11) Never underestimate the power of the two line break. You may not want a new chapter but you want to cut away from the scene. Make the two line break.
12) Never get trapped into thinking that if you have a character open a door, he necessarily has to close it later on. You are creating a visual impression of a scene, and you don't need to spotlight every gesture. And you can cut away from a scene in progress.
13) Paragraphs again: they are the way you engineer the page for the reader. That's why I say never hesitate to make one line paragraphs and short paragraphs. You're punching action or an emotional moment when you set it off in a paragraph. And you want to make things easy for the reader. Long paragraphs always impose something of a burden. The eye longs for a break.
14) Multiple point-of-view can be very energizing for a reader. The switch in point of view can be exciting. And multiple point-of-view gives you a chance to reveal the world in a way that single point of view cannot. Favorite multiple point-of-view novels for me are War and Peace and The Godfather.
15) A single point-of-view throughout is the best opportunity a writer has to get a reader to fall in love with a hero or heroine. The limitations are obvious; you can't go to "another part of the forest" to find out what's happening. But you have immense power in single point-of-view to get into the thoughts and feelings of your champion.
16) First Person single point-of-view can take the reader not only into deep love but deep antipathy. Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Lolita are shining examples.
17) If you find yourself becoming bored, then do what you must do to make the novel exciting again for you. Never keep building a scene because you feel you must. Think of some other way to solve the problem that is goading you to write what you don't enjoy.
18) When you feel yourself getting tired, stop and read something that is energizing. The opening pages of Stephen King's Firestarter always refresh me and send me back to the keyboard. So does reading any part of Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song." So does reading The Godfather. So does reading a Hemingway short story.
19) Keep going. Remember that you must finish the novel for it to have a chance in this world. You absolutely must complete it. And of course as soon as I do I think of new things. I go back, refining, adding a little. And when I stop feeling the urge to do that, well, I know it's really finished.
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