Starting to read "Conflict, Action, and Suspense: How to pull readers in and carry them along with dramatic, powerful storytelling" by William Noble This has been on my TBR for a VERY long time. #writing #writingcommunity
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CH. 7: Building Through Character Development
sep 4, 2025, 12:50 am • 0 0 • view
Ch. 6: Building through Mood and Atmosphere
aug 30, 2025, 8:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Ch. 5: Building through Dialogue "Conversation isn't dialogue." Dialogue is a "conversation with drama!"
aug 20, 2025, 3:05 am • 0 0 • view
"Keep your dialogue within the twin parameters of moving the story forward and developing characterization."
aug 20, 2025, 3:07 am • 0 0 • view
Ch. 4: Leave 'Em Hanging (topic is self explanatory) "[R]eaders expect this, especially in stories of action and suspense." ... "Readers expect to have the dilemma or the conflict resolved. We can leave them hanging for only a limited time..."
aug 17, 2025, 6:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Foreshadowing is mentioned.
aug 17, 2025, 6:30 pm • 0 0 • view
"Pacing our story means controlling it, and that, in turn, means taking the long view and measuring each scene against the entire story line." #writing #writingcommunity
aug 17, 2025, 6:29 pm • 1 0 • view
Transitions "Time changes are crucial in any piece of prose because the story will move forward, and the reader must be able to keep up and to understand the changes."
aug 17, 2025, 6:26 pm • 0 0 • view
I think this ties together with the "if it isn't necessary, take it out" philosophy of writing. If you won't resolve the dramatic action or scene, why is it important enough to include? If you can't answer that question, take it out!
aug 17, 2025, 6:18 pm • 0 0 • view
CH. 3: Openings "We only get once chance to intrigue our readers, and we'd better make it work!"
aug 13, 2025, 11:24 pm • 0 0 • view
"Dialogue openings have their place, as do narrative openings. The more immediate we wish to be, we use dialogue; the more studied we wish to be, we use narration." #writing #writingcommunity
aug 13, 2025, 11:36 pm • 2 0 • view
My fantasy is a dialogue opening, but the romance WIP is narrative Both have the basics - a subject, an action, and the importance (one implied, one definite)
aug 14, 2025, 12:33 am • 2 1 • view
"The opening of any story must form the foundation for what is to follow. It must be a block -- sturdy and uncompromising -- to build the rest of the story upon."
aug 13, 2025, 11:30 pm • 0 0 • view
"By the end of page two...the reader has to have sense what's to come and be wondering what is going to happen next."
aug 13, 2025, 11:26 pm • 0 0 • view
"Talent comes with imagination, but the hard work comes in using it effectively."
aug 13, 2025, 12:37 am • 0 0 • view
"I feel, therefore I am." Get readers involved; make them care. I fully agree with this one -- as a reader, if I don't care about the characters (love them or hate them), I lose interest in the story.
aug 13, 2025, 12:52 am • 0 0 • view
How long vs short sentences can set the pace of the story, and the "stage".
aug 13, 2025, 12:46 am • 0 0 • view
A plug for active voice over passive, when trying to build suspense or action.
aug 13, 2025, 12:46 am • 0 0 • view
Oh, this is Chapter 2: Stage Setting.
aug 13, 2025, 12:44 am • 0 0 • view
Ch 1: The Nuts and Bolts of Drama "Drama is what we seek to create because drama is a want that can turn boring events into attention-grabbers, and when this happens on the written page, we'll find a reader involved in a story and thirsting for more."
jun 23, 2025, 12:04 am • 0 0 • view
"...the best way to gain a reader's attention is by offering the reader a chance to root for one of the characters..."
jun 23, 2025, 12:16 am • 0 0 • view
I strongly agree with this one. Whether reading or watching, if I don't care about any of the characters (love 'em or hate 'em or just feel anything), I won't care much about the rest of the story, no matter how well written.
jun 23, 2025, 12:18 am • 0 0 • view
Listing out the methods of conflict: - man v man - man v environment - man v self
jun 23, 2025, 12:13 am • 0 0 • view
"Suspense means uncertainty."
jun 23, 2025, 12:01 am • 0 0 • view
"Action means happenings."
jun 23, 2025, 12:01 am • 0 0 • view
"Conflict is really a mechanism that sparks all stories, and in this book we'll see how it builds action and suspense."
jun 23, 2025, 12:01 am • 0 0 • view
"[Readers] want to participate in the happenings on the page, and the careful writer a story must allow this to happen."
jun 22, 2025, 11:58 pm • 0 0 • view