Okay, so if you have read all the blogs in this series, you should understand what makes a scene vs. a sequel, understand the three-act dramatic structure. You also understand that the antagonist—or Big Boss Troublemaker—is the engine of your story. Without the BBT, your protagonist’s world would remain unchanged. The BBT’s agenda drives …
Tag: plot
Dec 03 2010
Are You Committed to Your Writing? Or Just "Shacking Up?"
Are you “shacking up” with your dream of writing for a living? Or are you really ready to make a commitment…like for real? In my years of working with writers, I have run across literally hundreds of individuals who claim to want to be best-selling career authors. But, over time, it soon became clear that …
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Nov 29 2010
Structure Part 5–Keeping Focused & Nailing the Pitch–Understand Your "Seed Idea"
Welcome to the 5th installation on the topic of structure. As an editor for years, I consider myself an expert in spotting and fixing structural problems. Sadly, over the course of doing this many years, I have run into far too many novels that had plot problems that ran so deep there was no saving the …
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Nov 26 2010
NaNoWriMo–Finishing What We Start
Finally, I get a chance to blog about what it feels like to finish NaNoWriMo. It was great to make it through the first draft of my novel, and I realize I have A LOT more work to do. But, I am no fun to talk about because, frankly, when once you do land …
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Nov 22 2010
Structure Part 4–Testing Your Idea–Is it Strong Enough to Make an Interesting Novel?
For the past month, we have been discussing story structure. Part I of this series introduced the novel on a micro-scale. Part II explored the big picture and offered an overview of common plot problems. Part III introduced the most critical element to any novel, the BBT. Each of these blogs builds upon the previous lesson, so if you …
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International Association of Professional Writers & Editors
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