The Huge Mistake You’re Probably Making in Your Novel

after you've gotten your story down on the page and you have a finished draft it can be incredibly challenging to see it from an objective perspective and understand if it is delivering the reader experience that you intend as a professional book editor that's where I come in to help authors see the weak points in their story and then strengthen those so that they achieve their vision for it so to help those of you who currently have a work in progress but are not sure if it's really as strong as it needs to be today I want to reveal the biggest mistake that I see almost in every novel that I edit I'm gonna walk through some specific examples of how this mistake manifests so that you can go back through your own manuscript and see if there are any areas to revise if you're a writer and especially if you have a book project in progress I recommend subscribing to my channel if you haven't already every week I either offer tactical writing tips like this one or I talk about the book publish industry especially from the traditional side I also have a free resource that can be very helpful for you if you're working through revisions it is called my free story self-assessment worksheet and it is a simple quick quiz designed to help you see your story from A New Perspective and hopefully identify strong areas as well as weaker points that you could improve on the next draft downloading that is going to sign you up for my newsletter where I publish exclusive interviews with publishing industry professionals and published authors so you don't want to miss out on that and if you want to go straight to the newsletter the link is also in the description so what is this huge mistake that you are probably making in your novel it is creating too much narrative distance what is narrative distance it is the space between the reader and the characters and events of the story now narrative distance is related to point of view or POV but it is not the same thing for instance you could have an omniscient POV which we think of as more distant that actually doesn't have much narrative distance at all and alternatively you could have a close third person or a first person POV which we would think has little narrative distance that actually has a lot of narrative distance as a general rule you want there to be minimal narrative distance no matter which perspective you are writing in because that is going to be what creates an immersive experience for the reader and keeps them engaged with the plot and with the characters when you close the narrative distance the reader is going to feel like they are fully inhabiting the setting that they are experiencing the events of the story alongside the characters they're going to feel truly connected to the protagonists when you do this and it's going to be what grants your narrative that compulsive page turning quality that we all want to achieve when there's a lot of narrative distance it's frankly harder for you to keep your reader intrigued with the story because frankly they're just not going to feel as connected to what is going on in your story's world all that being said there are certainly times where as an author you will want to use narrative distance for a certain literary technique or a certain reaction that you want to get from the reader right such as you want to establish suspense but I would challenge you and argue that in most cases The Narrative would be stronger and more effective if the narrative distance were closed you might think that you are achieving a certain literary effect from deliberately using narrative distance but it might just be confusing or disorienting the reader so I know all of this might sound quite theoretical so I'm going to walk through some examples of how narrative distance manifests in your manuscript and give you some example passages so you can see how it actually looks in your story then we'll go through how the narrative would read differently if we closed the narrative distance the first way that narrative distance manifests in a novel is if you are recounting events in retrospect deciding which which plot events to show on the page and happen in real time in the story versus which plot events are happening off stage meaning we're not actually seeing them play out in real time is one of the most important responsibilities that you have as an author and the answer is not always as straightforward as it might seem anytime you find yourself spending a lot of time recounting an event that happened off stage meaning it occurred within the time frame of the novel but was not shown as a full scene chronologically I would encourage you to take a moment to consider if the narrative would actually be stronger and more engaging if you just showed that event when it actually occurred that's because when you recount an event in detail in narration it can come across as an info dump which is typically not a very effective way to engage your reader because it removes the reader from the present plot action because now we're spending all this time going over something that happened previously another way this might manifest is if you are having characters recount an event via dialogue but then if that exchange becomes so overwhelmed by the details of this event then that scene might feel very burdensome and cumbersome for the reader to interpret also remember that the only way for the reader to really feel the drama of the scene is to see the characters raw emotional responses in the moment so I strongly recommend writing out any scene that includes significant plot developments that change the course of a character's Journey if you skip over them and catch the reader up later on what happened they're going to be at that narrative distance so let's look at an example passage of how you might recount an event in the narration and thus create narrative distance feeling down Kara sat in the chair by the window reflecting on the news she received last night after coming home from the date with Marcus she had received a call from her mother letting her her know her grandmother was in the hospital the infection came on suddenly her mother had said the doctors are running tests and we should know more tomorrow Kara's first thought had been to buy a plane ticket immediately but Jenny's wedding was in two days she still felt torn about what to do in this case rather than having a scene of Cara the next day recounting what happened last night it would be much more effective to just show this scene when it occurred chronologically that Cara received this call so then by the time that we get to the scene of Tara sitting by the window we will already have known what happened because we will have seen it happen in real time we will also be able to much better connect emotionally with her experience of hearing her grandmother is in the hospital if we're sitting there with her when it happens so this is a scene where I would recommend removing the language that is recounting what happened and instead show this as a full scene chronologically in the narrative the next way that narrative distance comes about in a novel is if you're not Illuminating the character's thoughts most novels that are published today are written either in close third person or first person narration which means that we are following either a single protagonist very closely or we are rotating between multiple protagonists very closely in these perspectives we should have full access to the POV character's Minds essentially we are stepping into their shoes and experiencing the events of the story alongside them because we expect to have intimate access to their minds anytime you fail to share what a POV character is thinking or feeling in a given scene you're going to create narrative distance the way to spot this in your scenes is