Eight Types of Surprises
The reader hook you didn’t know you needed: Eight Types of Surprises to keep the reader turning those pages. Jessie […]
Plotting
Posts on plotting a story
The Art of the Flash Forward
We’re all familiar with the flashback; but what is the art of the flash forward? The flashback takes us back
Story as a Graph
Can you draw your story as a graph? From Freytag to Vonnegut, writers and coaches will tell you stories have
The Mid-point Plot-Knot
They want it, they can’t get it, and time is running out; this is the Mid-Point Plot-Knot. This is the
Sisterhood as Theme Over Plot
Revising my novella, I discovered I’m writing about sisterhood as theme over plot. Who knew? Not me, it began as
Exceeding the MICE Quotient
My novella hit problems a while back, entirely from exceeding the MICE quotient. I tried to pack too much into
Avoiding the Idiot Plot
Avoiding the Idiot Plot: in which characters behave like idiots. Logic and good sense go AWOL. Along with the reader’s
A Solid Three-Stage Book Plan
How do you define a solid three-stage book plan without writing a single line of the novel? Abigail Perry presented
Scene and Story Goals
What is the difference between scene and story goals? What happens when these don’t align? Do they exist in your
Revision Planning with Troy Lambert
One of the sessions of last year’s writers’ summits covered revision planning with Troy Lambert. At Daniel David Wallace’s Revising