At the SCBWI Storybook Intensive on June 10th,
April Henry shared some tips, tricks and hints for all writers. Here are a few
of my favorite inspirations I received from attending this workshop:
April said, “Show the reader” what you’re trying to
describe. Now that might not seem like a great tip because we’ve all heard the
old adage of “show - don’t tell” but here’s the bit that I found inspirational,
“watch T.V. with the sound off.” This is something you can easily do that will
help you “see” what is happening rather than hearing the plot unfold through
dialogue and/or information being relayed.
Another great tip, I thought, was to “skip over things
unless it moves the story forward”. That might sound like another bit of old
information but we all get caught up in our words—I mean after all, we are
writers ;D so it’s a good reminder to not be verbose because we’ll lose the
reader’s attention if we waste time being word-wranglers.
One last great tip I want to share that April gifted us
with, “If your characters have to swim to survive, send sharks after them.” The
point is to keep adventure or at the very least interest in the forefront of
the story.
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