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 How To Write a Balanced Book

What is balance in a story? It's easier to say what an unbalanced story feels like. It feels off. It can be many things that cause a story to be unbalanced. Sub-plots that are left forgotten only to pop up and try hog the limelight. A dearth of information only to then pour out in a torrent of explanation known as the dreaded 'info dump'. Or pacing that drags along paying needless attention to pointless minutiae only to race through big plot points or gloss over critical interactions.

As a writer, you must always think like a reader. What do they love most of all? To feel smart and involved. Don't get them involved in a sub-plot without making it worth their while. Keep that sub-plot alive and in its proper place--supporting the overall story experience. As for information, there are many ways to sprinkle clues and information throughout. Trust your reader to pick up on them so that when all is revealed, they've gathered everything all along and are invested in the ending. 

In Storming Venice, (book two of my Venice Trilogy) I had introduced a number of clues about a man named Marcion of Sinope. He was the key to a puzzle much like Dan Brown created in The Da Vinci Code. Avoiding the dreaded 'info dump' took a lot of planning and different bits of knowledge and research had to come from different people or places. The result was an unfolding of scintillating escalation that added to the suspense instead of a page of history. The result was me getting a call from a neighbor who I didn't even know was reading my books. He enjoyed my stories but when he went online and started researching Marcion of Sinope and some of the other plot points he got excited. What sweet validation. And then he vowed not to get off my front porch until I handed over my work-in-progress manuscript for book three. He was hooked!

If you're struggling with balance, think of each part of the book as yarn in a scarf. Take care to weave each strand through while keeping tension on it. Don't let it fall into a snarl in your lap and then tuck it here and there throughout and absent in the rest of the scarf. Your scarf (I mean story) should stand up to stress. Not fall apart like...like...



-- Anna Erikssön Bendewald 

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