Story Flaw Fixes, Part Two

Earlier this year, I blogged about common flaws that may prevent a story from being marketable.

Perhaps a piece lacks action or reaction. Maybe it's a victim of information overload. Or, it's possible peat and repeat, repeat, repeat make the natural rhythm of the story drag.

I'd like you to grab that manuscript one more time and look for more reasons why this piece you've labored over for days, months - ok, let's face it - years, isn't attracting attention.

Is your story guilty of:

• P.O.V. Confusion. Let's get to the basic question: who is telling the story? Sometimes, the point of view isn't clear. It's a muddled mess of information that makes it read as though multiple personalities are sharing the story. Yikes! I'm not saying using multiple P.O.V.s won't work (because it can). But, there needs to be consistency and balance. For example, I wrote a short story with three characters each giving their version. It was a jumbled mess. Once I reworked the story so readers got a snippet of each character's P.O.V. that led up to a major event (and then had an onlooker tell the rest of the story), it became a smooth, coherent story. And it sold. Cha-ching!
• Thesaurus Inundation. Guilty (as proven by using "inundation")! Sure, you want to strengthen your story, make it stand out from others. But once you peruse every entry in a thesaurus and then find the biggest word to plug into a sentence, readers will be on to you. How? It's not natural! The word doesn't fit. A wise English instructor once told me each word in a sentence needs to stand on its own, make a bold statement in a simple manner. I try to follow that advice when I write fiction.
• Deluge of Dialogue. Did you realize that most readers skim dialogue? It's true! Again, I wonder WHY? It's a natural response; people fail to listen and that translates to a disconnect from dialogue. Think about stories you like that incorporate good dialogue. What sets that banter apart? More than likely, it's to the point, is character and action driven, and possesses its own natural flow.

Highlight examples of these trouble spots in your manuscript and then formulate a plan to eradicate these types of flaws.

Your story will thank you. :)

by LuAnn Schindler

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5 comments dialogue, dialogue overload, how to fix story flaws, LuAnn Schindler, point of view, POV confusion, story flaws, thesaurus overload, using a thesaurus, writing dialogue

Story Flaw Fixes

You write a book, you begin to market it to agents or publishers, and then, zero. Nada. Zilch. In other words, the story you poured your heart and soul into sits in the document file of your computer or is shoved to the back of a filing cabinet.

If you find this happening to a piece of your writing, take another look at what you've put on paper. More than likely, the story has a flaw that can be fixed, and in the long run, these edits will make it a stronger piece of writing.

1. No action, no reaction. Without a catalyst for action, a story sits - and will more than likely never sell. It's a basic notion of physics, and in this case, literature: Something must happen that causes a reaction from characters. Now, the action doesn't have to be major, but a single event or non-event acts as a turning point for a story. 
2. Whoa, Nellie! Have you ever started reading (or writing) a story that has too much exposition and by the time you reach what should be the beginning, you've lost interest? I find this a lot when I edit stories for a publishing company, and it always reminds me of lines from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. "Begin at the beginning." "The beginning?" asked my  mother. "The beginning of the story." Readers don't want to get bogged down with information that does not impact the storyline.
3. Repetition. I'll plead guilty to this common flaw. I find I overuse certain words or phrases. They are everywhere! A few weeks ago, I was reviewing several poems I have written to submit to a contest. That's when it struck me: I have a pet phrase that showed up in all five poems. It's the same principle when you write fiction or non-fiction: tell us what you want to tell us. Readers don't need to be constantly reminded of something that happened.

 If you have a manuscript stuck in a drawer, give it a second perusal and see if you can apply any of these fixes.

Have you committed any of these story flaws?

by LuAnn Schindler

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3 comments action reaction, LuAnn Schindler, repetition, story flaws, writing beginnings