Interior Monologue, by Richard Nordquist

From: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-interior-monologue-1691073, by Richard Nordquist DEFINITION In both fiction and nonfiction, an interior monologue is the expression of a character‘s thoughts, feelings, and impressions in a narrative. An interior monologue may be either direct or indirect: direct, in which the author seems not to exist and the interior self of the character is given directly, as though the reader were overhearing an articulation of the stream of thought and feeling flowing through the character’s mind; indirect, in which the author serves as selector,… Read More

Inner monologue examples: Writing characters’ secret lives

From: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/inner-monologue-examples-in-novels Internal or inner monologue is a useful literary device. Dialogue reveals character relationships, their converging or competing goals. Inner monologue gives readers an x-ray view of characters’ more private feelings and dilemmas. Read examples of inner monologue that illustrate how to use it well, along with tips: First, what is ‘inner monologue’? A ‘monologue’ literally means ‘speaking alone’, if we go back to the word’s roots. In a play, especially in Shakespeare,… Read More

The Complete Guide to Interior Monologue

From: https://www.novel-writing-help.com/interior-monologue.html Interior monologue is the fancy literary term for a character’s thoughts in a novel. In real life, the stream of thoughts we all have running through our heads at any given moment is more often called internal monologue, though the two terms mean precisely the same thing. While we’re dealing with definitions, a couple of closely-related literary terms are… Stream of Consciousness. This is where an entire novel, or at least large chunks… Read More

Levels of Conflict, by John Vorhaus

From: http://writerunboxed.com/2013/07/25/levels-of-conflict By John Vorhaus on Jul 25 2013 at WriterUnboxed.com Whenever I have a problem I can’t solve, I immediately try to break it down into smaller, component problems. And I keep breaking problems down until I find one small enough to solve. This is a strategy I use over and over again when trying to get to the heart of the conflict of a story or scene I’m writing. For… Read More

How Parallel Narrative Multiplies Your Story Choices, by Linda Aronson

From: http://www.lindaaronson.com/parallel-narrative.html Very often things like flashbacks, flash forwards, non-linear narratives, multiple plots and ensemble casts are regarded as optional gimmicks stuck into the conventional three act structure. They’re not. Each of the six types I’ve isolated and their subcategories provides a different take on the same story material.  Suddenly, one idea for a film can give you a multitude of story choices. What do I mean? More than six ways to… Read More

7 Ways to Create a Killer Opening Line For Your Novel, by Brian Klems, Jacob Appel

From: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-create-a-killer-opening-line-for-your-novel January 9, 2014 Writing the first line to your book is an incredibly daunting task. This is your first opportunity to hook readers in. I remember writing and rewriting the opening line to my humor book OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL over and over again until I finally felt like I nailed it with this: “If you’re a guy and you’ve opened this book, you either have a daughter,… Read More

12 Fundamentals Of Writing “The Other” (And The Self), by D. J. Older

This is an excellent article to review when writing characters outside of ourselves. “12 Fundamentals Of Writing ‘The Other’ (And The Self)” by D. J. Older, author of the YA novel, Shadowshaper, among others.

The Current, by Donald Maass

From: http://writerunboxed.com/2015/12/02/the-current What about a novel sweeps us up into its world?  What carries us along even when the imperatives of plot are on hold or absent?  What makes us ache for something without knowing what it is?  What makes us impatient for a story’s resolution at the same time that we want the tale to go on forever?  What is it that causes us to feel that a story has touched our… Read More

How Outlining Can Bring Out Voice, by Gabriela Lessa

From:  https://janefriedman.com/2015/08/24/how-outlining-can-bring-out-voice “I got some rejections where the agents said they liked the premise but it lacked voice. How do I fix voice?” As a freelance editor, I hear this question a lot from my clients. It’s something that seems to baffle authors. What exactly is voice? How do you see if your character has a voice? How do you fix it? The whole “it’s a subjective business” thing can be frustrating… Read More

Character Cue: Whose Line is it Anyway? by Katrina Kittle

An Easy Exercise to Strengthen Voice; 01 May 2015 From:  http://writerunboxed.com Voice is one of my favorite aspects of craft to play with and talk about. Voice was the subject of my very first post here at Writer Unboxed. Today’s post will be short and sweet—a nifty, easy peasy, so-simple-it-seems-stupid trick to strengthen voice in revision.