Menu Close

Tag: writing tips

Writers: How to Engage the Five Senses

Tracey Dyck 19 Comments

Writers, have you ever received a critique saying that your story wasn’t immersive enough? Have you ever heard, “Show, don’t tell?” Have you ever struggled to convey your story’s setting in a way that doesn’t devolve into paragraph upon paragraph of dry exposition?

And readers, have you ever read a scene that felt like talking heads in a white room, with nothing to paint a picture of the surroundings? Have you ever felt detached from the main character, like you’ve become an outside observer instead of being welcomed into the character’s deepest thoughts and feelings?

If you said yes to any of those questions, I’ve got a technique that will help you!

The writers among us, that is. The only help the readers will receive is an understanding of one reason why they may not click with a story. Sorry, guys.

Let’s talk about THE FIVE SENSES.

Before you roll your eyes and tell me, “Yes, yes, we learned this in kindergarten,” hear me out. Your story is lush and alive and teeming with creativity . . . in your mind. The challenge of writing is to transfer that vision to the page. It’s harder than it looks. You have a living movie reeling through your thoughts, but the page? The page is blank until you start putting that movie into words.

And some things get lost in translation. I’ve written story elements that seemed so clear and obvious in my mind, only to have beta readers get confused.
I’ve written descriptions I thought were the most brilliantly vivid words to grace the page, until I reread it the next day and found it flat and lifeless.
Image result for bored gifs
I’ve been writing long enough to have gotten better at this over time, but it’s still something I wrestle with, particularly in first drafts. It might be a skill we writers will never perfect, but can continue improving.

So how do we transform lifeless prose and blank white rooms into that Technicolor movie in our heads?

Engage the senses.

Sight. Sound. Smell. Taste. Touch.

When you draw on all of them, your setting–and more importantly, your character’s experiences within the setting–will come alive.

You may find yourself leaning on one or two of the five senses and neglecting the others. I depend most heavily on sight, as do most writers, I suspect. My default is to describe what the setting looks like. Perhaps that is the most important sense most of the time. After all, if the reader cannot picture what a place looks like, it’s very difficult to choreograph action or ground a scene.

But sight alone is not enough. Your character has more than eyes–he or she has ears, a tongue, a nose, and skin, and all of these are just as busy experiencing his or her surroundings as yours are. In battle, your character will not just see an enemy horde. He will taste dirt and blood, hear the moans of the dying, feel his arms vibrate with a heavy sword strike. Cozied around a campfire, your character will not merely see the flickering orange flames. She will feel their heat and smell the smoke and hear the crackle of popping logs.

When dispensers of writing advice admonish you to show, not tell, what they often mean is that instead of cruising over the landscape with a cursory “he did this and she felt that,” you should dive deep into the sensory experience.

Here are a few examples, some from my own writing, others from published books I’ve read.

SIGHT

Image result for pixar gifs
Throngs of people choked a road winding uphill toward the castle. [The Brightest Thread]
What do we see? Crowds, a twisty road, and some sense of a castle.
Shadows pooled between the trees. [The Brightest Thread]
We see a forest, and the verb choice gives us a sense of mystery.

Norwood stood at his dented and stained herb table, the backdrop of his curio cabinet displaying rows of green-hued bottles and jars, most of which held some sort of powder, paste, or plant. [Fawkes, Nadine Brandes)

These little details–the dented table, green bottles, powders and pastes–are potent enough to create an entire aesthetic for the room.

SOUND

Low, rumbly voices filtered through the undergrowth, too muffled to make out the words. [The Brightest Thread]

In one sentence we know there are multiple speakers, they are some distance away, and they are either male or monstrous. (Correct answer: they’re ogres.)

The yellow flags above me snap sharp and loud in the breeze as if to emphasize my owner’s words that yes, she’s quite aware such a high count is utterly ridiculous. [Storm Siren, Mary Weber]

“Snap” is a punchy verb bolstered by the two adjectives “sharp” and “loud,” which together call to mind exactly the sound you’re supposed to hear.

Image result for pixar gifs
SMELL



The warm scents of buttered loaves and seasoned roasts were all that was left of the feast. [The Brightest Thread]

Is your mouth watering yet?

Moist air wafted past my nose, carrying the odor of a brewery–malt and hops. [Reapers, Bryan Davis]

In this scene, we’re getting a sense of where the protagonist lives, and the smell of a brewery adds a unique detail.

The odor of fish mixed with the scent of roses, berries, fresh bread. Blood from the slaughter stall constricted my throat. [Fawkes, Nadine Brandes]

Ah, nothing like the blend of aromas from a seventeenth century London marketplace, am I right?

TASTE

It took her awhile, but her reaction is priceless!!
He tosses a berry in a high arc toward me. I catch it in my mouth and break the delicate skin with my teeth. The sweet tartness explodes across my tongue. [The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins]

Mmm, now I’m hungry for berries . . .

