrationally sometimes—that doesn’t mean acting out of character, and it can deepen the characterization.
5. Don’t forget the emotional aftermath: When the anger has burned itself out, when the crying is done, when the laughter fades, how does that leave your character feeling, and how does that impact their next actions?
ANGST+STEAM
Stella Wren
stella-wren.com
1. Angst: Boil angst down to a battle between the character and themself—define the inner demon they are fighting and build scenes that force them to face it.
2. Angst: Externalize the angst to a symbol in the text and evolve the character’s relationship to that thing over the course of the narrative.
3. Steam: Find at least one point of contrast in the scene and blow it out—ex: character vs. character (enemies to lovers), characters vs. society (forbidden love), or characters vs. setting (Beds? Who needs beds?).
4. The Steam Is In The Details. That thing you love, but you don’t think anyone else likes that thing? That’s the thing. Put that dude’s ring on his middle finger. I DARE YOU.
5. Steam+Angst: Define the relationship of steam to angst over the course of the scene, the act, and the book (Is it a healing catharsis? A pleasurable but ultimately toxic tryst?) and use it to catalyze your character's development.
DESCRIPTIONS
Sari
1. Always add details. It's not enough to say it's a rug, you want to say what the pattern is, and if it ties back into your worldbuilding even better, so it says something about the world you're in.
2. The best way to embed description is in the character's interactions with it. Texture is so very grounding, so is smell. They add layers to things that sight alone does not.
3. I really love describing heat in different ways. There's the sweat on people, the sun beating down, but my favorite thing in my PW novel was talking about the heat lines rising in squiggles from a car. it's such a mundane detail, but if it doesn't say summer in arizona, idk what does. Think about temperature. Cold should be biting, Sun and heat should impact everything.
4. Think about what makes something unique. Does the mug have a chip in it? Are the couches worn and faded? Is there a grandfather clock ticking noisily in the background? Even better if it's something that annoys the character or makes the object endearing.
5. Dabble it out in bits and pieces. No one wants ten pages about the lake, followed by songs about the lake.
NATURE DESCRIPTIONS
Sara Codair
saracodair.com
1. Use some metaphor or simile, but don’t go overboard
2. Use as many of the five senses as possible
3. Don’t worry about cramming ever little detail into the description—just pick the ones you feel the most strongly about
4. Connect the description to the character’s emotional state.
5. Make the description part of the scene or action—it doesn’t have to all be one long paragraph but can be sprinkled throughout an action.
IMMERSIVE SETTINGS
Lyz Mancini
lyzmancini.com
1. close your eyes and imagine yourself in that room or field or bar or whatever.
2. Pretend you’re a Sims character. Walk around it, smell it, feel stuff, stare at people, explore it all as if there were no societal rules and you could freely walk around
3. If the place exists, go there! I’ve revisited locations that appear in my stories to notice attention to details I’d never noticed before
4. Meditate on the locations in different seasons and situations. Whats it like in winter? What’s it like at 4am? What’s it like on fire?
5. Pretend you’re a vibe architect and get to writing. Go full in on too much detail at first. Instead of editing in the detail layer, edit out too much detail later.
ACTION SCENES
C.J. Dotson
cjdotsonauthor.com
1. This is not the time for introspection.
2. Cut your sentences in half. Maybe into thirds. Shorter sentences read faster. This increases the pacing and the tension.
3. Emotional responses to the action are good, but try to weave them throughout rather than explaining them in long, flowing sentences or all at once. Also, this is a good time to really keep the emotional descriptions grounded in the physical.
4. Cut your paragraphs in half, too. Maybe into thirds. It’s the same as with sentences.
5. Make sure the stakes of the action scene are clearly laid out from the start. Why is the action happening? Why is it happening now? What does failure look like for this scene? What happens if the character does fail? Make sure your reader knows this going in. Even if you raise the stakes (plot twist, the villain suddenly reveals that he has captured the hero’s best friend! oh no the rockslide shifted course and is about to hit a pet store! even if you make it to the dock before the lava reaches you, if you’re not fast enough the ship will still leave without you!) partway through the action sequence, there still needs to be a clear objective or consequence from the start, too.
