Check out the post on Keeping Your Story's Narrative Focused by author Janice Hardy for Rewrite Wednesday at her blog: The Other Side of the Story. She's provided a writing sample for reading then followed it up with commentary on each paragraph of the story in which she points out the gradual drift in focus.
Lack of focus is a problem many writers experience as they try to keep readers informed about aspects of character or backstory, but the end result can slow the action or push the story off track to the point that the reader can become uncertain of the point of the story.
I try to keep these questions in mind as I write:
- What is my story about?
- Is this information pushing my story in the right direction?
- Do my readers need to know this information?
- And if they need this information, do they need it at this exact point in the story?
- Am I telling or showing?
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