to look at what is happening externally physically in the scene and what is happening internally or emotionally for the POV character if you are writing in close third person narration or first person narration then your scenes should always include a mix of both actual physical action as well as dial log that is being said aloud and internal reactions and interpretations and Reflections from the perspective of the POV character if something dramatic or consequential happens in a scene then your reader is going to expect to see the POV character's reactions we're going to Crave knowing how they interpreted what just happened this is also going to help validate that the reader is interpreting and registering things as the POV character is themselves so let's take a look at another example passage as Kara took off her heels in her apartment entryway her phone buzzed her mom was probably wondering how her date went hey Mom she said excitedly the date went super well I might even be able to take him as my plus one to Jenny's wedding that's great honey but unfortunately I have some news what happened Grand is in the hospital and I'm here with her now the infection came on suddenly the doctors are running tests and we should know more tomorrow I feel terrible that I'm not there doesn't this scene feel like it's lacking some emotional impact that's because we are only seeing the external action in this case the dialogue between Kara and her mother and we're not getting inside Kara's head at all we don't know what she is thinking or feeling all we know is what she is saying aloud which is obviously not the same thing as what she's actually thinking and feeling so in this case I would recommend deepening the close third person perspective here and providing some insight into how Cara is reacting responding to what her mother is saying let's look at how a revised passage might read as Kara took off her heels in her apartment entryway her phone buzzed her mom was probably wondering how her date went hey Mom she said excitedly the date went super well I might even be able to take him as my plus one to Jenny's wedding that's great honey but unfortunately I have some news hearing her mother's uncharacteristic somber tone Kara's stomach dropped something's wrong what happened Hera's mind raced through the possibilities was everything okay with her dad with Buster with gran gran is in the hospital and I'm here with her now the infection came on suddenly the doctors are running tests and we should know more tomorrow a wave of guilt washed over Kara here she was thinking about her date and Jenny's wedding when this was happening at home I feel terrible that I'm not there do you see how we feel Tara's raw emotions so much stronger in this version it's because we're closing the narrative distance and we are fully privy to everything running through her mind these editions of Cara's inner thoughts and Reflections also help amplify the tension and suspense of the scene because it draws out the conversation a little bit longer and creates a stronger sense of anticipation in the reader the final way that narrative distance might show up in your novel is if you are keeping secrets from the reader as the author of The Story another one of your key responsibilities is choosing how and when to reveal information to your reader when does the reader learn this important piece of backstory or see this important flashback when does the reader learn about these characters relationship history sometimes in the interest of creating Intrigue or trying to build suspense authors will have their protagonist withhold important information from the reader but as with the last issue we discussed when you are writing in close third person or first person narration and we want to feel intimately connected to that protagonist having them explicitly keep things from us is going to create narrative distance and it can feel jarring to know that they are withholding information because at some point we're going to expect to be told what it is they're hiding we will crave them opening up to us fully whenever you introduce this secret or information withholding we're no longer going to feel as intimately connected to that protagonist when we know they are keeping this secret and at worst not knowing the secret for too long can actually lead the reader to disengage with the story so let's take a look at how this information withholding might manifest in the scene the morning of Jenny's wedding all Kara wanted to think about was the joy of seeing her best friend marry the love of her life but something was eating away at her and she didn't know how to tell Jenny donning her special maid of honor PJs she she poured herself a mimosa from the hotel suite bar she didn't have it in her to smile and pose for pictures so she lingered near the door while the other girls finished their makeup the ceremony would begin in an hour which meant Cara had less than that to figure out what to do about this information it could change everything for Jenny hey is everything okay Jenny's sister came up from behind her yeah yeah I'm great Kara faked a smile she probably doesn't even know so at several points throughout the scene we are being hit with the news that Cara is withholding some huge secret that is going to potentially change everything for Jenny but even though the secret is referenced three times we still have no idea what it is ideally before this scene ever even comes about in the novel chronologically we would know what Kara knows that could change Jenny's Life we'll understand what information she is withholding so that by the time we get to this scene we'll know where her discomfort is coming from from and we will understand the stakes of the situation because right now we really have no information to interpret why Cara is feeling so uncomfortable and distressed you might argue oh well this is building suspense because you want the reader to be eager to find out what the secret is but truly the suspense should be wrapped in whether or not Cara is going to tell Jenny that is quite enough suspense already and that way you're going to ensure that the reader is not distracted and disoriented from not knowing what Kara knows because remember Tara In this passage is our close third person POV character so we do want to be intimately connected to her and know what she knows I hope this helped you understand what narrative distance is and how it could show up in your novel and how closing it can make for a more engaging and effective narrative let me know in the comments if this made you notice some narrative distance in your own manuscript or if narrative distance is something you weren't even previously aware of I have another video that goes into some weak writing to banish from your manuscript so definitely check that out if you're in the process of revising and strengthening your novel if you found this video helpful please hit that like button it would mean a lot to me and help me grow this community hit that subscribe button if you haven't already and don't forget your free story self-assessment worksheet and my newsletter Link in the description below thanks so much for watching and happy writing foreign [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Alyssa Matesic

Views: 15,444

Keywords: authortube, writing advice, writing mistakes, amateur writing mistakes, newbie writing mistakes, worst writing mistakes, worst amateur writing mistakes, best writing advice, mistakes writers make, common writing mistakes to avoid, most common writing mistakes, common new writer mistakes, common mistakes new writers make, writing mistakes to avoid, creative writing tips, biggest mistakes first time writers make, biggest mistakes new writers make, how to write a novel, booktube

Id: LoL7bFPY_8M

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 02 2023