She speaks the simple line while recounting the layers she's had to heal while writing her first book to arrive where she is now, ready to embark on writing her second book. On the other end of the line while attempting to hold steady the vessel for her brilliant insights and wild creativity, I had witnessed what writing her first book demanded of her. As layers disintegrated, pain and muck and gore were revealed. No matter how difficult the journey, she never quit. In her healing, I see how …
Going to Far: Over-Correcting
Writers often swing from one extreme to another before landing on that exact right balance of not too much and not too little.You know you've gone too far in one direction when your critique group gives you feedback that your story needs more or less of something only to find after a week of rewriting you receive feedback to cut back or add more.The terrific thing about this sort of frustrating feedback?Usually, when beta readers focus on the degree of use of specific craft elements, it means …
Grasp Plot and Theme with the Help of a Picture Book
You've been writing off and on all year. You feel good about your characters. You've written exciting action and worked in some terrific twists and turns. You refer to your pre-plot Plot Planner often and everyday face the challenge of finding the next perfect scene to write (or, if you're using The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing, you're everyday following the next prompt on your way to the end), like putting together the pieces of a jigsaw …
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Rising and Falling Plot Action and Tension
Dear Ms. Alderson:I've been reading your "Blockbuster Plots" and loving it, but I have a question about the plot planner (examples of what Plot Planners and how different writers use the plotting method.). As I understand it, we're to draw the lines for an ideal plot on a piece of banner paper and then we write in our scenes above and below the lines, depending on whether our protagonist is in challenged/in control in the scene or not. So far, so good.From a diagnostic point of view, though, …
6th Annual PlotWriMo / 2013 International Plot Writing Month
As you may know Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers hosts the International Plot Writing Month, also known as PlotWriMo. Last year, to celebrate PlotWriMo's 5th birthday, I offered a free Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Write a Compelling Story every week during December to the person who tweets the most messages using the hash tag #plotwrimo for that week. I enjoyed the campaign and appreciated everyone's help getting the word out so much last year, I believe I'll …
6th Annual PlotWriMo / 2013 International Plot Writing MonthRead More
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