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38 misunderstandings in writing popular novels

1。 Don't make excuses: even if you can only write one page a day, you can still publish a 365-page book a year. If you really can't write it, please write a 250-word excuse. In this way, I still write something every day. More importantly, either you can't stand making up excuses and start writing, or you can relax and stop wasting time and fantasize about becoming a writer.

2。 Don't think too smart about yourself: don't look down on your readers. Things are not accepted because your readers are not good enough. ! Big talker! ! Please keep your feet on the ground, because your readers are all from the earth.

3。 Don't try to show off your knowledge: a good writer can express complex ideas with simple descriptions. Even if you have professional knowledge or vocabulary, it is enough to provide the reader with the information he needs to know. If you ask the reader to look up the dictionary every two or three paragraphs in your article, the reader will not understand it. Nobody likes a guy who likes to show off. Readers of novels can smell these people from a mile away.

4。 Don't expect miracles: writing skills are honed through constant practice. It takes at least ten years to train a doctor. How can anyone think that it only takes a few days, months or a year to become a professional writer? ! Writing is much like practicing a bike, which requires constant failure and practice. It is not easy to write a good novel. On the bright side, if a good novel is readily available, then your elaborate masterpiece is nothing, isn't it? ! You need to have confidence and take the time to improve your writing ability. Write down what you want to achieve in your career in five years, cut your ultimate goal into several small goals, start pushing forward, what do you want in four years, the year after, the year after, and what goals do you want to achieve next year? Carefully put away the list of goals you want to achieve, and then start working. Be patient and force yourself to work hard. Write down the skills you have learned, and check whether you have achieved the predetermined goal after one year. You will be pleased with your progress. Even if your work can't be sold, you are closer to your goal.

5。 Don't waste time warming up the car: the story should be fascinating from the beginning. Don't throw a bunch of setting descriptions to readers at the beginning of the story. An attractive novel begins with someone's reaction to fear or threat. As human beings, we are instinctively attracted by fear. If your story begins with an excellent climber grabbing a rock wall with his nails, I believe readers will want to know what will happen next. If your story begins with a little girl who is afraid to perform a piano solo in front of a group of harsh critics, readers will be immediately interested in her situation.

A good story begins with fear and threat.

Fear does not necessarily come from physical or immediate danger. Think back to your own life. When did you feel scared to death? Maybe it's the first day of school, maybe someone in the family died, or someone divorced? Maybe you want to perform in public and say? ! Maybe this is your first date? Or are you moving? Even if it is a good thing, anything that will cause stress will be a threat of fear. What can I say? Humans have the habit of being content with the status quo. When we are in a comfortable environment, we will be lazy to make any changes. But when changes happen and the world we know is shaken, we will feel uncomfortable. The threat appeared.

The threat comes from change.

Now you know where your story begins, and the story begins with change.

A stranger got off the bus.

A new family moved in.

You received a telegram.

These are all good times to start a story.

Don't start writing stories before [change], and don't throw out a bunch of background settings.

Don't start with events that have nothing to do with the story.

Don't start long after the change, it will confuse readers.

[Change] Where the story begins, the story begins there. The background setting is left to the author to deal with slowly. Readers don't care about these things. What they want is change, what they want is fear and intimidation, and they want to know the character's reaction to this matter. Remember what the reader wants. Don't impose what the author cares about on readers. You must give the reader what she wants at the beginning, otherwise the reader won't want to read it again.

What she wants is threats.

Threats often come from change.

Write down 10 times in your notebook when you feel most threatened or scared to death. Maybe everyone remembers different times, but I bet it's all changes.

When you understand this, you can make another list of ten changes that you think are suitable for the beginning of the story and will cause threats. Whether it is personal experience or imagination. The next time you hit a wall at the beginning of writing a new story, take out this list, so you don't have to worry about hot cars there and go straight to the point of the story.

6。 Don't describe the sunset.

When reading a novel, readers need to describe the settings and characters through "description" in order to really enter the interaction. However, some writers often spend too much time on description, often stop to describe the sunset in the middle of the story, thinking about writing wonderful prose for this purpose, and forget that when they stop to describe how long a thing is, the progress of the story stops.

My friend CliftonAdams is a western writer who is good at writing short stories and novels. In one of his award-winning works, he spent several pages describing the sunset. That is a professional work that deviates from the standard but is wonderful and moving.

But it can only be established under such special conditions. Adams designed this scene to tell readers that a terrible threat was coming. As soon as night falls, a group of planned thugs will attack the protagonist's lonely little camp and kill him. For the above reasons, every word describing the sunset is meaningful and full of pain and suspense.

No matter how poetic those descriptions are to you, you can only spend a lot of time describing them on some special occasions. Novice writers spend a lot of time describing the sunset, which often becomes a classic joke between old writers or publishers. On some occasions, as long as you say "like a rosy dawn", a knowing smile will appear around you.

