After I changed your thinking about plot last week by stating it is NOT story structure, I want to discuss how to merge the two. Plot isn’t like story structures where you know basically where things should happen, like the inciting incident happens around the 10% mark of the book. Read more…
Most people agree that stories are created with three key elements: character, setting, and plot. While there are endless resources on character and setting (worldbuilding), I’ve found that most sources skim over plot. I know, you’re probably saying, “But you did a whole bunch of posts on plot with the Read more…
I think one of the mistakes some writers make is that they listen to too much advice. There is so much out there (and I’m only adding more), but I think all the advice is people just saying the same things in different ways, hoping that one of the methods Read more…
In the past, I’ve gone over the two functions of scenes and the three secrets of scenes, but today I want to talk about a scene’s cycle. A scene is the basic unit of story. By putting together multiple scenes, you create your book. However, you also have to make Read more…
Scenes are units of story that, when stacked together, make up a whole story. A scene happens in one time and space from one POV and must have a change arc. In this post, we are going to explore three not widely known facts about scenes that will help you Read more…
You may have heard the terms character driven and plot driven and assumed you knew what they meant, but this concept is harder to grasp than it seems. I originally thought I wrote character driven fantasies, but I’ve recently been rethinking that statement. While I believe my stories are very Read more…
After I finish my first draft of a book, I like to take a break and then come back with fresh eyes to do a book analysis before doing any rewriting. My analysis basically entails me rereading the book and marking issues I’d like to correct. While I’m reading, I Read more…
This week is the last and most detailed story structure method in our series. Save The Cat! became popular for screenwriting, but Jessica Brody wrote a book that translated it for novels. I’ve read both the screenwriting and the novel version, and Jessica’s book is by far more helpful for Read more…
Super Story Structure is a method devised by James Scott Bell, and it is the first story structure that actually made sense to me when I started writing. Everyone talked about outlines and plot, and I had the hardest time following their methods. Once I read Bell’s Super Structure, something Read more…
This week we are moving on to the three more detailed story structures for those who want more organization when devising a successful story. Again, story structure is all about picking the one that works best for you. I am going to start with the popular Hero’s Journey, but, if Read more…