Fiction notes – FictionMentor

Hello my friends! I hope you are well and safe and WORKING on something that feeds your soul! 🙂

I am editing an older novel of mine right now and encountered this line, occurring during a tense family dinner:

Dad cleared his throat and set his fork down.

There’s nothing wrong with it. It functions, and functionality (or clarity) is paramount. But what if we did this instead:

Dad examined his fork as if searching for defects.

It’s not Shakespeare, but it does reveal more about Dad and avoids a sentence we could probably find in thousands of novels. With that one sentence, can you see his expression? Does it say more about him than the cliche of clearing his throat?

Be on the lookout for these little adjustments when you revise your work!

Take care, keep working,

~ Tom

In this first episode, we walk and talk through idea generation, the “triad” of conflict, and a quick overview of word count. I start with literally zero ideas, and only a few “restrictions.” Today’s show is about searching through stock photography for a photo that inspires me but also has some quality of conflict in it. Every episode will be the next step in the writing and publishing process, with running commentary on why I’m making certain choices. Use this series to come up with your own story, write it, and get it out into the world!

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