(Oddly enough, I had a terribly hard time finding more good examples for this sense. It seems that the mere mention of food is often enough to conjure an idea of its taste. Other tastes often found in the books I read are blood, alcohol, salt, medicine, etc.*)

*Sounds like I read fantasy. *wink*

TOUCH

Aleida jumped off the log and stumbled on unsteady feet. Her skin buzzed with the aftermath of magic. [The Brightest Thread]

We all know how it feels to stumble or feel unsteady. We also get a sense of electricity with the word buzzed.

Thorns scratched her ankles and tree limbs whipped past her face. [The Brightest Thread]

Rather than just knowing the character is running through a forest, we feel the scratches of thorns and branches reaching out to block her way.

Prickly vibrations raced along my cloak from the baggy sleeves to the top of the hood, tickling the two-day stubble across my cheeks and chin. [Reapers, Bryan Davis]

Here a sensation is woven into the book’s first clues about who the protagonist is (a male wearing a cloak).

All Together Now!

Now that we’ve seen the five senses in action, let’s see what it looks like when multiple senses are used together.

Image result for disney tangled i have a dream gifs

Birdsong filtered through the branches. Every rock and pine needle poked her slippers, but it didn’t matter. She was out; she was on an adventure and about to set her parents at ease. The thought of someone detecting her absence and giving chase prodded her into a light run. How good it felt to stretch her legs. [The Brightest Thread]

The only explicitly referenced senses are hearing (birdsong) and touch (poking her slippers, stretching her legs). But notice how other senses are implied? You might have pictured the forest, since branches, rocks, and pine needles are mentioned (sight). You may have even assumed the temperature (touch again) or imagined the scent of forest air (smell).

In well-written description it’s not the quantity of senses used, but the quality that depicts the mood.

The important thing isn’t to reel out a grocery list of sensory inputs every time your character walks onto a new scene. It’s to use whichever senses are most important at the moment and let the reader’s imagination fill in the gaps.


And that, my writer friends, is one way to immerse your reader in every scene you write! It’s not the only tool by any means, but it certainly goes a long way in painting a vivid picture that lives and moves and breathes.

***

Assignment #1: If you’re looking to practice this method, try reading a chapter of your current work-in-progress and highlighting every sensory description. See which senses you use most often. Consider which senses are underused. Look for places you haven’t described any senses at all. Then dive in and make some changes!

Assignment #2: Crack open a favorite book and page to your favorite chapter. On a separate piece of paper, make two columns. In the first, list all the senses that the author explicitly describes. In the second, list all the extra, unwritten senses you imagine as you read. Have fun!

Keep Reading

The Voices of YA Tag

Tracey Dyck 22 Comments

I have been tagged by Lisa @ Inkwell for the Voices of YA tag! (Everyone go say hi to her. She’s awesome.) Truth be told, she tagged me a whole Y E A R ago, and here I am, finally getting around to it.

 

The Rules:

  • Thank the person who tagged you (thanks again, Lisa, and sorry for my tardiness!)
  • Link to the original creator (you can find it from Caitlin Lambert @ Quills and Coffee HERE)
  • Answer the ten questions
  • Tag at LEAST two other YA writers/bloggers
  • Share with the hashtag #VoicesofYA




[graphic from Caitlin Lambert]

1. What draws you to YA?

 

The emotions! Everyone knows teenhood is fraught with them, and so is young adult fiction. Now, I’m not a big fan of melodramatic angst–that can get ridiculous fast–but I am in love with the full range of excitement, confusion, doubt, passion, and fear that can be found in teenaged protagonists.

Of course these things are also present in adult fiction, and even to a certain extent in middle grade fiction . . . but YA is where it really shines. It’s the bridge between the carefree days of childhood and the responsibility of adulthood. It’s when a person starts to define who he or she is. It’s one big cocoon of transformation, and that’s what I love about it.

 

I may be older than most YA characters by now, but that doesn’t make their struggles any less relevant. If anything, I think teens are just more honest about the hard things, and it’s the adults who try to hide behind masks. I hope I always stay young at heart.

 

2. Describe your writing process. Do you like outlines and structures, or seeing where the story takes you?

 

Both! When I started out, I wrote by the seat of my pants, content to see where the story wandered. (Outlining? Pfft, that was for school.) That worked until I started writing actual novels and got very stuck. Then I switched to outlining–the full Roman numeral chapter-by-chapter method–and that worked until the plot and characters took on lives of their own and refused to listen to my plan. I tried bending them to my will, but they clammed up and became wooden and boring.

 

So now I’m a hybrid, neither a pantser nor a plotter. I like a good roadmap with all the important signposts in place, but I want the freedom to figure out the road in between as I go. Whenever the space between signposts (a.k.a. bullet points in a Word doc) is too big and I get lost, I step back and re-evaluate, usually filling in a few more plot points before I keep writing.

 

That’s what works for me now, but who knows? That could change one day. Every book is a new adventure, and my process keeps evolving.

