The Subtlety of Expression
Have you ever noticed how subtle actors’ facial expressions are in movies and television? How the mere raised eyebrow communicates a host of emotions? No theatre players they who have a camera inches from their face; no requirements for broad, garish pronouncements or movements. No need to shout to the rafters.
And neither do you, the author.
Building tension, creating your MCs inner thoughts is a close-up, intimate affair where you bring your characters’motivations to the reader in measured, sure steps. Instead of—or alongside—your plot outline, create the roadmap of your MC’s emotional arcs. Note the hills and valleys of their journey in a way that is more a meander than a marathon. The dreaded info dump is just that—giving it all away and cheating the readers of the sweet, slow sprinkle of insight into how anger becomes understanding, distain blossoms into desire, and despondency turns into joy.
Spoon-feed your readers as they learn of the reasons for a character’s despair. Make the reader feel every bump and bruise in the journey from solitude to being a couple.
The elevator to the HEA is broken.
Take the stairs.
* After almost six years of enjoyable employment with Boroughs Publishing Group, Chris Keeslar is setting off on a different path. He’ll still be doing occasional projects for Boroughs, and he wishes all the Boroughs authors fulfillment of their dreams. Everyone at Boroughs wishes Chris the best as he undertakes his new adventures.
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