Literary Theory for Writers
When I find reading enjoyable, I know that a lot of skill has gone into uniting every aspect of the story. But even when the writing is clunky, I can still find myself pressing on, determined to get to the end of the narrative. Why is that?
As a literary theorist and critic, I’m an expert reader of novels. I can tell you why they work and how they work. Join me as I discuss the theory behind page-turning success, and provide step by step instructions on how you can apply it to your writing.
Latest Posts
The Midpoint and Third Major shift in Narrative Mood
With the third major shift at the midpoint, we reach a stage where the beginning and the end meet on equal terms. This is where the question, What’s it all about?, works its magic.
Zombies and the Crisis of Discovery
In my first post in this series on the five major shifts in narrative mood, I used a zombie event to demonstrate backstory and foreshadowing. I thought it might be useful to lean into the apocalypse once more to explain the second major shift in mood, the crisis of discovery.
How to Stage the Second Major Shift in Narrative Mood
The crisis point comes in the story as a moment of discovery, realisation, awareness, deeper reckoning, or acknowledgement of the situation. This is the where the symbolic meaning of the story collides with a protagonist’s naive longing for some other reality.
The First of Five Shifts in Narrative Mood
A story works best if it has roughly five major/recognisable mood shifts. These are shifts that relate to what’s happening in the story by providing different emotional perspectives or angles on what is happening. Your story will make sense to the reader on emotional terms, if these events are cast in the light of five…
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VictoriaReeve 