Second Act Pinch Points
From Act One ingenue to Act Three veteran, your second act pinch points are the key. Character arcs simply don’t work without them.
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Writing
Posts on the craft of writing
Writing Setting as Character
Inspired by Sanderson’s World Building class, we bring you writing Setting as Character. There are certain books where the setting is so key to the story, so rich and well defined, it becomes a character in itself.
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Calculating the MICE Quotient
Mary Robinette’s ingenious short story technique raised a reader question about calculating the MICE Quotient.
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The Art of the Book Blurb
Uncovering the art of the book ‘blurb’; that short text on the back cover and in the book summary that entices people to open the book and read. But what is it, and what makes for a successful ‘blurb?’
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Write What You Know?
A common piece of writing advice is ‘write what you know.’ But what I know, I don’t want to write about. Much better to make it up.
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Sisterhood as Theme Over Plot
Revising my novella, I discovered I’m writing about sisterhood as theme over The Revelation of Misbelief
Book One stalled for a while because I didn’t know how to handle the revelation of misbelief. In my defense, I didn’t acknowledge the place of misbelief in story telling.
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Exceeding the MICE Quotient
My novella hit problems a while back, entirely from exceeding the MICE quotient. I tried to pack too much into a 20k novella, lost focus and… it didn’t work.
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The Proactivity Scale
A key question in fiction: where does your protagonist sit on the proactivity scale? Do they pursue goals beyond the everyday? Survival or escape by themselves aren’t active goals. Something has to drive change and transformation, to become better by the end than they started at the beginning.
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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 patience.
Typically, Idiot Plots derive from non-communication and mis-communication amongst the characters. Often, in the Idiot Plot, one sentence could wrap up the entire thing before the end of Act One.
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