Hey All!
Was $2.99 – now only $0.99 for a limited time!
Peaches by Ada Dore
Margot didn’t know what she was getting into when she purchased the newest smartphone from Peaches, Inc.. But when texts go wrong, and communication goes haywire, Margot has to face the consequences of living in a tech-driven world.
Grab your copy while it lasts!
Hey All!
Was $2.99 – now only $0.99 for a limited time!
Peaches by Ada Dore
Margot didn’t know what she was getting into when she purchased the newest smartphone from Peaches, Inc.. But when texts go wrong, and communication goes haywire, Margot has to face the consequences of living in a tech-driven world.
Grab your copy while it lasts!
Next step! Story beats. If you are new to this series, check out part One, Two, and Three here!
I gave this process six days because it is my favorite part, but it is also quite intensive. I am in love with Save the Cat! story beats.
I have never had such an easy time writing a story as with Save the Cat!. I think it might be the best book on writing I have ever read (second only to Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott- Click here to listen to me geek out about it). I mean the subtitle does say “The Last Book on Writing You Will Ever Need”. But I didn’t know they would mean it until I read it. It’s a fantastic resource. Every writer should read it. Buy it here. Now. Okay- that’s my TEDtalk.
Evernote has a nice template for these beats (Not branded as Save the Cat, but they are the same beats). They have several other templates that are great for writers (Character Sheets – Setting).
In all honesty, Beginning, Middle and End doesn’t really cut it for me. I need specifics. But if a loose structure works for you, then absolutely go for B-M-E.
Another way to think of it is Set Up, Build Up, Pay Off instead of Beginning Middle and End. The reason why is because Set Up, Build Up, Pay Off are verb phrases. It is a directive. B-M-E is WHAT you should write, and S-B-P is HOW to write the story and how the characters should move in the landscape of your story. (BME are just simple nouns, and who needs those!)
Another great outlining tool is the Hero’s Journey. This is applicable to most fiction, it’s a proven storytelling method that’s as old as Gilgamesh (no seriously).
The Hero with a Thousand Faces is *the* book on the Hero’s Journey if you want to pick up a copy. This is not a “writing” book, but rather an analysis of myths from cultures all over the world. And what are myths if not stories?
Joseph Campbell identifies the similar “tropes” if you will of these myths and categorizes them into a mythic storytelling structure that you can use as a writer. The book is more challenging to read because of how much history and psychology that goes into the book. But I think it has a well-earned spot on any writer’s bookshelf.
And if you are still struggling with story beats, then I highly recommend heading over to the queen of story structure’s blog helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com.
I think I found K. M. Weiland through researching the Hero’s Journey. I follow her blog devotedly, and I recommend joining her mailing list to get updates on her blog. Everything she posts is quality. She is super helpful, informative, and relevant. I especially loved her 22- part blog series on Marvel movie’s story telling mastery. Even if you don’t like Marvel we all want the secret sauce that produces as devoted of an audience as Marvel Fans.
I also read her book on Outlining and it is fantastic (My workbook is coming in the mail soon! ). She really likes to break apart plot structure and analyze all the little bits which appeals to me so hard.
Next time, we will talk about how to fine tune & perfect your outline for maximum writing efficiency!
And we are right back to it. Today we are going to be talking about Outlining! If you’ve missed the previous posts in the series you can check them out here ( Pt. 1 & Pt. 2)
So at this point, you have a schedule for the next two-ish years for your writing project. I don’t know about you, but I need more structure than, “12 months from now I’ll have a book!” I need to book up my schedule with activities, prompts, and goals. For instance, my month of outlining is broken down into even more specific categories of prompts & deadlines:
September – Outlining!
I tried to put these in as logical of an order as possible. So I begin the outlining process with brainstorming, this includes mind maps, freewriting, character sketches, cool plot ideas, world development, etc. This is basically if I think “Wouldn’t it be cool if I wrote this? Or something like that?” I write it down here.
Then, I focus on the characters. Anybody that was born out of the brainstorming process gets carried over here and privileged for the next seven days. I decided to spend the longest amount of time on character development because characters are the backbone of every story. If you have your character established, then everything else comes naturally.
Think of your character as a mirror for the world he will participate in, everything is reflected in him, his every action should have a resonating effect that drives your character and the plot forward, so you have to think, “What would my character do?” And to know this, you must know your character, his tendencies, his behaviors, the reasons behind those behaviors and that will make him as living and breathing as you are.
He has likes and dislikes, a family with their own personalities that shaped him, a childhood of experiences that transformed him, things he falls in love with, things he wants to protect, things he hates. Figure those things out.
Spend some time with your character, go on a date. You are going to be hanging out with this person in your head for a while- do you like them?
Rinse & Repeat with all of your characters. And if you don’t want to or you don’t feel like it, then that character shouldn’t be in the book. Because if you are bored and disengaged, so will be your readers.
Next time, we will go over how I put together story beats for an outline!
Phew! It has been a couple of weeks, let me tell you.
I uploaded my very first short stories on Amazon which you might’ve seen (Peaches & Missed).
Peaches is all about how technology displaces communication and hijacks real human relationships, with emojis specifically being the point of criticism.
Needless to say, the text was filled with emojis.
Needless to say, they did not show up. The emojis showed up as a text error and frankly it looked so ugly, I was embarrassed to have something like that out. But that’s what first projects are for right? The guinea pigs that we play with to flesh out all of the kinks.
Anyway, after some research and messing with the formatting, I decided to write the emojis out of the text. This was done reluctantly, but honestly I was loath to put out a subpar product.
So I made a decision to give readers an optimal experience instead.
In the end, this was a great month, I had the pleasure and opportunity to publishing some stories that I really believe in with some bumps along the way.
Anyway, I am signing off for the weekend! If you all know anything about images in Kindle Books share int he comments!
If you are interested in these new and improved titles you can find them here:
Margot didn’t know what she was getting into when she purchased the newest smartphone from Peaches, Inc.. But when texts go wrong, and communication goes haywire, Margot has to face the consequences of living in a tech-driven world.
Emma Shelley never thought about what life might be like without her husband. With two kids in tow, she decides to move away from where they had built a life in order to grieve in peace. Little does she know that her new little house in the suburbs is not a place to keep secrets. When nosy neighbor Maybeth Collins pokes around old wounds and opens a slew of new ones, Emma must make her choice: Face her past, or run away forever.
Plume Fiction 