Draft one, writers attempt to create a story with a Beginning, Middle, and End, filled with Dramatic Action that affects the characters in meaningful and coherent ways -- a firm foundation. Subsequent drafts, writers create more layers, each of which benefits from the use of authentic details. Authentic details "show" who the characters truly are by the objects they surround themselves with and how their actions support their dialog, and allow the reader to sink into the exotic, unusual story …
Writing for Ourselves. Writing for Others.
Now on her third book, the writer moves away from herself. Memoir writers aren't the only ones who write about themselves. Many of us write to work things out in our minds, our hearts, to learn our own individual truths, to make sense of our worlds. Memoir writers shape their stories around their own lives and stick to the truth and call their work a memoir. Fiction writers take their lives and embellish for meaning or humor or excitement's sake to create a novel or screenplay or short …
Choosing POV
Today's consultation challenged conventional point of view and arrangement. Most stories revolve around a protagonist who is changed at depth over time by the dramatic action that happens to her. The story is arranged into chapters and told through either:First person present -- I revel in the balmy ocean breeze First person past -- I reveled in the balmy breezeThird person present -- she revels in the balmy ocean breeze Third person past -- she reveled in the balmy ocean breezeToday's …
Memoir Writing
I'm personally excited about an upcoming plot consultation with a well-respected veteran writer and photographer of some 50 years for most of the top news agencies and magazines in the country and the world.From the early info I require about the character (for a memoir writer that is the writer himself) and theme, I sense this writer is interested in using his action-packed background of intrigue and danger to illuminate his flaws and fears and thus give meaning and significance to his …
2nd Draft Blues
He finishes the first draft with a vengeance. His vision of a complex story crystalizes. The characters reveal themselves. The story world captivates. Action builds to a dramatic climax. Character grow and transform. Thematic threads run deep throughout the manuscript. Celebration over his accomplishment is short-lived and little acknowledged in his eagerness to keep going. He rounds up his notes and begins crafting and writing draft #2 and immediately comes to a screeching halt. The quality of …
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