3. How long have you been writing? Where are you in your journey?

 

I have been writing in some form or another since I was six or seven, when a love of books and the encouragement of my first grade teacher overflowed into the act of writing my own tales.

 

I have been writing novels since I was twelve, when I started The Prophet’s Quest, which, at the time, was a thinly veiled Chronicles of Narnia / Dragons in Our Midst crossover.

 

Since then, I wrote the sequel (The Prophet’s Key) and started the third book in the series (untitled). I edited TPQ, the first book, numerous times–first on my own and then with the help of amazing mentors (you know who you are!)–when I was sixteen. That’s what really jumpstarted my writing craft. I also started rewriting TPK, the second book.

I wrote four novella-sized retellings of fairy tales in between those edits/rewrites: The Glass Girl (Cinderella), Blood Rose (Beauty and the Beast), The Brightest Thread (Sleeping Beauty), and most recently, Mirrors Never Lie (Snow White). All of these were for contests hosted by Rooglewood Press, and I’m still delighted whenever I think about TBT and MNL placing as finalists.

 

Because I fell irreversibly in love with The Brightest Thread, and because it had so much room for more story, I expanded it into a full novel last summer. After taking a break for college, I’m now editing this special story.

 

But I guess that’s my writing history, and the question asked about the journey. So where am I right now? I’m honing my craft, working to sharpen my plotlines and smooth my characters’ rough edges. I’m devouring all the education on writing I can, from blogs to books to conferences to conversations with real-life authors. I’m researching the publishing industry. I’ve been putting my work out there in little ways. And right now, I’m slowly but surely researching literary agents and preparing myself to query in earnest.

 

This author thing is a long road, and I refuse to put timelines on it anymore, but I honestly do feel like I’m a lot closer to publishing than I’ve ever been.

 

(None of this is supposed to be an “oh, look at me!” statement. Just sharing my journey: where I’ve been, where I am, and where I dream of going.)

 

4. What do you need to write? Coffee? Music?

 

Neither is a necessity. I like coffee, but most days tea is more appreciated. I love music, but it’s been a long time since I wrote to it consistently. All I need is a spot on the couch in the living room, my laptop, maybe a notebook, and relative quiet. (People can be talking, but I can’t have a movie playing in the background.)

 

In high school, I would hole up in my room for hours at a time with Narnia soundtracks on loop, and that’s how I wrote. But since the adult life takes me away from home a lot more often than the homeschooled-teen life did, these days I like to camp out someplace in the house that’s closer to my family. I guess I’ve gotten used to having distractions people around?

 

5. If you could offer one piece of advice to another writer (other than “don’t give up”), what would it be?

 

If you want to publish, you’re going to need to be in this for the long haul. Even if you don’t want to publish, and your dream is to share your stories with friends and family, you still need to see the long game. Because writing a book is not a fast process. Publishing it is an even longer process.

 

See question #3? I’ve been writing seriously for ten years, and only now do I have a novel I think might be publishing-worthy. (And it’s not even done. Revisions take time.) As a young writer, I dreamt of being a breakout bestseller at age sixteen. All those other authors with stories about hundreds of rejections and years of waiting? Ha, that wouldn’t happen to ME. Fast forward to today, and I’m honest-to-goodness glad it’s a longer journey than I once thought. Sixteen-year-old me was not ready. That book I was writing at the time wasn’t ready. Great gobs of gravy, I’m not sure if I’m 100% ready now, but I’m a lot closer than before. Your journey will look different, but be willing to see the big picture and Take. Your. Time.

 

The thing is, if you’re serious about this, you’re going to need patience by the truckload. Determination, humility, a willingness to learn, and courage help a lot too. Writing is easy. Writing well takes a lot of practice and a lot of guts. And publishing? Well, I’ll let you know how that goes! See the big picture. It will keep you from getting discouraged when you feel stuck.

 

6. What book still has you reeling from its plot twist?

 
It’s so hard to pick just one! But since we’re talking about YA, I’ll point to one of my favorite YA fantasy books, The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. A number of my Goodreads friends say that they saw the twist coming, but for some reason I did not. Maybe knowing there is a twist makes it easier to see coming?

Anyway, it surprised me! Suddenly the plot clicked in a way it hadn’t before, and niggling little things that had bothered me started to make sense. It was epic. Go read it. The rest of the Ascendance Trilogy is a lot of fun too.

 

7. What books are you most anticipating for this year?

 

FAAAAAAAWWWWKKKEESSSSSS.

Ahem. I’ve only read one book by Nadine Brandes so far, but I am ridiculously excited about her historical fantasy coming out next month! Because hey, it’s historical fantasy, and I do not have enough of that wonderfulness in my life. Also it involves the Gunpowder Plot (y’know, Guy Fawkes and blowing up the king and all that jazz?). And it involves masks. And magic. And the cover is gorgeous. And Nadine Brandes wrote it. So I am all the excited.