From the last part, we know that in the novel, the plot should be pushed forward all the time, and the description will stop the story. Describing a novel with a large number of settings or characters is as impossible as physicists trying to describe electrons in the face of the "uncertainty law of electrons". "If an electron knows exactly where it is going, it doesn't know where it is, and vice versa."

I think what he is trying to say is that if you want to describe something in great detail, you must stop "acting". But nothing happened, and the description was meaningless.

So whenever you want to give your readers a bunch of detailed descriptions, the story you want to tell is suspended. Readers are attracted by your story and the ongoing plot, not the exquisite prose. So, you don't need any description in your story? Of course not. Use the description carefully and reveal it bit by bit, so that your readers can see, hear and feel the world in your story. However, please note that "the description must be published a little at a time", rather than throwing out a big page at once.

I am definitely not the first person to warn that poetic description will stop the story, but this problem will appear repeatedly in novice articles. This happens again and again for two reasons. Either the author didn't understand the essence of the novel, or the author loved what he wrote so much that arrogance prevailed over reason. "Delicate writing" tends to slow down the rhythm of stories and cause a gap between readers and stories. Please note that in addition to trees and sunset, the description also includes "the character's heart and thoughts". Novices often stop the whole story just to describe the character's heart.

Of course, you must go into your character's head and heart, and some opinions must be revealed to readers, so that readers can understand him, sympathize with him and agree with his behavior. But a good novel, even a novel, often has a short space to describe the inner feelings and feelings of the characters. A capable writer will not say (describe) a lot, but will express (show) a lot.

Today's readers will want you to push the story instead of standing and discussing things.

So you can think about the "communication system" of your novel. There are many ways to convey information to readers. Different methods can produce different story rhythms:

1。 Exposure: This is the slowest way to slow down the story. If you give the information directly, nothing will happen. You give readers information directly, such as personal autobiography background, height and weight, social status and so on. There are some data that readers must read, but if you give the data to the encyclopedia, the story will not make any progress.

2。 Caption: It also slows down the sense of rhythm. Some are necessary, so use them carefully.

3。 Narration: The actions and interactions of the characters on the stage in the story begin to appear. But I don't comment or explain his behavior, just like watching a stage play. Most stories belong to this kind of description. This way of telling stories will make the story develop quickly.

4。 Dialogue: dialogue between characters, with little movement or inner thoughts, is just like playing tennis. When the character is under pressure, the conversation will be short and fast.

5。 Dramaticsummary: the fastest one. When drastic changes happen, don't perform scenes such as narration, but use summary to speed up the story. At this time, chasing a car or quarreling would have taken six pages, and it might have to be condensed into one article.

If your story goes too slowly, you can analyze whether you spend too much time describing the sunset (or other things) without using dialogue or summary. On the other hand, if your story runs too fast, maybe you can change some summaries into narratives, or use descriptions as a breathing space, such as writing a scene or writing down what the characters are thinking.

Only in this way can you realize how to be more like a novelist and what methods can help you sell your works. You will learn how to make the story powerful, instead of beating around the bush for trivial matters, choose the appropriate "communication system"-let the story develop smoothly.

7。 Don't apply real people directly to your story: use exaggerated methods moderately to create attractive characters.

8。 Don't write about soft-footed shrimp, swing: Create a dynamic character by giving the story a goal.

9。 Don't get into trouble: stories should be full of meaningful conflicts.

10。 Don't have meaningless events: please use motivation and background to increase the logic and rationality of your novel.

1 1。 Don't forget the stimulation and reaction: use "because, so" to increase the tension of the story.

12 Don't forget whose story this is.

visual angle

As long as you pay attention to the following points, mastering the point of view is not a problem.

Whose story is this?

Get into the character's heart-and keep it.

Although this view is simple, it can be used from different angles.

I believe you understand why this story is told by a character and a point of view. This is because in real life, we can only understand things from our own perspective, but not from the perspective of others. The author believes that people believe that in order to make his story close to reality and convincing, he must arrange events so that readers can experience the whole story from a single point of view, just as they are experiencing real life.

Each of us is the protagonist in our own life. The next time you are in a crowd, take some time to observe how you look at the people around you and what role those who are interested play in your life. At the same time, observe the people around you and use your imagination to show others how to analyze and look at the same thing with your own unique point of view.

Your character in the story should also experience the story in this way. How? It's simple. These actions are expressed through brain thinking and inner thoughts. The role you choose is expressed through your thoughts, feelings and feelings.

It doesn't matter how many people you tell the story. "I'm worried about walking in an empty street …" "He's worried about walking in an empty street …" The result is the same. Your purpose is to let the readers experience everything in the minds of the people.

