The reader is going to imprint on the characters he sees first. He is going to expect to see these people often, to have them figure largely into the story, possibly to care about them. Usually, this will be the protagonist. – Nancy Kress
When a story is flying along, and I’m so into it that my ‘real’ world goes away, it can feel magical. I cease to be, my desk and computer ceases to be, and I am my character in his world. Psychologists call this a ‘flow state,’ and it’s better than publication, money, awards, fame. – Nancy Kress
Readers want to see, hear, feel, smell the action of your story, even if that action is just two people having a quiet conversation. – Nancy Kress
If you consistently write ‘The sun set’ rather than ‘The sun sank slowly in the bright western sky,’ your story will move three times as fast. Of course, there are times you want the longer version for atmosphere – but not many. Wordiness not only kills pace; it bores readers. – Nancy Kress
Every story makes a promise to the reader. Actually, two promises, one emotional and one intellectual, since the function of stories is to make us both feel and think. – Nancy Kress
A brief short story may require only a few paragraphs after the climax. On the other hand, in his massive novel ‘The World According to Garp,’ John Irving’s denouement consisted of 10 separate sections, each devoted to an individual character’s fate and each almost a story in itself. – Nancy Kress
Your opening should give the reader a person to focus on. In a short story, this person should turn up almost immediately; he should be integral to the story’s main action; he should be an individual, not just a type. In a novel, the main character may take longer to appear: Anna Karenina doesn’t show up in her own novel until chapter eighteen. – Nancy Kress
Words change over time. ‘Condescending,’ for instance, was once a good thing to be. It meant that a person was willing to interact politely with people of lower social ranks. In Jane Austen’s world, a lady praised for her condescension was receiving a sincere compliment. – Nancy Kress
In one sense, every character you create will be yourself. You’ve never murdered, but your murderer’s rage will be drawn from memories of your own extreme anger. Your love scenes will contain hints of your own past kisses and sweet moments. – Nancy Kress
How many times have you opened a book, read the first few sentences and made a snap decision about whether to buy it? When it’s your book that’s coming under this casual-but-critical scrutiny, you want the reader to be instantly hooked. The way to accomplish this is to create compelling opening sentences. – Nancy Kress
A true epilogue is removed from the story in time or space. That’s the reason it is called an ‘Epilogue’; the label serves to alert the reader that the story itself is over, but we are going to now see a distant result or consequence of that story. – Nancy Kress
Even if your novel occurs in an unfamiliar setting in which all the customs and surroundings will seem strange to your reader, it’s still better to start with action. The reason for this is simple. If the reader wanted an explanation of milieu, he would read nonfiction. He doesn’t want information. He wants a story. – Nancy Kress
Every drama requires a cast. The cast may be so huge, as in Leo Tolstoy’s ‘Anna Karenina,’ that the author or editor provides a list of characters to keep them straight. Or it may be an intimate cast of two. – Nancy Kress
You have considerable choice in how you end your fiction. For all stories, the basic rule is the same: Choose the type of ending that best suits what’s gone before. – Nancy Kress
The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, ‘How does it end?’ Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don’t like the ending, chances are they’ll say they didn’t like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works. – Nancy Kress
Questions that require answers are what keep readers going – and the place to start raising those questions is with your very first sentence. – Nancy Kress
A stereotype may be negative or positive, but even positive stereotypes present two problems: They are cliches, and they present a human being as far more simple and uniform than any human being actually is. – Nancy Kress
Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it – le mot juste – the exact right word in the exact right position. – Nancy Kress
Exposition has legitimate uses. It’s the most efficient way to summarize background information, including necessary information about a character’s history. It can set the stage well for a major dramatized event. – Nancy Kress
Pace, like everything else in writing, involves a trade-off. If you’re not offering the reader a lot of action to keep her interested, you must offer something else in its stead. Slow pace is ideal for complex character development, detailed description, and nuances of style. – Nancy Kress
The process, not the results, have to be the reason a writer writes. Otherwise, creating a four-hundred-page novel is just too daunting a task. – Nancy Kress
If you’re writing a thriller, mystery, Western or adventure-driven book, you’d better keep things moving rapidly for the reader. Quick pacing is vital in certain genres. It hooks readers, creates tension, deepens the drama, and speeds things along. – Nancy Kress
As a writer, you must know what promise your story or novel makes. Your reader will know. – Nancy Kress
The truth is, you have about three paragraphs in a short story, three pages in a novel, to capture that editor’s attention enough for her to finish your story. – Nancy Kress
Conflict drives fiction; no one wants to read a four-hundred-page novel in which everything rolls along smoothly. – Nancy Kress
