Writing
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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What’s Taking So Long?
Endless posts on writing but no sign of publishing a novel; what’s taking so long?
It’s not one novel but three in a series; plus a novella to offer as a reader magnet*.
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Essential Components of a Scene
Building a story at the scene-level, we have to understand the essential components of a scene in order to give it focus. The scene has to advance the story else it fails in its purpose, which is to drive action or reaction in the characters.
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Work in Scenes Not Chapters
Why should authors work in scenes not chapters? The answer: focus. Don’t take my word for it, this is the consensus of writing coaches across A Solid Three-Stage Book Plan
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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Imperfect Heroes are Better
When it comes to engaging readers, imperfect heroes are better.
Put another way, perfect heroes are dull. Imperfect heroes are better because they have doubt, they have conflict, they have the capacity for failure. Perfect heroes are boring. Don’t believe me?
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