 
I’m also looking forward to reading A Thousand Perfect Notes, C.G. Drews’ recent debut! It’s Cait from Paper Fury, people! Our very own queen of the universe! So I’m very happy for her and can’t wait to have my heart broken by her book.
 

Some other books that have been out for a while, but are among the “highly anticipated” books on my TBR this year . . .

 

The Scorpio Races and All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron. Wanted: a Superhero to Save the World by Bryan Davis. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer. By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson. The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber. (I’d better stop.)

 

8. In your opinion, which YA book/series has the most unique premise?

 

Excuse me? How am I supposed to answer that?

 

Pardon me while I go stare at my Goodreads shelves.

 

. . .

 

Okay. I’m back. The problem is that all my favorites have something unique about them, whether it’s fairytales in space (The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer), the non-burning of the Library of Alexandria (The Great Library series by Rachel Caine), or a spiritual journey in the midst of a creepy small town (Solitary Tales by Travis Thrasher).

 

But I honestly can’t think of anything quite like the mashup of awesomeness found in the triplet series Dragons in Our Midst / Oracles of Fire / Children of the Bard by Bryan Davis. Where else can you read about dragons, Arthurian legend, Biblical history, and sci-fi technology in one storyworld? These books span Earth across literal millennia, plumb the depths of Hades, ascend to Heaven, and venture into realms straight out of the author’s imagination. Rereading them this year has been awesome.

 

9. What is your all-time favorite quote from YA?

 

I’m no good at these “all-time favorite” questions, so I’ll cop out and offer you two quotes I like–one amusing and the other deep.

 

First, from Winter by Marissa Meyer:

 
“Did you see any rice in there? Maybe we could fill Cinder’s head with it.”

 
Everyone stared at him.

 
“You know, to . . . absorb the moisture, or something. Isn’t that a thing?”

 
“We’re not putting rice in my head.”

 

Second, from my current read, Enoch’s Ghost by Bryan Davis:

Sapphira held the brick with the red diode close to the photometer. “You can’t do this alone, Ashley.”

 
She released her hair, leaving a bloody smear. “I couldn’t reach Larry. I already tried.”

 
“I don’t mean Larry.” Sapphira’s eyes once again blazed. “I think you know exactly what I mean.”

 
Ashley looked up at her and stared. “If you mean have faith, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

 
“I know you’re trying.” Sapphira laid a hand on Ashley’s cheek. A ripple of fire rode along Sapphira’s forearm and crept into her hand. “You have been trying all your life.”

 
Ashley closed her eyes. Heavenly warmth radiated into her cheek and flowed throughout her body, loosening her muscles and draining her tension.

 
“Relax, Ashley, and let Jehovah work through you. Faith asks that you let his power flow, not your anxiety, not your fears, and not your sweat. His power.”

 

10. What books do you most hope will have a movie adaptation?

 
Ooooh, that’s a good question. My one caveat with this list is that these movies have to be made really well or not at all. Ha.
 
  • The Lunar Chronicles // Marissa Meyer
    • If they get the casting right and use top-notch special effects, this could be epic!
  • Solitary Tales // Travis Thrasher
    • These would be so. stinking. creepy. Especially with a good composer for the soundtrack!
  • Rangers Apprentice // John Flanagan
    • Again, good casting, please! But how fun would it be to see these adventures on the big screen? I think a TV show would work a lot better than a movie series in this case.
  • Illusionarium // Heather Dixon
    • Because I just want a steampunk movie.
  • The Montmorency books // Eleanor Updale
    • Set in Victorian London, with the main character living the dual life of a gentleman and a criminal, this could be a fun set of movies. It’s been forever since I read them, but now I want to reread . . .
  • My own books!
    • Come on, every writer dreams of this, right?
 

Thanks for the tag, Lisa! It rescued me on a day my brain didn’t want to cooperate with blogging, and it was fun to boot.

 

I hereby tag:

 

Chloe @ Faeries and Folklore*
Kaitlyn @ Animal Jam Jumble*
Hanna @ Taking My Time
Josiah @ The Steadfast Pen
Savannah @ Inspiring Writes
Victoria Grace Howell @ Wanderer’s Pen
You, if you want to steal it!

*You both are YA readers, not necessarily YA writers, but go ahead and tweak the first five questions to suit yourselves. 🙂

Keep Reading

Holes in the Literary World Part 1 – Realism in Fantasy

Tracey Dyck 16 Comments

Thanks to the response on the recent Beautiful People post, we’re launching another blog series! This one is on five of the holes in the literary world that I’d like to see filled. (Credit goes to the lovely Arielle of The Splendor Falls on Castle Walls and Intuitive Writing Guide for suggesting this.)

The first point we’re tackling today is realism, specifically in speculative fiction. “Wait just a dragon-blessed minute,” you might be thinking. “The very reason I read speculative fiction is to get away from boring reality. If you make fantasy or sci-fi realistic, will you obliterate every dragon and spaceship entirely?”

To that I say, “No.”

