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Time Line Helps You Plot I know that my new novel will take place over a 98 hour span of time. So, I’m working with those 98 hours, creating and structuring the time line of the story in these ways.
Whole mss critique or chapter at a time critique? I went to Idaho this weekend for a Novel Revision Retreat. Whole mss critique. One thing I like about the Novel Revision Retreat is that it is set up to get feedback on an entire novel. Many critique groups run on the idea that a person [...]
Are you in Pain? Question for your character. So, I’m sitting at the hosptial, waiting for my husband to follow in Harry Smith’s footsteps and get the Couric Procedure (screening colonoscopy). Every wall has a sign asking, “Are you in pain? 0 No Pain/Happy face
Use Character Traits to Make Your Character Sympathetic Yesterday, we looked at 9 character traits that can be used to develop sympathy for your character. Today, we’ll look at using those traits in your story. It’s not enough just to tell yourself, or write on a checklist, that your character has these traits and is, [...]
Narrative Arc in Less Than 100 Words: Example 2 Very simple picture books still have a narrative arc, even though the word count is extremely small. Yesterday, we looked at an example of a great simple narrative in My Friend, Rabbit. Today, here’s a look at a narrative arc in 80 words (with the help [...]
Narrative Arc in Less Than 100 Words: Example 1 Very simple picture books still have a narrative arc, even though the word count is extremely small. Here’s a look at a narrative arc in 80 words (with the help of some illustrations), as it appears in My Friend, Rabbit, by Eric Rohmann, winner of the [...]
While my WIP novel is out with readers, I thought I’d look at my process for this novel and how it differed from others. Writing Process for Novels Vary Widely Writing process varies. First, my process was different for this novel. I find this to be always true, that what worked for one novel, won’t [...]
Connecting Emotional and Narrative Arcs The emotional arc is the inner conflict; the narrative arc is the outer conflict. How do you get these two arcs to mesh? Peter Dunne, in his book Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot has a simple suggestion. Dunne says to write the headline of a scene on [...]
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