Story Structure: the First Quarter Debate
Discovered a new aspect of writing craft this week while looking at story structure: the First Quarter Debate powering our […]
Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
Free Flow: Get Up and Create
If you’re stifled at the keyboard unable to find your free flow: get up and create. It’s a common thing
The Role of Speculative Fiction
With wide appeal and a long history, just what is the role of speculative fiction? To use a definition from
Three Acts or Four?
How many parts to a satisfying story: three ‘acts’ or four? You can artificially break stories into three, or four
Story Arcs, Pacing and Plotting
It’s my new obsession, analyzing the story arcs, pacing and plotting in everything from books to TV shows to commercials.
Writing to Market
If I were smarter, I’d be writing to market; cranking out books targeted to best-selling trends. Right now, that’s Romantasy
The Legacy of the Rings
What I call Tolkein’s Legacy of the Rings doesn’t kick-start the fantasy genre. It originates in the roots of story
In Medias Res
‘Starting the story in the middle’: that’s the Latin term in medias res. The Greek playwrights understood it well. Don’t
Seven Elements of Story Structure
Another way to think about plot is Joe Nassise’s Seven Elements of Story Structure. Last seen at [2022’s] Plot Forest
Drama Becomes Life Becomes Drama
It’s a human need: drama becomes life becomes drama. “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began,” Kurt Vonnegut