Because I agree, one reason we love speculative fiction is the otherworldliness of it all! I love dragons! I love superheroes and tech that doesn’t really exist. I love quests and kingdoms and new worlds and magic and everything else that comes with these genres. And I love these things so much that when I read about them, I want to be able to suspend my disbelief long enough to fully enjoy the story. I want to forget that Narnia’s not really at the back of the wardrobe. I want to forget that superheroes aren’t actually blazing over New York. I want to believe just for a few hundred pages that elementals can shape lightning with their hands, dragons rule the skies, and a portal could suck me into another realm at any minute.

That’s what I mean by realism. Not an absence of wonder, but a means of grounding a story so that my mind is free to wonder.

Here are just a few ways that can be achieved. Keep in mind this is opinion time–these are things that help me personally to connect to a story (regardless of genre, actually), but your list might look a bit different!

1. I want all my senses engaged.

This is particularly important for fantasy, or any book that introduces a new world. Fantasy readers want to be immersed. For the duration of the book, they want to live and breathe a new place. But even the most amazing worldbuilding falls flat if the reader feels like a spectator, rather than like he’s inside that world right alongside the characters. Using the five senses is one of the easiest ways to make such a connection.

I want the story details to be deftly painted–neither overwritten to the point of eyeball exhaustion, nor skimmed over with barely a glance. I’d rather not wade through pages of exposition on what a single setting looks like, but neither do I want to encounter “White Room Syndrome.” It’s a bothersome thing when visual details are so lacking that it feels as if the characters are talking heads floating in a white room.)

[via Pinterest]

I want to see the thunderclouds roiling, the sun beaming through a dusty windowpane, the moss growing like skirts around massive oak trees, the unraveling hem of a peasant’s cloak, the dents and scratches in a knight’s shield.

I want to hear the characters’ voices, the ambient background noises, the clamor of battle, the patter of rain on the roof, the snap of a log in the fire, the rush of wings.

I want to feel the aching muscles after a long day’s ride, the damp rock of a cavern wall, the electric tingle of portal jumping, the swaying of a precarious rope bridge, the blistering flames springing from my hand with only a word.

I want to taste and smell the rain in the air, the smoke of a burning building, the butter melting into fresh bread, the acrid scent of a witch’s brew, the coppery blood when I’m punched in the teeth.

In short, I want to feel like I’m there.

Some books that succeeded in this:

  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater // I can’t recommend the entire series due to the amount of language and some worldview disagreement, but she is marvelous at conveying setting and atmosphere.
  • The Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl // Incredible depth and scope! Even though it’s written in an omniscient point of view, I can see and feel everything.
  • Wither by Savannah Jezowski // Part of the Five Enchanted Roses anthology. Very immersive and engaging.

2. I want the emotions to pop.

This is where so many books fall short. Maybe I’m just particular about how I like my characters, but the number one thing I look for is connection. I don’t want to just feel like I’m walking the same dusty road or smelling the same ancient library as they are–I want to smile with their joy, weep with their sorrow, cringe at their pain. I want my pulse to race. I want my breath to catch. I want to feel a laugh rising in my chest.

In fact, I think the lack of realistic emotions is one reason speculative tropes feel so . . . well, cliché. Like two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs with little more than tradition to prop them up. But that also means there’s an incredible opportunity to breathe fresh live into those well-worn tropes with grounded, relatable emotions and reactions!



[via Pinterest]
You’re the chosen one? Great. What does that feel like? Actually? The crushing pressure, the crippling self-doubt, the spine-tingling excitement . . . You’re alienated from your friends and family. You’re elevated to a spot of high publicity, usually in very short order. A whole kingdom, or perhaps a whole world, is riding on your shoulders. You’re probably not ready for the task ahead of you. Oh, and guess what? You’re probably sixteen and haven’t even figured out high school. I want to experience that chaotic spectrum of emotions!
You’re a superhero? Love it! Let me feel what it’s like to discover your powers, to live a double life, to save the very world that critiques and condemns you, to accept a role you never asked for.
You’re fighting an epic fantasy battle? Okay, put me on the battlefield. Let’s hear the chaos and see the carnage, utterly stripped of the soaring musical soundtracks and nicely choreographed movements. Let’s feel the desperation, the animalistic actions mixed with startling humanity. Do it tastefully, but show me the heartbreak of war. And don’t forget to show me the damaging emotional aftereffects.
I could go on and on! Basically, what I’m looking for is real humans within the strangeness of spec fic. I’ll believe your dragons are real if I can believe in the living, breathing, thinking, feeling people in their midst.

Some books that succeeded:

  • A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes // I felt Parvin’s ups and downs so deeply. One of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read.
  • Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis // Despite the fact that this sweeping story covers entire centuries, I felt all of the major characters’ struggles.
  • The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer // Every character is well-drawn, and each point of view is arresting and immediate. Cinder in particular offers a deep perspective.