In short stories, there is usually only one point of view. In short stories, changing one's point of view will cause confusion and make the story look fragmented. In the novel, there are many different viewpoints, but one must be the main one. This is because every story, after all, will be based on a character's story, just as your life story belongs only to yourself. If you let your point of view jump from one role to another without fixing a main point of view, it will be a fatal flaw. Life will not be like this, nor will novels.

For example, a novel has100000 words, and 50-70% of the narrative will be described by the main points of view and roles. The main thoughts, feelings, principles and attempts of the characters will dominate the whole story. When you want to change your point of view, if necessary, it is because changing your point of view can make readers understand the problems faced by the main characters.

How do you express your views? The answer is: put your point of view on the role that will be in the right position and don't miss any major decisive plot. For example, if you want to write a novel about climbing Mount Everest, it is difficult for you to focus on the little boy who has never left the western plain.

In addition, there are other factors that need attention. Readers like to worry about suspense when reading stories. Most readers will worry about the role of opinions. What are readers most worried about? "Whether the most important role of the goal can achieve his goal.

So you should focus on the characters with strong motives and push the story forward. In the whole story, taking action to guide the story to the end will be the biggest winner or loser.

This role, often the most struggling role, has finally changed. Therefore, in some novel theories, it is said that the role with the greatest change in story action is chosen to cut into the point of view.

Although this is pointed out, in the novel, if the author does not design the plot well, the viewpoint role and the changed role may not necessarily draw an equal sign. Because the center of action and meaning of the whole story will focus on the role of viewpoint, and the role of viewpoint must be changed.

What is the significance of the above for the author when writing his opinion? The simplest thing is that you can't observe the role of opinions from a neutral standpoint. Even in the novel "Monopoly", Garsby (the tycoon) is not really an important role in the end, and NickCarraway is the one who finally takes action, changes and has a different view of the world. At the end of the story, he decided to return to the Midwest. Nick is the narrator, the role of the viewpoint, and finally his story. The whole event was interpreted through his feelings. Even if that's not the title.

To sum up, the author must never forget:

1。 Every story must pass through a story action point (EverystorymustBetoldFromoviewpointInside Action).

[Example of Personal Responsibility: When each character takes action, The Lord of the Rings will look at things from his own perspective. ]

2。 Every story must have a dominantviewpointcharacter.

[Examples of personal responsibility: Frodo is the main point of view in The Lord of the Rings. ]

3。 The viewpoint role will be the most critical role.

[Example without personal responsibility: 1: Without Frodo, the story can't be broken.

[Examples of personal responsibility: 2. Similarly, when the point of view changed, Sam took the ring from Frodo. At this point, the viewpoint will change from Frodo to Sam.

4。 Every viewpoint and role plays an important role in the plot.

[Example of personal irresponsibility: In the Battle of the Hermon, Aragon was the main viewpoint role, not Frodo.

Perhaps at first, novice writers will struggle with these principles and think that they have crossed them. But when you try to write for a while, you will find that these principles are very helpful to condense the story. Storytellers often spend a lot of time to determine whose story this is, or choose which angle is the best angle for readers to experience the story. Instead of choosing a standard position to cut into the story, you will find it more useful to cut into the story from the perspective of right and wrong.

13。 Don't let your point of view be blurred.

Suppose you write a story about Bob now. When you decided to take him as your viewpoint role, how did you determine his viewpoint?

When you are writing a story, you must be Bob. You can only see what he sees, hear what he hears, know what he knows and feel what he feels, and there is no more information. When Bob enters a hall, he will first feel the sultry air, notice the sea of people with blurred faces, and then think, "I want everyone to believe that my idea is correct.

By describing it like this, you can not only connect your views and roles with real life, but also make your creation easier. You don't have to worry about what Sally is doing in the next room. Anything that has nothing to do with Bob's worry can be ignored. Concentrate on Bob's reaction and try to make Bob's experience in this scene vivid and meaningful.

Next, let readers know that this is from Bob's point of view.

Use grammar skills to understand Bob's thoughts and feelings.

Instead of using "the conference room of the speech is very lively", it is better to use "Bob felt the temperature around him and knew that he had to make a good speech to keep the enthusiasm of the audience. 』

Only Bob can feel and understand himself. So readers know that the point of view is through Bob's eyes, and then lock Bob's perception.

Professional writers combine the external environment (heat, crowded people) with ideas (Bob) to build a connection between [cause] and [effect], and understand Bob's inner thoughts through Bob's perspective.

By observing the external world, the author can understand the inner thoughts and motives of the viewpoint role. In this way, you can let the reader know what kind of person he is as a viewpoint role.

For example, is Bob afraid of speaking? Fear? Arrogant. Arrogant? At this time, all Bob's reactions reflected his personality characteristics.

