First Word

Did you know there is a difference between knowingly doing something in your storytelling process and just plain doing what you want to the point it will not attract a publisher? You must understand the structure and storytelling process in order to deviate from it. What do I mean? Well, I see amateur manuscripts where the writer clearly doesn't understand traditional structure, period. The writer will just do whatever he or she pleases, and it doesn't work because there is no context or construct in which the person is deviating. I will give you the reason why and an example. Readers understand certain principles about stories and how stories unfold. Readers have certain expectations about the reading experience, too. For example, readers expect characters to have something as basic as an understandable name. Now you say, what? Yes, I got a manuscript submitted once where the writer absolutely insisted the names be (wait for it) ______. Yes, you saw the right -- underlines for...

The best books take interesting approaches to storytelling. I recently received a submission from a new writer who naturally and successfully broke linear storytelling structure. As her memoir unfolded it wasn't the typical "...and I was born ... and died" approach. Yes, a story needs a beginning and an end. Her story was unique. She began with an opening that defined the theme in the book. She then fluidly moved to major life events. Guess what? Not in chronological order. She began building intrigue by providing her life story through defining events. As she did so, she opened questions to be answered and pull the reader forward -- and that is what you call a page-turner. The reader wonders okay how are we going to get back to this plot point? After building, for example, a chapter where she alludes to her own "death," she then successfully plunges back into her past and how this history makes her who she is now. Brilliant! So the point? Don't take a strai...