3. I want to the world to be beautifully balanced.

Yes, I want some fabulous worldbuilding! Give me convincing cultures and subcultures, populated by believable people, anchored in a world that’s so tightly woven it seems as if it’s always spun on its axis. Give me realistic politics where nothing is as black and white as we wish it were. Give me geography that makes sense. Give me history that builds upon itself and affects the current storyworld. Give me realistic prejudices, worldviews, values, fears, and desires that spring naturally from the world you’ve created. Give me something that has meaning, something nearly as textured and intricate as our own planet earth.

There are books, particularly in fantasy, that feel as if they’re checking off a series of worldbuilding boxes. Like the author took a template* and divided everything into little boxes. Each individual box is cool, but none of them work together cohesively. They’re cogs on a wheel, but each are different sizes, so when the wheels start turning, the story jolts. And suddenly I’m a spectator again–or worse, a critic with a red pen.

*By the by, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using templates! I’ve done it! They’re great for helping a writer beef up the parts of their storyworld they tend to neglect.

What I’m looking for is a story where all the moving parts fit together, and each element affects all the others. For example, if we look at a fictional kingdom’s geography, that aspect alone should play a crucial role in:

  • natural resources, exports, and imports
  • political position
  • global influence or lack thereof
  • culture
  • dress
  • food
  • history
  • wars
  • etc.

Are they landlocked? Do they have access to other countries? How rich are they in resources? Which ones? Are these resources scarce in other parts of the world? How does the climate affect what the people wear, eat, and do? What parts of the country’s geography are strategic advantages or disadvantages? How has that impacted wars fought on their soil? Who are their geographic neighbors? Are they on good terms? Do mountains or oceans separate them from each other? There’s so much to delve into based on a single aspect of worldbuilding!

But the book doesn’t have to show all of this “on screen.” That would get rather dry and boring pretty quickly. And because the book is a work of fiction, the author could spend the rest of his or her life developing a single world and never getting around to writing the story that’s supposed to take place in it! So I’m certainly not asking for a set of encyclopaedias about every made-up world. I just want the slice of the world I see on the page to be cohesive and natural.

Some books that succeeded:

  • The Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
  • The Auralia Thread series by Jeffrey Overstreet
  • The Bright Empires series by Stephen Lawhead
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark

In short, I’d love to see more speculative fiction that immerses me in a believable world and makes me truly feel with the characters.

There are many, many wonderful books that do some or all three points on this list, and I’ve shared only a few of them! I hope this literary hole continues to be filled in the future. Yes, it’s a pretty tall order. But it’s possible.

And as a side note, it’s important to take into account that not all books are trying to do the same things (which could be a whole ‘nother post on its own!), so not every book will hit all of these points with the same amount of gusto, nor do they automatically need to.

But at the end of the day, if a novel can make me feel deeply connected to the characters and solidly anchored in their world, I will probably scream my happiness from the rooftops! That’s the kind of fiction I’m hungry for!

Okay, your turn! What’s something you see lacking in the world of books? Is there anything you’d add to this list? Oh, and hit me up with your realistic speculative fiction recommendations! (That’s a mouthful.)

Keep Reading

Writing from a Healthy Place: 8 Ways to Rediscover Your Balance

Tracey Dyck 24 Comments

Write from a healthy place.




That’s a phrase you may see kicking around the vast array of writing blogs now and then. But what does it really mean?

For the past seven months, I’ve been thinking about that concept–ever since last spring when I dove headfirst into a writing frenzy, trying to get The Brightest Thread written in time for the Realm Makers conference. I’ve written under deadlines before, but that self-imposed deadline was one of the hardest I’ve faced. In three months, between thirty-hour work weeks and chores and family/friends and blogging, I turned a 20,000 word novella into a 70,000 word novel, and edited it once or twice.

I don’t say that to brag (because goodness knows there are faster writers out there anyway), just to explain that by the time Realm Makers finished, I was ready to collapse.

Now, I’m glad I made that ambitious goal for myself. I really am. But there were days–even weeks–along the way that I was near burnout. Even though I loved the story, I wasn’t loving the writing. In fact, as I thought back to the novel I’d been writing before TBT, I realized I wasn’t loving that writing either.

I had to do something different! This wasn’t the way the writing life was supposed to go, at least not forever. The stress, the perfectionism, the stalling, the obsessive fixation on word counts, the constant drive to write, write, write . . . it didn’t feel healthy at all.

So that got me thinking. What would healthy writing look like for me?

Like I mentioned, this post has been simmering in the back of my mind for months, so there’s lots I want to cover with you today! But before we begin, start imagining the answer to that question: what does healthy writing look like for you?

Here are eight ways I’m currently trying to rediscover my balance as a writer.



picture via Pinterest; graphic mine

1. A healthy writer works under pressure, not stress.

I love goals. Love ’em! Give me alllll the deadlines and deliverables and tracking methods and checklists, especially when it comes to something I love (like writing). I’m the kind of person who thrives off the satisfaction of seeing things GET DONE. And the truth is, if I didn’t set goals for myself, I doubt I would get much writing done at all.