PLOT
Gretchen Schreiber
https://mailchi.mp/f54c0e1f5761/disabledyanewsletter
1. Always know your: hook, midpoint turn, and climax
2. Scene tests — does the scene push the plot forward?
3. Brianstorm 50-100 scenes for the book, then hand pick the best ones and put them into order / force them into a story
4. How is the character pushing it forward — happenstance/coincidence is only okay in act 1
PACING
Diba Bijari
1. This may sound simple, but in any scene, keep only what is necessary in terms of descriptions and dialogue, so the inciting incident is most striking, especially in the first 20 pages. As much as I love pretty prose, it fuzzes the reader’s focus in the beginning. Save it for later!
2. If you’re tired of a certain scene as you write it, the reader will be too.
3. Something I’m working on: try not to stay in your protagonist’s head (if in first person POV) for too long. Dialogue is key. Interaction with other characters moves things quickly naturally.
4. Move scenes along with their most exciting key points and less detail or long prose. Sounds like the scene will be naked without, but no, it works.
5. Think of the scenes as movie scenes and how long you’d tolerate them in a movie.
NARRATIVE ARC
E (half of MK Hardy)
1. Figure out what your character(s) wants at the beginning of the story, and then do everything in your power not to give it to them.
2. Or, give it to them but when they get it, it's not what they want after all.
3. Make sure each chapter/scene/conversation moves them in some way - doesn't always have to be forward, but don't stay static
4. A good arc shows change - both in the characters and the narrative. Change usually evokes feelings - oftentimes more negative than positive. What emotions are you evoking in your reader?
5. Ideally your reader will realise where things are going just before you (or your character) gets there. You want things to move logically but not predictably
THEME
M (half of MK Hardy)
1. What is your theme: a hypothesis, a question, an exploration?
2. State your theme early, in passing; it'll make you look clever later.
3. Knit it through every aspect of the story - your hero, your villain, your setting and your metaplot should all service the theme.
4. Your theme should be explored in both a literal and metaphorical/metaphysical sense if at all possible.
5. State your theme again in the third act, and be as heavy-handed as you feel is tasteful: you earned it.
REVISING
Briana Una McGuckin
Moonmissives.com
1. Write the compelling parts of the first draft, for you. Embrace that the picture will be incomplete, let it be okay. You don’t even know what you’ll need and what you won’t until it’s over, so just do what you have to do to tell the story to yourself.
2. Understanding that plot and character arc turn on each other, write down questions of plot/character as you have them (e.g., how can it be more believable that Todd would do this?, or is there a better way to burn the house down?) You don’t need the answers yet—and likely you won’t get them—so just keep writing.
3. At the end of the first draft, revisit your list of questions. If you get an answer, go back to that place in the book and fix the plot/character issue. Repeat until the plot and character development work together for you in a believable way. This is your draft 2.
4. Reread again, looking for those elements outside of character or plot that you UNDER-wrote in your first draft, and note them down. For me, these things are setting, body-language, and people reasoning/reacting on the page. Whatever they turn out to be for you, this dictates your next 3 (or however many) revisions. Go through looking for where setting is needed and mark it/add it, start to finish. That’s draft 3. Then go again, with the next element on the list. That’s draft 4, and so on.
5. On the other side of this, the manuscript should be MEATY. You added what you needed. Now you can look for what you DON’T need anymore, now that you have formerly-under-written elements doing more of the narrative work. What did you over-write? For me, it’s dialogue and reflection. Make a list and do it the same as with your under-writing—one draft per element focus, except this time you’re cutting what is now extraneous
6. When this is done, I reread again and see how things hang together, and the longer I wait to do that, the better, so I’m less inside the story, more dependent on what’s on the page.
7. I rely on what I call “task lists.” Instead of marking pages, I keep a separate word doc that lists issues chapter to chapter. This way, as I go through (whatever phase I’m in), I can cross things off a list. It feels productive, and it keeps the revision from feeling overwhelming
There you have it! These aren’t be-all end-all guides to writing, of course, mostly this is what we’ve found works for us. As with any writing advice, if you try it and find that it doesn’t work for you, don’t try to force yourself into someone else’s way of doing things. But we hope that these five-sentence advices can help! Oh, and hey, if you’re reading this and you have a particular writing strength or specialty you’d like to share, especially if you want to throw out any words of advice of your own, I’d love to see what you have to say in the comments!
Also, if you’re checking this out in advance of submitting to Pitch Wars, keep an eye out for a future blog post or two where I’ll talk about that more specifically, and good luck!