Nailing the Fun and Games Section || Tips and Pitfalls

[@EmmaBennetAuthor]

My favourite section!

[@les5503]

I’ve always found the distinction between character focus and plot focus confusing because I just want both at the same time lol. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the middle of a book being referred to as the Fun and Games section but it makes sense now that I think about it. (Also, it’s been a while, hope you’re doing well!)

[@BoundByWords]

It has been a while! I’m doing better now and happy to be back. What have you being working on lately?

[@les5503]

​@@BoundByWords I'm nearing the end of the first draft of my second novel! Still haven't published the first one, I'm waiting for the right time to get started lol. But it's been really fun!

[@aSnailCyclopsNamedSteve]

1. The problem with a character who never acts is that they look like they do not care. And if they do not care, why should the reader? Even if this is their character flaw, the story should start at least soon before they start acting. And all characters should act, not just the main ones because it is unrealistic that a person goes through life not putting their own interests first. The knight might put the king's interests before his own but that is because the knight's best chance of survival is the king's survival. But if the king issues an inane order .... 2. I really do not understand what the 'fun and games' section is. There needs to be conflict on every page, which is not the same as hostility. I want to become a couch potato for an hour and my wife wants to shop until she drops, but I don't want her to go without me for whatever reason. I want to eat now; my wife says the baby gets fed first. Will those two subconflicts advance the plot, expose nuances that need to be addressed? Maybe, maybe not. If not, then they need to be replaced with conflicts that do. Maybe now I overate and I am totally exhausted, but the shopping trip was a success and we feel closer. One for the team, and indigestion. Sometimes it sounds like the climax is what is meant. That is the resolution of the main problem, not necessarily the subplots. A lot of that is going to be making the reader care about the character and question how the outcome is possible. But that is done preclimax, not at the climax. In It's a Wonderful Life, the heroine knows exactly what she wants from the very beginning. The tension is not in knowing, but how to get there and then to keep it. We like her because she makes the effort to throw the stone and make a wish. And she never allows anything to get in her way, like a force of nature.

[@sixfeetwonder_]

How do i hire you to be my editor??