Putting pressure on myself to push, grow, and achieve is a good thing. Right? Right . . . as long as I have the right mindset. If that deadline causes panic, if that striving is festering with doubt, if the pressure is born out of fear–then I’m a stressed writer. And stressed writers can’t keep up their frantic pace forever without crashing and burning.

Someone wise once told me long ago that two people could be under the exact same difficult circumstances, but their REACTIONS will determine whether or not they’re stressed. Stress isn’t the circumstance. It’s your reaction to it. And really, stress is just low-key fear. Fear that you’re not good enough, fast enough, whatever enough.

Hey, all you lovelies participating in NaNoWriMo this month? You’re under a lot of pressure! Writing 50k in a month isn’t easy. And you may be looking around at others who surpassed the 50k mark days ago, and lashing yourself with a whip to keep up. Or you may be thinking about the faster pace you kept during last year’s NaNo, and doing the same whip thing. NOT GOOD, FRIEND.



Rather than letting the pressure cripple you, choose to manage it. Recognize that your worth isn’t tied to your word count, writing goals, or ability to string sentences together. Then view the pressure as a challenge you’re capable of beating.

And you know what? If you don’t beat it, that’s okay. No writing effort is a waste, and I’ll bet you’ll have fascinating war stories from the writerly battlefield at the end of it all!

2. A healthy writer tries new things and isn’t afraid to fail.

The way I reacted to my self-imposed pressure last summer was to get stressed. And when I was stressed, I was afraid of all things NEW.

I spent so much time trimming my novella down to a lean, mean 20,000 words. What if these new subplots I’m now adding are just fluff?

[via Pinterest]
I’ve never written about nightmarish creatures like these before. What if this new dark side to the story is totally ruining it?

It’s taking a lot longer for my protagonists to get to know each other than it did in the old version. What if this new length is slow and boring?

WHAT IF I’M WASTING MY TIME?



Even last winter, as I started rewriting my dragon/portal fantasy/YA novel The Prophet’s Key, all the new things I was writing scared me. I doubted my ability to handle a large cast, doubted the strength of the story, doubted the balance between fantasy world and earth, etc.

But when you write from a healthy place, you know when to take the pressure off. (Yes, there’s good pressure and bad pressure.) You know it’s okay to set aside all expectations and just try something new for the heck of it. Will you mess it up? Probably! But that’s what first drafts–or rewrites–or edits–are for! The great thing about writing is that it’s not at all like brain surgery. You don’t have to get it right the first time.

So stop being afraid of failure, and just write that crazy, new, wonderful idea. On that note . . .

3. A healthy writer writes in his grow zone, not danger zone.

A year ago, my leadership college class spent a weekend at camp doing team-building activities, learning to trust each other. One thing I learned there is that everyone has three zones: your comfort zone, your grow zone, and your danger zone.

If you’re not trying new things like we just talked about, you’re safely within your comfort zone. And it’s okay to be there–just as long as you’re not there all the time.

On the other hand, if you’re pushing, pushing, pushing yourself to write nonstop; or if you really have bitten off more “newness” than you can chew and the crumbling failure is making you depressed or anxious about writing . . . you’re working out of your danger zone.

See, in your comfort zone, you can’t fall. You’re steady. In your danger zone, you’re overextended and unbalanced, and a fall can be damaging. But the happy middle, your grow zone, is where you’re pushed just enough to keep growing, but not so far that you can’t bounce back when things go haywire.

Know your limits. Push them–please do! But don’t hurl yourself headlong at a limit that you know is a brick wall.* A concussed writer can’t write well. And we want you writing, okay?

probably don’t throw yourself at mirrors either please

*At least not yet. You may very well smash that wall to smithereens sometime down the road–but it will be when you’re ready.

4. A healthy writer paces herself.

“Write every day!” they chant. “One thousand words a day! Five thousand! WRITE A NOVEL IN A MONTH. EVERY SINGLE MONTH OF THE YEAR. GO!”

Hey, if you have fingers of steel and a crazy active imagination and all the time in the world, go for it! But a lot of us . . . just aren’t that fast. At least not all the time. While a consistent writing habit is a necessity for those wanting to get published–and a nice discipline to cultivate for hobbyist writers–the logistics can and should look different for each person.

[via Pinterest]
Some of you write a novel in a month (okay, a lot of you do that during November!). Some of you take years. Some write thousands of words a day, sometimes thousands of words in an hour. Some of you produce a paragraph here and there, then take a week to ruminate on the story’s direction.

All of those are valid.

You know your schedule, the best time of day to write, how much percolating time your ideas need, how many other things are taking up space in your brain. You know you. So take all those posts and articles about writing every day with a grain of salt. Writing in your grow zone has a lot to do with learning how to pace yourself!

And you know what? Your pace will not stay consistent all your life. There will be times when you can go faster and harder–times when you certainly should. There will also be seasons when you need to relax, fit writing in where you can, and not worry about the slow progress. If you’re in this for the long haul, you can’t afford to run yourself ragged.

