Think of your core idea as the ground where you will eventually build your structure. Novels, being very large structures, require firm ground. So how do you know if the idea you have is strong enough?
Tag: plotting
Sep 22 2014
Generate Nerve-Shredding Story Tension—Power of the Secret-Keeper
We all have faces we show to certain people, roles we play. We are one person in the workplace, another with family, another with friends and another with strangers. This isn’t us being deceptive in a bad way, it’s self-protection and it’s us upholding societal norms.
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Jul 25 2013
The Bookpocalypse–What to Do When You Realize Your Story Might Be DEAD
Characters were talking to each other with no conflict, no scene goal. Melodrama filled in the gaps. Characters were psychologically inconsistent and half I would have recommended seek therapy and get medication. Their emotions were all over, namely to manufacture tension that couldn’t be created any other way (because no core story problem/antagonist).
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Jul 19 2013
The Single Largest Cause of Writer's Block–Might Not Be What You Believe
When I initially began writing fiction, I was shocked how terrible I was at it. Oh, page to page, the writing was lovely. But as a whole? I kept creating mess after mess, a blob with no internal structure that made sense. To make matters worse, I would hit about 30-40, 000 words an hit a WALL. I was paralyzed with no idea how the story should progress.
This, then led to editing and reediting the beginning until I was just ready to throw myself in traffic.
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Jul 12 2013
What Star Wars "A New Hope" Can Teach Us About In Medias Res
Ah, but this is where we writers can get in trouble. I see writers beginning their novels with high-action gun battles, blowing up buildings, a heart-wrenching, gut-twisting scene in a hospital or at a funeral, all in an effort to “hook the reader” by “starting in the middle of the action.” Then when they get dinged/rejected by an agent or editor, they are confused.
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International Association of Professional Writers & Editors
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