In plot consultations with writers, I often see how the writing of a protagonist's transformative journey in a novel, screenplay or memoir mirrors the writer's own personal transformative writing journey.A few weeks back, I wrote about a client struggling to bring her protagonist to the Climax of her book. My impressions were that perhaps the writer's problem came from not having truly reached the end of her own transformative journey enough to grasp her own personal power in life and thus is …
Children’s Picture Books and Plot
Uma Krishnaswami, former child writer who now writes for children, and teaches writing in the MFA/Writing for Children and Young Adults program, Vermont College of Fine Arts, asked me to take part in her blog book tour for her newly released picture book for children: Out of the Way! Out of the Way! and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.Uma knows what I do with plot. We have worked together in the past and she interviewed me for her blog Writing with Broken Tusk a few months ago.After receiving …
Plot in Children’s Picture Books
Today is my turn to blog about a new picture book: Out of the Way! Out of the Way! by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.Uma's story set off a series of questions in my own mind in regards to plot. Plot is what I do and the fact I have not yet answered the questions and thus not found my angle for my blog post gives me pause. My apologies. The opportunity to explore plot based on her picture book compels me to explore the possibilities. That necessitates that Uma and I …
Writer’s Courage
Over the past six or so years of providing plot consultations to writers, I rarely have had a cancelation. When one happens, the occurrence tends to give me pause. When it happens twice with the same writer, I can't help but speculate why. Always, my imagination settles on one degree or another of writer's fear.Years ago, I heard Maya Angelou say that a character trait most important in life is courage. This is so true for both the protagonist of a story and for the writer, too. Having worked …
Plot Trick: Showing Character Emotion, Not Telling
A plot trick to connect readers to your stories? Rather than tell how a character feels, the trick is to find unique ways to show in scene the character's emotional reaction to the dramatic action. This weekend at my first ever Writers Plot Retreat, I had a glimpse into why this trick of writing your characters showing authentic emotions is a tough one to master.In preparation for the retreat, I created an intricate Plot Planner based on our time frame and the number of plot consultations per …
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