Make Bad Writing Better

Note: This page is in its infancy. More internal links coming.

©2010 by Jack Remick and Robert J Ray

The ProblemTree

To solve your writing problems, click on the links.

My story feels:

• too big – go to compression; scene list, spine-finder, character grid, Aristotle’s incline
• too disconnected — go to scene list, image and action, spine-finder, sector summary

I can’t get started:

• go to the curve, firsts and lasts, pathways to the novel

I can’t find my voice:

• monologue, dialogue, dialogue, monologue

My writing feels:

• too loose – go to image and action, spine-finder
• too far away – go to operation ratio, nouns-verbs, objects
• too abstract – operation ratio nouns

My character feels:

• lifeless – writing backstory, secrets, wounds, intruder
• silly – go to car action (car accident, near-death experience, incarceration)
• shallow – go to sexual triad, incarceration, intruder
• dull – go to syntactic flex, heavy on the LSR, intruder

What do I write about today?

• go to firsts and last, getting started diagram

My sentences feel:

• too short too long too uniform too formal – go to syntactic flex exercise,

When do I start rewriting?

• go to synopsis for act three

Where do I start rewriting?

• novel: climax, then subplot one, antagonist; short story: climax, then midpoint; memoir: Terrible Parent scene list

Can I have more than one protagonist?

• character grid, core story, read Amsterdam