When writing fiction, I work alone with just my imagination and manuscript to keep me company. When I'm in the flow and the muse is powerfully coursing through me, I'm oblivious to the outside world. I live and breathe my writing and do everything I can to protect the time I have to write. Then suddenly something internal or external makes me hesitate, lose my footing, my confidence wanes, insecurity grows and I begin to doubt myself and question what I'm doing and why. All sorts of arguments …
Action versus Dramatic Action in Stories
The action in a scene has the potential to teach, change and, at best, transform your protagonist. What makes for action versus dramatic action in stories? I introduced the Scene Tracker in Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple more than 12 years ago when I understood that as much as writers struggle with plot, many writers also confuse how to write powerful dramatic scenes with writing in summary and creating passive scenes. A Scene Tracker is a visual aid to help you determine the 7 essential …
How to Create Cause and Effect in Stories
A writer watching the 27-Step Tutorial: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on-line needs more help with how to create cause and effect in stories. Cause is the why something happens. Cause in stories serves as a: trigger catalysis reason explanation for and precipitates prompts elicits sets off sparks stirs up provokes causes an effect. The cause is internal, external or both. Example of cause: because she is tired and overworked… What happens next …
Middle Grade and Young Adult Plot Workshop
You are enthusiastically invited to my Plot Workshop at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco next Thursday, February 11th from 6:30 - 9:30pm! The title and description of one of my very few, live, in-person workshops is Middle Grade and Young Adult Plot Workshop, though all novel, memoir, screenplay writers benefit from delving into your story's plot, structure, character, theme and explore how to emotionally connect to your readers. (Young Adult fiction is one of the hottest selling genres …
Are Your Characters Just Like You?
Just as some writers excel at creating believable and intriguing characters and others at creating exciting and meaningful action, some characters are better at opening up and showing emotion in stories while others excel at taking action. With the belief that we write best when we understand our writing strengths and weaknesses, I include how to determine whether you're an action-driven writer or a character-driven writer or a thematically-driven writer or a combination of all of the above in …
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