Welcome from Gail Gaymer Martin to the CAN blog. This post will be the first of three to provide helpful information for fiction writers about subplots and how to use them successfully. This post will talk about: Story Within A Story Subplots are stories within your story. They have a similar structure—beginning, middle, end—but they cannot overshadow the main plot. Instead they should enhance the main plot by providing complication to the life of a main character, foreshadowing an event to come in the main character’s life, reflecting the main character’s growth as he comes to the aid of a…
Tag: Gail Gaymer Martin
This is our archive pagePace Yourself: Part 2
Historical post by Gail Gaymer Martin. Earlier I’d blogged on Part I of Pace Yourself, the ability to drive a novel to the peaks and down again as the story builds and ebbs with excitement and drama of conflicts and crises. This post presents another look at good pacing through various techniques.
Pace Yourself: Part 1
Historical Post by Gail Gaymer Martin Today is the first part of Pace Yourself: Keeping Pace in Fiction. Pacing – What is it? Pacing is moving the characters from the opening situation through various growing conflicts to the resolution in a logical, realistic manner that shows character growth and, in Christian fiction, provides faith grow. Pacing is the speed at which action in the story moves and the reader gains information. Most people assume “pacing” means the book is too slow, and that is very possible. But the pacing can also be too fast if it rushes the conflicts and…
Tension and Conflict Part 7 – Stretching Tension
Welcome to CAN Blog where we share information with you on new books, writing tips, and much more. Hello from Gail Gaymer Martin. And before I begin, let me wish you a blessed and merry Christmas For the past seven posts, I’ve cover the topic of Tension and Conflict. This is a major part of writing fiction since it is emotion that captures the reader and keeps them hanging on to the pages even when dinner time rolls around. We all want readers to love our work and good conflict triggers tension which is shown through emotion. Today the topic…
Tension and Conflict Part 6 – Scene and Sequel Structure
Historical post by Gail Gaymer Martin I’ve been posting a series on Tension and Conflict and today I’ll provide some information on using Scene and Sequel Structure in fiction. Using this method, an author can enhance tension by creating effective pacing techniques. This has to do with a balance of fast moving scenes to ones that are more contemplative. Each type of scene has a purpose, but along with purpose, the technique enhances tension. As you know, a novel is a series of chapters often divided into scenes. But scenes also can be thought of in two ways—scenes and sequels….
Tension and Conflict Part 4
Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin. I hope you’re enjoying the summer as I have been, always busy but loving what I do. For the past few posts from me, we’ve been looking at the writing elements of Tension and Conflict. Today we’ll look at Part 4 dealing with tension as a response to action. So let’s go.
Tension and Conflict Part 3 – Kinds of Conflict
Here it is July already and so I’m back again with another part of Tension and Conflict. Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin. Most authors can name the two kinds of conflict talked about most in fiction, internal and external. Both of these are important to any novel, but don’t lose sight of two more that you may not have considered—inherent and extra-external conflict. These additional kinds of built-in conflict can add extra excitement to your fiction.
Tension and Conflict Part 2 – The Nature of Conflict
Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin. For the next few months, I’m talking about conflict and tension, the heart of fiction. It is what grabs the reader and makes the story memorable. Last week, I introduced the set up to tension and talk about characters, their goals and the hooks that keep the reader turning pages.Today you read about the nature of conflict . While tension is the emotion of a novel, conflict is the power. It drives the story forward and causes the reader to hang on and go with the ride.Without conflict the scenes would be a slow walk through…
Tension And Conflict Part I
Welcome to CAN’s new website from Gail Gaymer Martin. Today I will begin a new series on Tension and Confict which is a driving force in fiction writing. I hope you enjoy the seven articles on this topic. The Set Up to Tension and Conflict I recently presented a workshop on tension and conflict. The topic offers many steps to writing a good novel. I began this workshop with the basic elements needed to begin a novel because it sets up how conflict begins. Conflict is a concept you know is vital to any story. It is what drives your…
Examining Tone To Enhance Your Writing – Part 2
Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com In Part 1 Understanding Tone In Fiction from January 10, the meaning of tone was defined and how it is important to your fiction. The post made it clear that authors want to work on this quality in their writing which helps to grab readers into the story and make them want to read more of the author’s books. This is a goal that you and I want as we write our novels. This post will cover dissecting tone step by step, and examining problematic areas in tone.
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