I abduct the aliens.
All good stories must have a plot -- a sequence of events that is logical, inevitable, and relentlessly propells the story (and reader) forward. Mostly, the plot is external action. But sometimes—and literary writers will nod vigurously here—the plot is internal, and barely accompanied by grand outward action. Instead, it's made of incremental revelations, decisions, and reflections, all …
Continue reading "THE EGGSHELL HERO – How to build a story upon a dramatic character arc"
Last time I shared my novel planning process with you, and promised I would look into the idea exploration part as well. We all have different ways to brainstorm and develop our creative ideas, and we use different tools to help us track our thinking (from Moleskin notebooks and napkins, to mind-mapping software and spreadsheets). But at the core of …
Continue reading "How to brainstorm your story idea into a working concept"
I'm almost finished with my revision of THE DEEP LINK -- yay! But I'm so tired of working on the same thing for so long, I grind my teeth each time I open the document. So, to kick my writing spirits back into high gear, I already started working on my next novel. A standalone this time, in another …
Continue reading "Concept, Structure and Transformation – How to plan a novel"
Not with your Twitter bio. That's fine. With your story and the weird people inside it. My friend and fellow writer Renee Miller (aka The Killer Whisperer) wrote a post recently about the source of her inspiration. And a thing she said reminded me of the main problem I'm facing with my own story -- …
The main reason I disagree with people who claim every story fits the hero's journey, is that it's not the only character arc out there, and it really doesn't fit every story. While I wasn't sure why exactly my story doesn't fit the description when I wrote the post on The Hero’s Journey – My Pros and Cons, my late yet intense …
Continue reading "The 3 Types of Character Arc – Change, Growth and Fall"
I always thought I was a plotter, an outliner, a planner. Not a pantser. Not someone who discovers her story while she writes it, but someone who plans ahead and always knows which way the story goes. The premeditated kind. I thought this because I had a scene-by-scene outline of the entire novel as I wrote the …
Continue reading "Confessions of a converted structuralist, or How I realized the error of my ways"
The most important thing before attempting a revision, is figuring out what exactly we're revising. So the top question to ask when we pick up any considerable chunk of text should be -- is this a scene, or a sequel? The difference between the two isn't always obvious. Scenes are often mixed with elements …