Fixing and emphasizing a narrative angle can reduce problems, make the story more like the real world, and make readers resonate with your role. In addition, it can also let readers know the true face of the viewpoint role. Because in his heart, the role is that he doesn't have to lie to himself.

The author should be careful not to let the idea run away casually.

Suppose Bob is still a point of view, and you want to show that his boss Max is worried about Bob's speech. You won't use [Max is worried about his speech] because we look at things from Max's point of view.

In contrast, you can use [when he walked to the podium, Bob remembered Max's worry about the speech] or [when he walked to the podium, Bob saw Max's worried face.

Either way, we can provide information to let readers know that Max is worried, but the point of view is still focused on Bob.

Because viewpoint narration is very important for writing stories, how to train your own narrative viewpoint to be fixed?

Find a few pages of your own novel, underline the role name (a) with a red pen, and mark the role's point of view in each sentence (such as what he saw, what she thought, what he heard, what he felt and what she wanted to go).

Mark the point of view of role B in each sentence (see, think, listen ...) If more than two points of view are found, rewrite them if necessary to keep a single point of view.

For novel writing, it is very important to learn how to grasp the viewpoint. If you can't grasp the point of view well, your readers will forget what this story is, and so will you!

14。 Don't preach to your readers: please say what you want to say in a more meaningful and creative way.

15。 Don't let your character lecture the reader: don't let the dialogue become embarrassing background information.

16。 Don't let the characters chat: let the spoken dialogue have a purpose. Create a character? Wait).

17。 Don't let the colorful dialogues of the characters be too fancy: if you can write the dialogues close to the plain, don't use all kinds of slang.

18。 Don't forget the feelings of the role: use the thoughts, feelings and feelings of the role to create a role that can be understood by readers.

19。 Don't be afraid to use "It is said that ..."

20。 Don't take it for granted that you know everything, ask for proof: even a small mistake will ruin your accessibility in the reader's mind.

2 1。 Don't stop observing and recording: Exercise your narrative skills by observing and recording at any time.

22。 Don't ignore the scene architecture:

(1) What is the immediate goal that the main characters in this scene want to achieve?

(2) Write down the goal.

(3) Write down the problems that occurred in this scene elsewhere, and write down whether the problems have been solved.

(4) After the goal is determined, bring in another second person who is opposite to the role.

(5) Design the conflict between these two roles.

(6) Write down the scene.

(7) (Bridge) The scenery is not well written because the questions raised in this scene have not been well answered.

23。 Don't throw the crocodile out of the transom (don't suddenly fly in from the sky, don't conflict for the sake of conflict): interesting events should be related to the story.

24。 Don't forget to make your character think: please provide a "decision based on his emotional thinking" to let your character pursue his story goal.

25。 Don't wander in the fog: decide the direction of your story and hold on tight.

26。 Don't worry about Taibai: make sure your work is very clear and powerful, and won't confuse your readers.

27。 Don't criticize yourself to death: please let creative thinking play freely.

28。 Never mind what your mother thinks: please create freely, no matter what the outside world thinks.

29。 Don't hide your feelings: don't suppress your feelings. What readers want to feel is the author's enthusiasm and feelings.

30。 Don't take it to the club (vegetable market) for consultation: please avoid unnecessary, useless or meaningless suggestions.

3 1。 Don't ignore the opinions of experts;

32。 Don't chase the market:

33。 Don't be high-profile: don't write conceit or cynicism into your works (such as Corruption and Japanese).

34。 Don't waste your creativity (bridge): Please give every possibility to the small creativity in the story, and throw it away if you don't use it.

35。 Don't end in a hurry: the way to avoid it

(1) Have a rest after writing.

(2) Check the story: Do you have space restrictions at the end? Does this story fit your outline?

(3) Read the story carefully from the beginning: don't read and fix it at the same time, just mark the changes and mention the possible solutions (it is best to change the environment and read outside the desk).

(4) After reading it, try to modify it.

(5) Re-check the beginning of the story.

(6) Check whether the role of narrative viewpoint is confused: it is necessary to establish the role with a primary narrative viewpoint.

(7) Make sure the time in the story is correct: sometimes there are two Wednesdays in a week. ...

(8) Re-examine the role's motivation: What does the role want to pursue? Why?

(9) Looking for too many coincidences: Don't let what the character wants fall out of thin air, let him try and get it again.

(10) Check the end of each chapter.

(1 1) Thinking about the rationality of the whole story: Don't let the characters do what the author wants them to do, which goes against the rationality of the characters. Need to consider whether the role and motivation are reasonable.

(12) Finished: The story begins with a question. Finally, is there a clear answer to this question?

36。 Don't overestimate your editor. Manuscripts should be unified: computer manuscripts should be typeset by printing.

37。 Do not give up.

38。 Don't just sit there.

Website of novel material database: dragon day (currently the largest and most comprehensive, with a large number of authors and editors), strongly promoted by QT.