Wednesday links: Conflict and first impressions

I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.

I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few. Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week.

1. Make Readers Suffer–Great Fiction Goes For the Guts, from Kristen Lamb’s Blog: All good novels have one thing in common: conflict. If you want to keep your readers hooked, then you need to have a conflict that’s interesting enough to keep their attention. Excerpt: “Great writers make a MESS because that is what is the heart of the best stories. The uglier the better. You will one day be grateful for that seriously jacked up childhood.”

2. First Impressions, Right Impressions: 5 Tips for Introducing a New Character, from Meek-Geek: Introducing a new character in your story isn’t as simple as just dropping them into a scene. Their entrance needs to make sense, work for the story, and represent the character perfectly. Excerpt: “Perhaps he or she was a God-send. Or perhaps you spent hours and hours lovingly crafting him or her. Regardless of how your character came into being, you are proud to call them yours.”