Comments on: Final Paragraph Party Thoughts

By: craig

craig — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:39:21 +0000

you know i think that tendency to have a character sittin’ and thinkin’ alone happens because we, as writers, are sittin’ and thinkin’ alone. so yeah, always at least two people in every scene is good advice, and i would also suggest that when things flag (the story — or the writer’s energy) then, what the heck, just bring a third person into the scene and see what happens.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:59:01 +0000

Hm. So much to learn….I didn’t realize quite how much my characters vant to be alone. Figuring out how to get them to interact ought to keep me out of trouble for a while.

Thanks again for providing such a helpful, fun, and friendly place to increase awesomeness, Dennis. It’s great.

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:35:27 +0000

Thanks for hosting the party, Dennis. I learned a few things. Particularily I’m thinking about the sentences I have that are standing alone pretending to be paragraphs. Also, I appreciated the point about looking at the last line of paragraphs–making that last line mean something instead of just ending it wherever…

Your observations on the types of paragraphs submitted are interesting too. I scanned through the first chapter of my WIP to find a submission graph, and the first one I came upon was near the end of the chapter. The rest is dialogue and stand-alone sentences (or two sentence-paragrpahs). Hmmm.

Much to think on as I prepare to do another draft of my manuscript.

The image of never leaving the characters alone is useful too.

Party on.

By: bets

bets — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:31:49 +0000

I just took a class recently and the teacher said that dialogue without conflict has no place in fiction. That really resonated with me. My characters spend very little time alone. They might want to be, but they’re soon interrupted.

Of course, I’m not big into reading or writing internal narrative. It often rings too close to telling to me. And, incidentally, I think internal narrative is most interesting when it conflicts with the character’s actions and dialogue.