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Category: Structure

Three Act Structure Chart

Posted on July 18, 2020July 18, 2020 by steve

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…

Analysis: Moana (2016)

Posted on April 28, 2020November 20, 2020 by Dani Alcorn

Moana has been on my mind recently thanks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s adorable video singing his rap to his one-year-old. Like most kid’s movies, Moana’s structure is impeccable. And, like most musicals, some of the nine story structure checkpoints even get their own song! Here’s how this movie breaks down: Act 1 Hook The…

Analysis: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Posted on February 3, 2020November 20, 2020 by Dani Alcorn

Like many romance novels, this book has two protagonists. That means there are two complete sets of story structure checkpoints woven together. First, here’s a quick summary: Stella Lane is a smart woman. She loves numbers, statistics, and algorithms. She has very little dating or sexual experience because, frankly, she doesn’t find it that appealing….

Guest Post: Applying 3-Act Structure to a Picture Book

Posted on December 17, 2019December 4, 2019 by Yewande Daniel-Ayoade

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

Posted on March 30, 2019March 30, 2019 by steve

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

Posted on February 22, 2018February 22, 2018 by steve

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

Posted on October 27, 2017October 27, 2017 by steve

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

Posted on July 13, 2016 by steve

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

Posted on November 3, 2015 by steve

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

Posted on November 3, 2015 by steve

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…

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