Story as a Graph
Can you draw your story as a graph? From Freytag to Vonnegut, writers and coaches will tell you stories have a shape you can draw. With a little analysis, you can visualise whether or not your story ‘works.’
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Can you draw your story as a graph? From Freytag to Vonnegut, writers and coaches will tell you stories have a shape you can draw. With a little analysis, you can visualise whether or not your story ‘works.’
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Is your prose stained glass or plain glass? Does it show only the crafted, opaque glass with nothing of the world beyond, or does it disappear entirely as the portal to that other world?
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Acting out the first act is the only way of knowing if your novel opens the right way. There is no single ‘right’ way to begin a novel, but there are plenty of wrong ones. Breaking down your first act will increase your chances of keeping the reader to Act Two.
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They want it, they can’t get it, and time is running out; this is the Mid-Point Plot-Knot.
This is the basis of every thriller plot ever written. It also underpins many more plots of novels, movies and TV. It’s the Gordian Knot of plot.
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We’re crossing the finish line in the November 50k Challenge: Week 4. Day 28. It’s ‘done.’ …
Where am I at in the November 50k Challenge: Week 3? Despite hitting 86% of target, I’m struggling to keep the words flowing. …
It’s my November 50k Challenge: Week 2. And I’ve run out of plot.
To recap, I’m unofficially taking a NaNoWriMo fifty thousand word novel writing challenge. At the close of Day Fourteen, there’s good and bad news. …
So how am I doing in my November 50k Challenge: Week 1? I’m unofficially doing a NaNoWriMo challenge; Fifty thousand words of a novel in November. …
Magic defines the fantasy genre, but I have no fewer than nine problems with magic. Sure, you can have fantasy without magic, but some readers will feel cheated. How does magic affect the story? When does it add wonder and when is it simply plot armour?
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A video skimmed by on YouTube the other day; it claimed “everything is ‘content’ now.” Art? No. Movie? No. ‘Content?’ Absolutely. …