You’re writing your story in multiple point of view. How do you keep track of how many scenes you have in each POV? Your story has a specific time frame. How do you track your scenes to ensure you follow that timeline? Maybe your story takes place in 5 different cities. How can you ensure…
You want to get published. You want to get your book to the best seller lists. Maybe you’d just like to see your book sales adding up and receive a decent royalty check every month. But it isn’t happening. Instead you find yourself in a daily battle with the big D—discouragement. So what do you…
This month’s last post on plotting concerns the major plot events, or building blocks, of your story. Most writers understand all fiction has a climatic scene, aka the climax. They also know it occurs very near the end of the story. However, many writers miss several other plot events essential to their story.
I’ve got children’s author Melody L. Schaefer here with me today. I met Melody at my local writers group, and we’ve had a good time getting to know each other. Besides writing her books, she does all her own illustrating. Melody’s newest release, Penny the Parakeet and the Solar Eclipse, is the perfect example of…
In last week’s “To Plot a Story,” guest Deborah Lyn Stanley stated, “A one-sentence premise is essential to a strong story.” Many writers may not understand what a premise is or how to arrive at that one-sentence, so let’s take a look at it today. In almost all of the books I have on the…
Today’s guest post is from writer, artist, and editor Deborah Lyn Stanley. She is a retired project manager who now devotes her time to writing, art and care-giving mentally impaired seniors. She has published a collection of 24 artists’ interviews titled the Artists Interview Series. The series published as monthly articles for an online news…
In recent months I’ve been stymied by my work in progress (WIP). Would I call it writer’s block? No. I was struggling to write because I simply didn’t know where the story was going. You see, I decided to take a short story I wrote for a college class a few years back and develop…
Two mistakes writers make when it comes to backstory are: Putting it in chapter one Using too much at a time What is backstory? Tim Tomlinson, in The Portable MFA in Creative Writing, tells us backstory is: