Q: Last week I did something I didn't know I'd be able to do though had the drive to do it. It's taken 20 months to do it, but I've completed my first draft- I have a manuscript! Woot woot! So much of your influence pushed me to it, btw!Anyway, I was wondering how you go about re-writing/editing. Do you do a full read through first? Do you just start with spelling checking? How do you make sure it's fluid from the color of a shirt in one scene to the next, etc.....A: Congratulations!See my …
Scene Tracker & Rewriting
Even after all these years I delight every time I see a plot planner or scene tracker filled in. Each of the notation on this writer's scene tracker is clear and precise and the scenes flow naturally one scene to the next.Ready for her first major rewrite, she's fumbling around, moving words. All the while, the naysayers in her mind are growing in strength. I can hear it in her voice. She's wobbly, ready to throw up her hands. Her steel resolve to finish this historical novel of 5 years is …
Plot Webinar Tomorrow
What's New!I'm doing a Webinar Plot Workshop hosted by Writers Digest University tomorrow.Begin the new season with a new vision of the plot and structure of your story... from the comfort of your own home. Click on your computer. Join me in real time for this once only (though you'll receive a link w/ video files of the workshop you can revisit as often as you like) live plot workshop.Change how you feel about plot. Learn how to use plot and structure more effectively. See your story transform …
How Do You Know When It’s Time to Give Up?
Last week at the Bookshop Santa Cruz launch party for The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories I share 5 Plot Tips to Immediately Improve Your Writing. Right after, we give away a free copy of Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple a friend bought and then passed out raffle tickets for it.The guy who won BBP appears next in a long line of chatty writers awaiting their books to be signed. He tells me how he finished a fantasy novel in 2006 …
PWWorkbook Launch Party Photos
Thanks to Writers' Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan, I have lovely photos to share of both the pre-party and Bookshop Santa Cruz launch party for The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories.Standing room only. Plot Tips shared. Cake devoured. Thanks to all of you who showed up and asked questions and bought books.I add a few photos here and there (more photos on FB both the PW fan page and the Martha Alderson page and on …
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