One of the sessions of last year’s writers’ summits covered revision planning with Troy Lambert. At Daniel David Wallace’s Revising and Editing Workshop, Lambert presented a solid and concise approach to revising a novel.
…
Explosive beginning, great ending, so why does your novel suffer from Sagging Middle Syndrome?
…
If there genuinely are no new stories, only new twists, then what counts as plot clichés to avoid? From Booktuber Alyssa Matesic’s short list comes a rich seam of super-clichés found in fiction.
…
Surprise versus suspense: what’s the difference? And why does one make for more engaging writing than the other?
…
Dan Wells’ Seven-Point Story Structure came from the author’s 2010 BYU presentation. Taking his cue from the Star Trek Roleplaying game Narrator’s Guide, wells utilised the Seven-Point Story Structure as a plotting and outlining tool.
…
All story structures include turning points and plot points. Whether it has seven, seventeen or twenty-four chapters, somewhere in that structure you hit key turning points or plot points that change the direction of the story. Without them the story is a flat line.
…
With a prequel novella in the works for my fantasy series, I’m finding more troubles with prequels.
Prequels naturally take place before a story that’s already written. This could be two centuries (House of the Dragon), or a few days (Rogue One). The core problem with prequels is the ‘before-ness’ of the story.
…
Lisa Cron guested on a podcast last year discussing internality and backstory, where story lives and breathes.
Listening back to Joanna Penn’s interview from 2021, writer and coach Lisa Cron asked ‘why does story matter in every book we write, no matter the genre?’
…
Writing a fantasy series, there’s no way I can ignore the conventions of the Action genre. A solid action piece has to include some mandatory ingredients of plot, character and theme. Scratch the surface and you’ll find I write all the tropes of a classic Western. With swords.
…
Not the obvious ‘how does it end?’ but something more basic; every story asks questions.
‘What’s is about?’ isn’t really the question either. Jaws isn’t about a shark, it’s about friendship; Fast and Furious isn’t about cars, it’s about family. But those are themes. Both ask different questions of the audience. Can our Three Men in a Boat(!) overcome their fears and band together? Do our street-racers overcome their distrust and become family?
…