This handy chart was created by Advanced Fiction Writing student David Lovelock, who explained: When constructing outlines for a novel, I like to create a one-page overview that allows me to visualize and move my ideas around. Attached is what I’ve created to help with creating the main points of a Three Act Structure. I…
Category: Structure
Guest Post: Applying 3-Act Structure to a Picture Book
I would like to sincerely thank Steve and Dani for giving me the opportunity to share my experience writing Sade: We’re Moving to Canada! on this blog, and to provide a free copy of the book to the Writing Academy community. I have been writing on and off since I was a kid. I describe…
Scene and Sequel
By Melinda Goodin Those who have read my work know that my stories tend to start with a bang — literally. If it’s not a space station exploding, it’s a church catching on fire or a laboratory or… And the pace gets faster from there. Critiquers have often commented that they ended up feeling breathless…
New Book: Writing Young Adult Fiction
After two years of editing(!) Dani’s and my new book, Writing Young Adult Fiction, is about to be published. As one of our fans, I’d like to extend this special pre-publication offer to you: get the Kindle book for just $2.99, or get it for free when you purchase the paperback. My favorite part of the book…
Story Patterns
The original url for this post was writetabulous.com I recently attended a writer’s workshop that was hosted by a local writers group. The presenter, Judy Olsen, talked about story patterns and how learning and using one of five basic constructs could make a world of difference in your writing success. Since I have never structured a book…
Three Act Structure
Syd Field, author of Screenplay and The Screen Writer’s Workbook, has outlined a paradigm that most screenplays follow. A paradigm is a conceptual scheme. This paradigm is the structure that holds screenplays together. According to Field, screenplays follow a three-act structure, meaning the standard screenplay can be divided into three parts: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution….
Developing Subplots
This article, from Laura Backes, originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the Children’s Book Insider newsletter and is reprinted here in its entirety with the CBI’s permission. While the CBI newsletter is primarily aimed at authors of children’s books, the advice given here is applicable to any work of fiction. If you’re writing a…
Scene and Sequel in Romance
In the plotting and storyline process of writing, often times the term, ‘Scene and Sequel’ is brought into play. This is a very important aspect of the writing process, as the entire structure of your story rests on the way you compose each of these elements in your work. The scene and the sequel are…
Plot vs. Story
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…
Advice on Novel Writing
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…