Jade Varden Official Blog

"A tornado of chaos with crosswinds of lies and deceit." Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed at the Coffee Pot . Read it to find out what the reviewer didn't like about the story...and what they did!

Writing a story within a story is one of the most common literary techniques, and used so often you may fail to notice every time it's happening. Character dreams and remembrances can be a story within a story, though in the most traditional sense when this device is used you'll be following two different plots. Either way, it's a risky writing move. When it's done well, it can be great. When it's done poorly, readers end up hating both stories.  A Tale of Two Stories If you read novels regularly, the story-within-a-story scenario is pretty much unavoidable. It's going to crop up in the form of diary entries, newspaper articles, perhaps a book the character is reading. To name just a few of the authors who have used this technique, I present Chaucer, J.R.R. Tolkien , Edgar Allen Poe, J.K. Rowling and Herman Melville. At times, the story-within-a-story technique is done remarkably well. Fried Green Tomatoes has two separate plots that unfold toge...

If every story has a hero, logic follows that it must also have a villain. In writing, we call this character the antagonist. But because we are writers, we are able to make our villains as unique as we like. Your antagonist doesn't have to be evil or frightening. Hell, write it a certain way and it doesn't even need to be human.  Evil and Good Your main character is your protagonist, and in any good story there will be plenty of conflict to keep your hero from their ultimate goal. Perhaps they want to gain someone's love, overcome some problem, solve a mystery -- whatever it is they want to do. Something is going to stand in the way of this goal. That something is the antagonist, or the villain of your story.  In some cases, the villain will manifest itself as another character in the story. Perhaps it's a rival love interest, or a detective who is also working on the case your character wants to solve, or even the criminal themselves. Some stories have m...

I was asked and interview question that brought this character to mind, but I've thought about her a lot. The interviewer asked me how I avoid writing a Mary Sue character. I told her I'm not sure that I do, because that's the truth. Sometimes she sneaks in...whether we realize it or not. Mary Who?  Mary Sue a literary term named after an actual character that appeared in some 70s-era Star Trek fan fiction. I'm a huge fan of all pre-JJ Abrams Trek , so I have no problem with sweet little Mary Sue. In the original story, she was a very young and yet amazingly adept officer who had adventures in which she invariably saved the day. Now, a certain type of character is known as a Mary Sue , and she's not always female. Many have likened another Star Trek character, Wesley Crusher, to a Mary Sue. Generally speaking, a Mary Sue character is there in place of the author. She's quite normal or very young, yet somehow has amassed an amazing amount of sk...

Foreshadowing, hint-dropping, a little tease here and there -- these are time-honored literary techniques that keep the reader hooked and wanting more. But you can get to a point where you've just pushed the reader too far. If you tease, and tease, and tease, even when you deliver you won't get the reaction you wanted. Looking Into the Future Foreshadowing is a fancy literary term for hint-dropping . When you allude to the reader that something is about to happen, or if you say so outright (which is generally what I do in my writing), you're foreshadowing. You are, essentially, dropping teasers about upcoming chapters of the book. And like any good literary technique, it can be over-done . In other words, you can't drop too many hints. I read a book, once, with a main character had a very extensive backstory . Now, this is not unusual. The fact that the author teased this backstory, without revealing it, and for a good 80 percent of the book, was unusual...

When insurance companies use it, they've got a great excuse. When writers use it, they're called lazy. But the deus ex machina , known in some circles as acts of God, can be a viable plot twist...especially when all other possibilities have been exhausted. Snub this literary technique if you will, but it's been used by some of the greats -- everybody from H.G. Wells to J.K. Rowling. Here Comes the Calvary We've all reached that point in a story, whether it's one we're reading or one we're telling, when it seems that all hope is lost. When the situation seems so dire, it's impossible to see any light at the end of the tunnel. When that happens, the writer has a few different options for untangling the mess.  The most controversial is arguably the deus ex machina . Loosely translating the Latin, this actually means "act of God." Through this technique, a heretofore unexpected event is suddenly thrust into the story from out of now...

Some of the most dramatic moments in stories are abruptly halted, cut off in the middle. When the rest of the scene is finally revealed later in the story, it's pretty heady stuff. Cutting away can be a great writing technique to make any story more thrilling. But it can also be done too much, and poorly, in ways that will simply wreck your story.  Scene, Interrupted "There is no more need for questions, Inspector." The interruption halted the room, and all eyes turned to him. "I believe I know who killed Mr. Monroe."  Two weeks before that fateful night, Phillip was in Tangier... Cutting away from a scene at a pivotal moment has a number of different effects on a reader. It heightens the tension and draws out the suspense of the story, certainly, but it's also frustrating. When a reader is caught up in a scene and they feel themselves edging close to a conclusion that isn't delivered, it can be incredibly annoying.  The secret of...

Not all characters enter into the story fresh and pure. Dickens had a habit of starting his books with the birth of the protagonist, but not every author goes all the way to the very beginning to introduce a character. Sometimes, they've got a past. And if you want me to know about that past, you're going to need a tried-and-true literary device: the backstory. The Story So Far... The story-within-a-story is a well-used writing technique. When that story is a backstory, however, you've got to be careful. Many authors create a backstory for certain characters. I do it all the time to help make them seem more real ; a character with a past is much richer. But when the audience needs to know that backstory, you've got some stuff to think about. Presenting a backstory is pretty tricky business. Prologue: Some authors like to show the backstory right up front at the start of the book, in the prologue . This is a very efficient means of presenting the past part ...