{"id":185,"date":"2013-06-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/06\/25\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_25-2\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:17","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_25-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_25-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nFinding
\na balance between drama and melodrama can be very hard sometimes. Today, let\u2019s
\ntake a look at some of the areas an author may want to examine when
\nself-editing to assure that the drama is not overdone:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDon\u2019t take a small conflict and try to make
\nit bigger:<\/b> When an author takes a minor problem and turns it into something
\nmajor without providing motivation for the larger conflict, the reader will
\nthink the work contrived. Instead, if Betty\u2019s prom date calls up ten minutes
\nbefore the prom to tell her he\u2019s taking Debra instead of her, let that be the necessary
\ndrama. The reader can sympathize with Betty, and Betty needs to take some major
\naction to get back into the game\u2014like calling her drop-dead gorgeous-guy of a
\nbest friend who happens to attend a school outside of town. She might be a
\nlittle late to the prom, but she\u2019s going to make her date and Debra jealous. And
\nwhat if Betty finds true love with drop-dead gorgeous guy of a best friend but
\ndoesn\u2019t realize it because she\u2019s busy chasing deadbeat prom guy. On the other
\nhand,what if Betty knows that Debra is a little off from center, and that her
\nprom date might be in danger? Then Betty\u2019s reaction would be decidedly
\ndifferent and a little more dramatic. She has to save the no-good cheat despite
\nthe fact he dumped her.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nUnderstated drama pulls a bigger punch<\/b>:
\nWhat happens if Betty is at home waiting for her mother to arrive so they can
\ngo shopping for her prom dress? This is the biggest event that has happened
\nsince her father passed away two years before, and Mom has smiled for the first
\ntime in ages. When a car pulls up in the driveway, Betty is excited. Mom will
\nprobably come in and change out of her clothes, and they\u2019ll be on their way.
\nBetty pulls back the curtain, and instead of her mother\u2019s car in the driveway
\nshe sees a state trooper\u2014just like the night her father died. Yes, you could
\nmake Betty fall apart, fall to her knees, fall into the arms of the trooper,
\nbut what if Betty opens the door and braces herself for the trooper\u2019s words? She
\ndoesn\u2019t say a thing as the officer tells her that her mother has been seriously
\ninjured. She remains quiet when the officer asks her to get the number of her
\nnearest relative who lives several states away\u2014someone her mother would not
\nwant her to be with. She still doesn\u2019t speak as they tell her the relative will
\narrive soon. Only after the trooper has done all this does she speak. She keeps
\nher back straight and with a very steady voice says, \u201cWould you mind taking me
\nto my mom? She doesn\u2019t like to be alone when she\u2019s not feeling well.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDon\u2019t bury the humor: <\/b>High-volume
\nconflict sometimes does bring out the humor in others. When things are at their
\nmost intense, humor can be the author\u2019s greatest tool. Allowing the reader a
\nslight break from the conflict isn\u2019t letting the reader down. Instead, a little
\nhumor gives the reader a necessary and unexpected break. Humor in the midst of
\nthe extreme conflict is better than a scene where the reader is pulled away
\nfrom the conflict completely. However, both type scenes are necessary. If the
\nstory isn\u2019t a comedy, the author may wish to keep the humor to a medium, but
\neven one line that makes a reader laugh out loud will secure that novel in the
\nreaders\u2019 minds for years. John Grisham did that for me in his novel The Runaway Jury<\/i>. I can still quote the
\nline today.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nWhen
\nwriting drama, it is important to ask others if the drama is too melodramatic.
\nCould a character handle a situation with calm and add to the tension, and can
\nhumor provide the relief a reader might need in the middle of an intense scene?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding a balance between drama and melodrama can be very hard sometimes. Today, let\u2019s take a look at some of the areas an author may want to examine when self-editing to assure that the drama is not overdone: Don\u2019t take a small conflict and try to make it bigger: When an author takes a minor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[159,160,67,18],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-christian-writing","tag-conflict-in-fiction","tag-editing","tag-editing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}