First, he writes a rough draft of what sounds like an exciting middle grade novel filled with external dramatic action, likable characters, rich historical events and meaning.Next, he's slogs through a re"vision" process that includes re-plotting his story after attending a plot workshop with me, reading The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master and The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories and, before pulling the entire …
Swimming without a Life Vest, Flying without a Parachute, Writing without Pre-Plotting First
The PWBook of Prompts Challenge is a lifesaver for writers who think of themselves as pantsers -- writing by the seat-of-their-pants without much of an pre-plot in place first.On the other hand, the Prompts Challenge is a tremendous challenge for writers who think of themselves as plotters. I, for one, revel in pre-plotting and re-plotting and doing it again. To be stripped of a Plot Planner to refer to is like wearing a blindfold and twisted in circles and expect myself to hit the …
Exploring Character Emotions and Your Own
I love mediating on signs from nature. Lately, along the river trail I often walk, ducks are flapping and quacking and pairing up. Ducks have to do with helping us untangle our own emotions and live with greater emotional grace and comfort.Exploring the character emotional development at both the scene level and the overall story level allows for us as writers to explore our own emotions and the development of our emotional maturity both as writers and as people.Let's face it -- writing brings …
How to Write a Great Scene
Q:What are some steps a writer can take to create a good scene?A:The first draft is about getting the story down on paper. As you write this first draft, you may find yourself more comfortable “telling” the story in narrative or internal monologue. Even so, every chance you can, attempt to write moment-by-moment scenes using movement and action to convey or “show” the story rather than simply “tell” the story.The more you practice writing in scene, the easier and more automatic the task becomes …
Plot for Memoir Writers
Q: Memoir writers think they know the plot because they already know “what happened.” Can you talk about this issue a bit—is that way of thinking useful or should they revise their attitude toward plot.A: Plot embodies quite a bit more than more than just what happens in the memoir or a sum of the events.Plot is how the events in the story of your life directly impact the main character or the protagonist, in other words, you.Always, in the best-written memoirs, the protagonist is emotionally …
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