Seven young adults between the ages of 12 to 17 shuffle inside the Children Shelter’s classroom. The boys loom large. The girls shift from motherly to sexy and back, like blinking red lights. I break down some stories to them with a focus on the Beginning 1/4 of the story and ending at The End of the Beginning. I ask them to write the beginning of a story real or imagined that leads to a moment of no return, a moment when life shifts, when good turns bad or bad to worse. I suggest that the …
Allow Your Dreams to do Your Heavy Plot Lifting
Following is an inspirational way to use your dreams to write your stories by hynotherapist, author, and radio personality Kelly Sullivan Walden.Like Kelly, I, too, use my dreams to support my writing and you'll usually find me up before dawn, writing."While I was up to my elbows mid-way through writing my recent book, “I Had the Strangest Dream…the Dreamer’s Dictionary for the 21st Century” (Warner Books), I developed the practice of rolling out of bed and into my “writing station.” While still …
Tells the Story — What or Who?
Have you ever been told your characters read like cardboard figures? Agents complain about not being able to get close enough to the main character? That they couldn't stay interested? It happens to all writers, whether action-driven or character-driven. Writer's Test:You're in an elevator with the exact right agent for your book. You have three floors to attract the agent's interest, get her to ask, "what happens next?" and, at the third floor, give you her card to send the first 50 pages.Do …
WRITER VERSUS BLOGGER
I never write two posts in one day. I'm lucky if I get in one a week. Rather than do what I should be doing -- getting my free monthly Plot Tips eZine out to awaiting writers -- I procrastinate instead.My procrastination took the form of reading a couple of writers blogs new to me. In one, a writer hesitantly and respectfully reported he had started a new project, mere sentences -- a tender blade barely broken out of the earth. Still, he was writing.I congratulated him with enthusiasm. A story …
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU THINK PLOT?
Recently, I asked a random sampling of writers not familiar with my work what they thought of plot. Most of the answers I received bordered on hostile. I include a few of the tamer ones here:"I view plot as an enemy that must be destroyed, lest it pilliage my village and rape my wimmins." UJ"When I think of plot, I stop thinking about writing." JT"I have a deep disdain for plot, really." LJI was most surprised when I read AK's comment: "All anyone cares about is plot, plot, plot." Most writers I …
Follow Me!