based on material originally published at cinemoose.com, author unknown One of the things that every writer needs to know is the difference between story and plot. It’s very easy to confuse the two and many people often do. So what is the difference between story and plot? To put it simply, “plot” is the sequence…
These favorite opening lines were originally collected by book clubs in New Zealand: Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last… Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab’s Wife My mother…
45 Questions to Create Backstories How much about your characters do you really know? Small details might seem superfluous even irrelevant to the story you intend to write, but the smallest detail informs the bigger picture. The more you know about your characters, the better you’ll create believable characters who live and breathe on the…
By Alley Carter, author of the YA series The Gallagher Girls Are you a plotter or a seat-of-your-pantser? If you hang out around enough writers you’ll eventually hear that question. And it’s a pretty good one. Everyone has a different approach to plotting. Some people just sit down and start writing; some agonize for weeks or months…
by Melanie This map is kind of the way I see all stories. At the bottom, you can identify characteristics, like the seven deadly sins, and a comparison to the seven heavenly virtues, or Gandhi’s list of sins, or whatever, so you are ready to compare and contrast. The mini circles on the edges can…
Fiction writers generally come in two kinds: those who are strong on plot, and those who are strong on characterization. Rarely is a writer brilliant at both. Thus, even if you excel at great story premises, foreshadowing, plot twists, and careful pacing, you may still receive rejections with critiques pointing to ‘two dimensional’ or stereotyped…
by Crawford Kilian Contents Foreword Developing Efficient Work Habits Elements Of A Successful Story In the opening… In the body of the story… In the conclusion… Throughout the story… Style: Checklist For Fiction Writers Manuscript Format Storyboarding Ten Points on Plotting The Story Synopsis Understanding Genre: Notes on the Thriller Symbolism and all that The…
by David Alexander Thirty-odd books ago, when I began writing my first action thriller, the initial installment of the Phoenix series (Leisure Books), I decided to take a critical look at the genre. I wanted to craft dynamic action scenes that would give the reader the most bang for the buck. I was anxious to…
Scene and sequel are two of the most important components of plot, but they also seem to be two of the least understood. If plot were an engine, scene and sequel would be the pistons powering the drive shaft. Writers striving to turbocharge their writing might want to fine-tune their use of scene and sequel….
by Laura Backes, Children’s Book Insider, http://cbiclubhouse.com Previously in the pages of CBI I have often written about the basic structure for children’s fiction: a character encounters an obstacle or conflict of some kind, and then resolves it through his or her own purposeful action. This makes up the events of the story, or the…
by Laura Backes, Children’s Book Insider, http://cbiclubhouse.com Great fiction appears effortless to the reader. The characters and setting are so real, the story so believable, that the reader is completely unaware of the author behind the words. The smoothness of the text belies the hours of hard work and practice that went into its creation….
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