The handout below is from a plot talk at the recent San Francisco Writer's Conference: Plot for Middle Grade and Young Adult Stories: Plot Your Story Scene-by-Scene to Emotionally Engage Your Readers.I share points that serve writers of all genres and for all ages again now in honor of the plot workshops I'm teaching in Los Angeles this weekend. The Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators known as SCBWI hosts LA Writers' Days this weekend: Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, the 23rd. They …
How to Draw the Universal Story Line
A writer's difficulty drawing a Plot Planner line inspires this post. The first time we met at a plot workshop/retreat, literary agent Jill Corcoran asked me to draw the line for her. Her enthusiastic endorsement of my linear approach to a creative process later led to the Plot Whisperer books.Writers who have been showing up weekly for the past ten weeks as part of the Plot from Beginning to End Series have begun sharing plot planners. One writer is waiting for her physicist husband to draw the …
Writer Path’s First Annual Deep Plot & Scene Retreat
I no longer remember which idea came first, the writer's retreat? I think we first talked about collaborating on a plot and scene book. Out of that came a contract from Writers Digest for DEEP SCENES: Plotting Your Story, Scene-by-Scene Through Action, Emotion and Theme. Writer Path's First Annual Deep Plot and Scene Retreat with Martha Alderson and Jordan Rosenfeld came next.Your story deserves to be told. Your writer's soul needs to be nourished. From Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st, 2014, …
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Character Motivation: What is Her True Journey?
Some people believe that we incarnate in the world to heal a specific wound that, at birth, we forget. Most of us spend our lives unconscious of this deeper destiny.The opposite is true when writing a story. What happens throughout the story makes it impossible for the protagonist to remain unconscious. The Crisis in the Middle forces the protagonist to consciousness. This gives her the ability to face the greatest challenge of the entire story -- the Climax at the End and not only survive …
The Power of Facing the Crisis of Your Novel, Memoir, Screenplay
I'm jumping for joy! Rather than the usual struggle defining the Crisis of their stories, most of the writers today in our 16-week A PATH to PUBLISHING Plot Whisperer Workbook Series, not only nailed the crisis, they are also writing, facing fears, standing up for themselves, and one writer today even announced she felt not only is her writing improving, her entire life is, too. Oh, I am over-the-moon. I know, cliche. I'm giddy. I'm just so darn happy for the writers not only having survived …
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