Using Point of View, Dialogue, Dramatic Tension, Flashback, Mood in Novel Writing, Short Story Writing andMemoir

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Emily's Unique Approach to Teaching Fiction Writing:

The Five Ingredients of the Scene

My teaching of writing technique for the novel, memoir and short story is based on The Five Ingredients of the Scene. These five are all you have to know. Everything thing else in the novel, short story and memoir builds on these:

1. Point of view or who's story are you telling... POV puts you inside your main character's head, heart and gut -- you are seeing the world through the eyes of your character.

2. Dialogue is one of the fastest ways into character and allows characters other than your POV character to reveal who they are. Letting the dialogue "roll" often offers up unexpected "what happens next?" and other surprises. Dialogue is a great way to show tension. Think you can't write dialogue. You can. I promise. Why am I so sure? You talk, don't you? You can write dialogue. I've never worked with anyone who can't write dialogue, only with people who think they can't.

3. Dramatic Tension/Action. You can't have a story without dramatic tension. There are many different ways to create dramatic tension, which can come from something outside the character or something internal.

4. Mood, some people call this description. Thinking mood instead of description is better because mood is character driven. How does your character see a scene? In other words, what the character sees is more important than what you as the writer want to describe.

5. Flashback is a scene from the past that informs the present and tells the reader something important about the character. Once you are in the flashback, you are once again in scene. All of the above applies.