By Creston Mapes
“Things get worse.”
“Turn up the heat.”
“Don’t take the reader where she wants to go—give her stress,
strain, pressure!”
“Discombobulate the reader!”
“The secret of breakout plotting is TENSION on every page.”
These reminders are just a few that I’ve written down from
favorite books and websites about how to write page-turning fiction. And I
refer to them often when I’m writing. In fact, I have a folder two- to
three-inches thick entitled, “Writing Tips.” It includes pages of notes I’ve
taken from those favorite books and websites, all about writing good, solid,
exciting fiction that keeps readers hooked from cover to cover.
When I come to a place in the manuscript where I don’t know
what’s going to happen—which is often, because I like to work with a barebones
outline—I simply start looking around at my notes, the ones hanging everywhere.
If that doesn’t work, I get out the old “Writing Tips” folder and simply begin
reading.
Much of the great advice comes from The Complete Guide to Writing & Selling the Christian Novel by
Penelope J. Stokes; Stein on Writing by Sol Stein; On Writing by Stephen King; Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald
Maass; The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron, and the editors of
Writer’s Digest; and Plot& Structure by James Scott Bell.
One of the notes sticking above me reads: “You must not come lightly to the blank page.”Another: “Writing…this is just another job like laying pipe or driving
long-haul trucks. Shut the door and get to it.” And another: “Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be
frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with you: He will
not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly (1
Chronicles 28: 20).”
So, take notes when you’re reading those books on the craft
of writing fiction. Print out the articles and tips that inspire you. Crank up
the music and get motivated to give the fiction reader what he really wants: tension on every page!
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