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Friday, March 06, 2009

The Plot Thickens, The Contest Continues...

Well, well, it seems many of you solved the mystery of the previous post. {Ahem, how many of you peeked?} The picture clips you see are indeed pieces of the cover of my new book "Curse of the Spider King," the first of a new fantasy series coAuthored with my good friend Christopher Hopper. The cover is so unspeakably cool that I can't post it all at once. ;-) So, you'll need to settle for a slowwwwwww, drawn out process.


Meanwhile the Header Contest Continues. This blog needs a new Header. Using my books' cover art, desktop art from the sidebar, your own original art, Photoshop, and /or any other cool graphic/titling software, create a header according to the following specs:

1. Header must include text: Enter the Door Within.
2. Header must be the following dimensions: 660 x 105 pixels.
3. Header must be created in jpeg format.
4. Header must be emailed to me by May 1st. (see sidebar for email addy)

The Winning Artist will receive a signed copy of any of my books!


The Plot Thickens



We've talked a lot about how to create the opening of a novel that will HOOK your reader. Click here, if you missed that series of posts. But now that you've hooked a reader, editor, or publisher, how do you keep them reading?

Here are some tried and true techniques to thicken your plot:

1. Develop Your Characters: Readers like to get to know characters, love them, hate them, fear for them, etc. But no matter what, your readers must want to follow these characters through the novel.

• So, get out a scrap sheet of paper, or open a new Scrivener file. (See sidebar for the most fantastic and affordable writing software on the market). Answer these questions: What does she/he look like? Why does he/she dress like that? What are his/her goals? What are his/her motives? Does he/she have any physical quirks--ie things that stand out: a scar, a tattoo, crook in the nose, thin lips, walk with a limp, slurs his "S" sounds, etc?

2. Complicate the Path: Now that you know who your main characters are, ie: you know your good guy's goals and your bad guy goals, it's time to start throwing things in their path that complicate the matter. What can you throw in their way that will keep them from reaching their goals? Good guy is trying to get a job? Make him late for the interview. A watermelon truck turns over on the Interstate. Oops, good luck main character. Good Swordmaiden needs to prove she is queen? Let someone else show up claiming to be queen with evidence to prove it. Keep in mind, these events are not called Rising Actions for nothing. You must up the ante.

3. Multiply the Plotlines: This won't work for all stories, but some authors have driven us crazy with technique. You have multiple main characters. Instead of following one main character through his/her linear (straight forward) path, leave one plotline, preferably with a cliffhanger, and switch to another character. JRR Tolkien, Stephen King, Tad Williams, Tom Clancy...are just a few of the authors who do this to spectacular effect. What happens? You're dying to find out what will befall main character one, but you know you have to read through character two to find out. YAAAAHHHHH!!! {SCREAMS pulls out hair}. The readers will race through your pages. Imagine what happens when you leave character 2 on a cliffhanger as well? Heh, heh, heh! {Cue fiendish laugh}

Beware: this technique can be overdone. If you leave one character's plotline TOO long, you risk losing the reader. Patience can only be stretched so far.

Beware 2: Careful when you switch POV (narrator's point of view). If you're telling the first character's story in first person (I did this. I said...etc), then you should probably tell the other characters' stories in first person from their points of view. I prefer to use 3rd person omniscient, as I can go anywhere and into any character's minds.

4. Offer Intriguing Clues, but Don't Give Away the Farm: If you wrote a good hook in the story's exposition (introductory scenes), you have probably tempted your reader with a mystery of some kind: Who's sending those threatening letters? Why was the sun an eerie greenish color? Who is the killer? The reader wants to know the answers. So, give them a few clues, some text details that lead the reader closer to the answer, without giving the answer away. Devious and evil, I know. But readers love it.

I hope that helps you thicken your plot. Post a comment and let us know how you're using the techniques!


18 comments:

Paris said...

Wow, first comment!

Thanks for the advice!

Kii said...

I'll have to try that. :D

I actually guessed the book cover, and then peeked. Is that still "peeking"?

Nisly_Family said...

One comment on having multiple plotlines...

Don't do that unless you have something interesting going on with person 1 and 2. I have read books where you were just dying to get back to one character, because the other character just wasn't doing anything. Of course, interesting is a matter of opinion...

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for this one to come out.

Anonymous said...

Wayne,

I know your current space only allows for 105 pixels high, but couldn't that be expanded?

There's more room for creativity with a slightly larger area.

Leighton

Paula Turner said...

I love all this advice!!!!

YAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to see the banners the peeps'll come up with....
BTW isn't that a piece of the spider?

Anonymous said...

Is that a bit of a big, creepy spider? I hate spiders...

I'll have to think about the writing advice and compare it to my own work. Good stuff to consider.

Rissa said...

Wow! the spider looks awesome!! I cant wait!!

thank you so much for all of the advise, too!

I had a question: are we allowed to have multiple entries into this contest?

Kel

WayneThomasBatson said...

Yep, multiple entries are absolutely fine!

Rissa said...

yay! Well, I just sent one - and I'm sorry but I didnt get to read this comment before I sent it, so the question is repeated in the email- lol, feel fine to ignore the question in the email. :P Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I think it's really cool that your having A CONTEST!

WayneThomasBatson said...

I've already received a number of headers. Very cool entries so far. Keep 'em coming!

Emily said...

I loved the writing advice! It was great but If you are going to trade off perspective remember to keep the action going or it gets boring!

Brock Eastman said...

Wow! Applying this to my 500 page uncompleted novel. I struggled with having to many perspectives in one chapter, then Brian Davis suggested that I bump them to different chapters or concentrate on chracter because it gets confusing. More re-writing to come. Why was I a Marketing major. Thanks for the good advice. I'll have to keep re-editing my book. Check it out.

Anonymous said...

May I ask again whether you can you make your header taller than 105 to accommodate a larger graphic?

WayneThomasBatson said...

Leighton, I really don't know about the graphic size. One of the other posters gave me that info. I guess that's just the standard header size for blogs. I wish I could tell you more.

Anne said...

Solid pointers for writing - thanks for posting these.

I have to agree with Alassiel, that multi-plotlines can backfire for this reader, if the action or interest is not carefully balanced. I also know a few people who don't read multi-perspective stories on principle.

Anonymous said...

Wayne,

There's really no standard size for blog headers.

The measurements you were given were probably based on your current text header.

If you wanted to, you could easily make it larger. Here are some links to other blogs that use a larger header:

http://www.flamingpen.blogspot.com
http://www.christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com

You can pretty much set any size.

Even Design #7 in your latest blog post is twice the size, at 219 pixels high.

Thanks,

Leighton