The ScriptShark Critique Sheet
I rediscovered the ScriptShark Critique Sheet from 2009. It’s another useful tool by which to evaluate your manuscript. …
I rediscovered the ScriptShark Critique Sheet from 2009. It’s another useful tool by which to evaluate your manuscript. …
The reader hook you didn’t know you needed: Eight Types of Surprises to keep the reader turning those pages.
Jessie Cal’s Superior Plot Twists talk centred on Eight Types of Surprises at last years Escape the Plot Forest summit. …
We’re all familiar with the flashback; but what is the art of the flash forward?
The flashback takes us back to an earlier part of the story – usually to fill in backstory we don’t get to see in the present timeline. The flash forward takes us to a later episode in the story, a glimpse at where the story is heading.
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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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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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Revising my novella, I discovered I’m writing about sisterhood as theme over plot. Who knew? Not me, it began as a little fantasy-adventure prequel to my series.
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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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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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How do you define a solid three-stage book plan without writing a single line of the novel? Abigail Perry presented her Three Stages of a Solid Book Plan at this years Perfect your Process Summit.
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What is the difference between scene and story goals? What happens when these don’t align? Do they exist in your novel?
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