I ran out of reading matter on Saturday night due to the heavy snow falls. (Yes, I know that to you people who regularly experience heavy snowfalls, the eight inches we’ve received must seem piddlingly small, but to us, who haven’t seen snow that lasted more than 24 hours for at least ten years, this is A Big Event) So anyway, to get back to the matter of reading - I went back to Writing the Breakout Novel by Maass.
Bought it last year, read it and wondered what all the fuss was about. Let me tell you, what he writes is making much more sense this time around!
For example, his advice on first pages has really started me thinking. In general, I’m a fan of the in media res school ~ start with everyone on the run, and the reader playing catch up. And so, it seems, is he. His comments made a lot of sense, especially those on Bridging Conflict, so in case you haven’t heard, (but really to reinforce the information in my mind,) here is my interpretation of what he says:
Bridging Conflict – a mini conflict or tension strong enough to carry the reader to the next step in the narrative. The effect lasts half a page, and after that, another spark of tension is required. These little jolts continue throughout the story. He quotes the first lines Carson McCullough used in A member of the Wedding:
“It happened that green and crazy summer when Frankie was 12 years old. That was the summer when for a long time she had not been a member.”
Don’t those two lines make you curious? They did me. Wouldn’t you read on? I did.
So now I am busy rethinking the opening page of my wip. And I’m excited about it.
In spite of the fact that it snowed again last night and my exercise class is cancelled because people can't get to it.
Bought it last year, read it and wondered what all the fuss was about. Let me tell you, what he writes is making much more sense this time around!
For example, his advice on first pages has really started me thinking. In general, I’m a fan of the in media res school ~ start with everyone on the run, and the reader playing catch up. And so, it seems, is he. His comments made a lot of sense, especially those on Bridging Conflict, so in case you haven’t heard, (but really to reinforce the information in my mind,) here is my interpretation of what he says:
Bridging Conflict – a mini conflict or tension strong enough to carry the reader to the next step in the narrative. The effect lasts half a page, and after that, another spark of tension is required. These little jolts continue throughout the story. He quotes the first lines Carson McCullough used in A member of the Wedding:
“It happened that green and crazy summer when Frankie was 12 years old. That was the summer when for a long time she had not been a member.”
Don’t those two lines make you curious? They did me. Wouldn’t you read on? I did.
So now I am busy rethinking the opening page of my wip. And I’m excited about it.
In spite of the fact that it snowed again last night and my exercise class is cancelled because people can't get to it.
