Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense
Many writers struggle to use the past perfect tense correctly, so let’s review when the past perfect tense applies to our story and how to use it properly.
Pin ItWhere Normal Need Not Apply
Editing tips and advice. Sample topics: saving broken stories, revising tricks, using beat sheets for revisions, making our writing stronger, MS Word tricks, fixing unlikable characters, etc.
Many writers struggle to use the past perfect tense correctly, so let’s review when the past perfect tense applies to our story and how to use it properly.
Pin ItThe most important question we can ask to get in touch with every aspect of our story is “why”—even helping us escape generic or cliché storytelling.
Pin ItMost stories are written in literary past tense. What does that term mean, and if different from normal past tense, how is literary past tense different?
Pin ItA common question in writing forums asks when we should italicize a character’s thoughts. How should we format our characters’ internalizations?
Pin ItWe often want to share both characters’ reactions during dialogue. How can we do so without causing point-of-view, head-hopping, or attribution issues?
Pin ItWe probably think we know everything about dialogue formatting already, but let’s make sure we know all there is to know before assuming.
Pin ItFor a strong story pace, we need to ensure every element has purpose. How can we do that? How can we know if a scene or sentence is pointless?
Pin ItIt’s time for another post as a Resident Writing Coach over at Writers Helping Writers, where we’re talking about what makes a story’s pacing “good.”
Pin ItAs we go through the editing process, we might have questions we wish we could ask a professional editor. How can we get our question answered?
Pin ItWhat does the moving process have in common with the editing process? Both make us prioritize, purge, and question what matters.
Pin It