How to fix storytelling problems: Study how others did it.

๐…๐ž๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐œ๐ค ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ? ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž.

Today I’ve got an excerpt for you from Cathy Rentzenbrink, a British memoirist best known for her book ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ˆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ (2015).

In the 2023 edition of ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ž๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด’ & ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด’ ๐˜ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ, she contributes an article called ‘Reading as a Writer’.

“Study exactly how it is done,” she says. (See attached picture.)

๐–๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ:

โ”Is this something you already do?

โ”Are there pros and cons to this advice?

โ”What novels could you consult to help you figure out how to fix your storytelling problem?

๐——๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„. โฌ‡

The most useful way to learn about technique, the nuts-and-bolts stuff, is to look at what other writers do. What point of view have they chosen? How do they handle any time shifts? How have they selected the start and end point of their story? When I get stuck on a point like this, I will look for answers on my bookshelves. If I'm struggling with handling the dialogue when there are lots of characters present, then I'll search out dinner party scenes. At the moment, I'm considering writing a novel that happens largely in flashback, but when I tried this before I found it too hard. This time I am going to reread The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and The Confessions of Frankie Langton by Sara Collins and carefully study exactly how it is done.

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Published by clairecherryedits

CherryEdits.com Indie Fiction Specialist. Line Editing. Copy Editing. Proofreading.

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