Author: Douglas W. T. Smith

How To Use Foreshadowing in Your Novel Like A Master.

If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. —Anton Chekhov

This quote by Chekhov is the basis of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a literary device that allows you to plant clues, hint at what’s to come, build the tension, or even place a red herring in your reader’s path.

You can use foreshadowing in a variety of ways. The resulting action can be immediate or delayed. Foreshadowing can feed the tension of a scene. You can use dialogue or narrative to set the scene, and you can foreshadow a symbolic event or an ethical dilemma. You can use direct or indirect foreshadowing, and it can even be true or false.

Below are when to use foreshadowing, the major turning points in your novel, tips and how to master foreshadowing.

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Of Metal and Magic: Compendium One and Book Reviews

It has been a while since my last post and there are many reasons why I have been absent from my blog posting. They are the same reasons as my last post.

I have been writing my novel, To Wield The Stars. I have been devoting all my spare time to this novel and neglecting my blog. I’m sorry.

However, I am so excited to be apart of my first compendium for Fiction Vortex.

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Two Thousand and Twenty

Happy New Year fellow writers and bloggers!

Last year I asked a question to my readers.

What are your writing ambitions for the next twelve months?

So, what were they? Did you achieve your goals? Will you set more goals or less this year? What have you got planned for Two Thousand and Twenty?

These are the questions you should be thinking about if you want to make changes or continue the momentum into the new year.

In twenty nineteen, I had high expectations for my writing. I am proud to say I achieved my goals and this coming year, I will have the same level of expectations.

Let me reflect on the year that has passed.

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Be Focused and Finish Your Novel

It’s funny. I promised I would attempt to post regularly on my blog––and it’s not the first time I’ve made that promise with my followers. Each time I apologize but this time: I’m not sorry.

Okay, maybe I am a little bit but over the past months, I devised a writing routine that works for my lifestyle and busy schedule. It has taken me a long time to work out the best and most productive writing life for me.

It might take writers and authors days, weeks, months or years to work it out but once you work it out, you don’t want to break that cycle. I don’t want to break the writing cycle I’ve created for me.

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Seven Ways to Revise Your First Draft In The Second Round of Edits

The honest truth for my absent posts is: I’ve been writing. I have been writing a lot more than usual. There are some moments in life when you know, the amount of effort of what you are putting in isn’t enough. The effort isn’t enough to finish writing that book. I had some serious thoughts on how I could change my routine to set me up for success.

I stumble upon a Twitter account, 5amWritersClub and my problems were solved. I wake up every morning at six o’clock and I thought I’d give it a try. Wake up an hour earlier and write. At first it was hard to get in the rhythm and the gears slowly moved but the more I woke up at that time, the easier it and now my writing goals are coming within reach, closer than I anticipated. My absence from my blog is from 5amWritersClub igniting the idea and writing when the world is silent and asleep.

That is where I have been but hopefully, things should stay on track and the first draft should be finished soon.

I will continue posting writing tips but committ myself to only one post a week.

Congratulations.

You finished writing the first draft of your novel but you aren’t finished. Now comes the best part. Revisions. The good news and the bad news: it takes longer, much longer than you might think, to revise your novel and make your book wonderful.

Below are ‘Seven Ways to Revise Your First Draft In The Second Round of Edits’

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Five Ways To Stay Motivated When You’re Not Making Progress

Writer’s block is real. Every writer, at one point or another, has experienced this debilitating inability to make any real progress in his or her work.

A lack of progress can be discouraging for anyone, and sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the motivation needed to complete a long project.

If you’re not feeling motivated, it’s not a reflection of your abilities as a writer. Creativity can seem to ebb and flow according to its own schedule, and we all have to find a way to cope with the slow periods in anticipation of the next big spark.

Below are five ways to deal with writer’s block. Whenever I feel less than inspired, I start here.

I hope you can use these same strategies to stay motivated in your own writing when it seems as if you aren’t making any progress.

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Three Rules For Food in Your Fantasy Novel

Often I read fantasy novels that contain a lot of traveling whether it’s by foot, horse or sea. Your characters need to eat and one way to pull your reader out of your fantasy world is to write something so strange or unbelievable that they pause to wonder how that can be. One place that typically happens in a fantasy novel is when food is mentioned.

Below are three rules to avoid these mistakes and add some solid, commonsense detail to the food in your fantasy novel.

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Four Tips for Choosing the POV Character For Your Scene

In my last post, How To Bring Lift and Fluency to Each Scene In Your Novel, I explored how to make your scenes shine like the torchlight in a dark cave.

As you tackle your scenes you should be supporting the overall point of view the story is told. Point of view can be difficult. We all know that. It’s even harder when you’re using multiple POVs.

It’s an easy call when a POV character narrates a scene that features only non-POV characters. However, when one or more of the POV characters share a scene, who comes out on top? That is, which character’s POV are you in? Who’s narrating the action?

Here are four tips that have helped me make this critical decision. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

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How To Bring Life And Fluency to Each Scene In Your Novel

In my last post, How To Build Suspense In Your Novel, I explored how to create the suspense in your novel but one of the points I mentioned was to focus on the scenes in your story.

As you dive into writing, you’ll likely be working scene by scene. When you tackle these discrete sections of text in your first, second or third round of edits, you’ll want to make sure each scene supports the overall development of your story.

Below are tips on how to bring life and fluency to each scene in your novel.

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How To Build Suspense In Your Novel

Over the past weeks, I posted mini-series for character development. I hope writers and authors took at least one or two things away from my advice. If you are unsure of what I am referring to, you can look at the last post of the series, and there are links to the other posts there.

As for this post, I wanted to roll-on from your well-rounded protagonist, you need to build suspense for you readers to finish your story. Suspense is a wonderful tool to evoke a strong emotional response from readers. Below are Three Suggestions to Build Suspense In Your Novel.

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