(My pal Savannah just posted yesterday on the importance of taking a break! Check it out!)

5. A healthy writer reads.



Yeah, yeah, you hear this one all the time. That might be because it’s true!



You need to keep your creative tank full! That may include inspiring music, your favorite shows, movies with great storylines, enjoying nature, looking at art, spending time on other creative hobbies besides writing, etc. All of those things can keep the pump primed. But reading is unlike all the others in that you’re absorbing how another author puts words together, builds a plot, reveals character–ALL OF IT. A strong reading habit does wonders for your own work, especially when you read widely and deeply!

6. A healthy writer invests time in learning the craft.

Do you ever get so caught up in writing that it all starts to sound the same to you? It starts to feel dull, uninspired, unoriginal, and suspiciously like everything else you’ve ever written?

It might be you’ve forgotten to keep learning. The more you learn, the more you find out how much you don’t know! Find yourself some books on the writing craft. Read quality blogs written by people further down the road than you. Talk to other writers of all ages, in all stages of the journey. Ask authors questions. (They’re busy people, but a lot of them seem to love helping other writers!) Go to a conference if you can. Find a critique group, online or in person–because the truth is, even the very best writers need feedback so they can work on their blind spots. Whatever you do, find some ways to invest in yourself! Your writing will thank you.

And as you’re filling yourself with more knowledge, make sure to put it into practice. (Going back to trying new things again!) A lake with inflow and no outflow grows stagnant very quickly.

7. A healthy writer is on an adventure.

You’d think that a girl with a blog named Adventure Awaits would be a thrill-seeking, danger-loving, Middle Earth-walking, questing sort of person. (Well, you might think that. Or you might think it’s the most unoriginal name for a blog you’ve ever read, and you may not be far from right.)

Truth is, I really am a hobbit at heart, quite content to stay in my little hobbit hole where things are warm and familiar and quiet.

I get that way about my writing more often than I should. Because if all I write is what’s easy and familiar to me, that gets boring. Sometimes I’m blessed with a proverbial Gandalf to give me a kick in the pants, but oftentimes, I have to be my own Gandalf. There are adventures to be had!

And yes, this sounds a lot like number 2 all over again–but it’s more than trying something new. It’s having fun while doing it. Why do you write? Maybe there are too many stories in your head yelling to be let out, so you write for release. Maybe it’s a hobby to keep your mind sharp. Maybe you have lofty dreams of changing the world with your books one day. But I would hope that most of you–all of you–write because you enjoy it.

I love writing. I love the worlds I get to create, the countless journeys on which I embark, themes I explore, the characters whose stories weave with my own. Yet so many times, I slip into an unhealthy place where I stop loving it.

Why on earth would I knowingly do that to myself?

So here I am, giving myself and each of you permission to HAVE FUN.

Figure out what you love to write. My friend Christine had a great tip in her most recent Beautiful Books post. (Definitely check out her blog, Musings of an Elf, if you haven’t yet!) She said, “Don’t forget to write the things you love.”

It’s silly, but I DO forget to add in my favorite kinds of characters, plot elements, and twists. I even forget to write the kind of scenes I love, because I can get so wrapped up in structure and rules and doing it right. So let’s make the most of every story! Let’s write about the things that make our hearts beat faster and our fingers fly over the keyboard and our minds take flight!

Write an adventure, dear soul.

(If you need some inspiration to start figuring out what you love to write, here’s my own list.)

8. A healthy writer covers it all in prayer.

[via Pinterest]
I try to remember to breathe a little prayer every time I sit down at my keyboard. I also have a document set aside in which I sometimes write out those prayers, just to leave a permanent record that can encourage me in the future. Because if I truly believe that God is interested in my life and in my writing–that He in fact wants me to write–then why wouldn’t I include Him in that process?

You don’t have to go it alone. When you’re struggling over a plot knot, or stumped about your next chapter, or lacking motivation–talk to God about it. When you’re fangirling over your own characters, excited about that super intense scene coming up, or breathing a sigh of relief over finishing a project–celebrate it with God. He cares.

And He’s kind of the most creative being in the UNIVERSE, so do you think He might be able to help you through your writing predicaments? Um, how about YES.

If you’re like me, the writing life is inextricably tied to your spiritual life, your “real” everyday life, and your emotional life. Why can’t Bible verses like these apply to your writing?

As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1)


He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40: 3)



For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36)


So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58)



And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6)


For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)

I could go on and on. The point is, if writing is part of your life, it’s part of God’s heart. Hold to that. Hold onto Him.

This post grew long, but I hope that something in here will nudge you one step closer to writing from a healthy place. Your writing is worth it. You are worth it.

For convenience’s sake, here are the 8 ways to rediscover balance listed all together. I’m taking a page from Deborah O’Carroll’s book (link leads to a fantastic post on 12 tips for depressed writers), and sharing a graphic:

Keep Reading