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Story-fixing Your Novel––Part IX
Posted on March 8, 2017 Leave a Comment
This lesson will be a challenge for me, because although I understand the concept, I’ve not used it as much in my writing. Subtext––is what’s really meant, not what’s said. Click to Tweet #amwriting #storyfixing
Story-fixing Your Novel––Part VIII
Posted on March 1, 2017 Leave a Comment
It’s all in the details. But there are so many of them. Which ones to include? What is necessary to the story, and what isn’t? Details will either help your story take wing, or weigh it down like an anvil. They’ll either lift your story or burden it. Click to Tweet #amwriting #storyfixing
Plunging the Depths of Deep POV –– Part VIII
Posted on September 14, 2016 Leave a Comment
We’ll finish this today. Hopefully, this series, though not scouring for every little detail of Deep POV, will give you tools to improve your skill at making your POV characters come alive. Click to Tweet #amwriting #DeepPOV
Plotting Systems—Part II
Posted on July 29, 2015 1 Comment
Last time, I surveyed what plotting systems could work for a “pantser” or a “No Outline Person.” (NOP). I’m using James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure. #amwriting #plotting systems #plotsystems. What are you—an OP or an NOP? Click to Tweet Let’s take a look at the various plotting systems outliners or Outline Persons use, from […]
Writing Unforgettable Fiction—Part II
Posted on July 8, 2015 Leave a Comment
Last week, I talked about making promises to readers from Chapter 11 of Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules, by Steven James. Today, I’m going to talk about plot twists.
Writing Resource–Plot & Structure Part III Character Arc
Posted on June 3, 2015 Leave a Comment
“Great plots have great characters. While this is not a book on character creation and implementation, we can’t let the subject of plot go without touching on at least one aspect of character work that is all important: character change.
Writing Resource–Plot & Structure–Part II
Posted on May 20, 2015 2 Comments
Chapter 5–Middles We’ve all heard about “the middle” of a story and usually what we hear is that it sags, stalls, and slumps. It doesn’t seem to move the story along or go anywhere. James Scott Bell addresses this in chapter five of Plot & Structure. The middle is typically known as Act II. In […]
Putting Fire in Your Fiction
Posted on April 22, 2015 Leave a Comment
The tagline to Donald Maas’ The Fire in Fiction is “passion, purpose, and techniques TO MAKE YOUR NOVEL GREAT.” The book covers everything from characterization, the story world, scenes, dialogue, and voice. Each chapter has a set of practical tools dealing with each section from that chapter. As an example, I’ll talk about Chapter Three, […]
Writing Resource – The First Five Pages
Posted on January 29, 2015 Leave a Comment
Called “A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile,” The First Five Pages is a how-to manual on sprucing up the beginning our your novel. I’ve had this book a long time. A dear writing friend gave this to me years ago. I’m just now reading it. Covering the basics, it’s everything from […]
Breakout III – General Story Techniques
Posted on January 16, 2015 1 Comment
This week, we’ve been looking at Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I trust you have had your whistle whetted to learn more from this writing resource. Yesterday, we looked at Lessons 13-24, Part II, Plot Development. The lessons covered everything from subplots, to adding tension in different ways, to how and when to […]
Donna L.H. Smith 