Abigail Samoun's breakout sessions were dealing with tools for every plot mechanic. She gave us advice, insight and practical tools to use for story plots. In our second session she had four volunteers share their homework and we had a great session listening to the process. Since we can't give away all of Abigail's amazing... Continue Reading →
The complications worksheet
If you struggle with plot, here's a technique that might help you bring things into focus, from the Adventures in Children's Publishing blog: Want to create a plot you'll itch to write? A protagonist you'll love? An antagonist that will give you shivers? And (simultaneously) the first draft of a synopsis ready to be pared... Continue Reading →
Laini Taylor’s plot talk
We published a bit of this in our conference roundup, but typically don't include everything that gets said in these sessions because we want to save that for the people who paid to attend the conference, and we want our faculty to be able to use their talks elsewhere. But Laini Taylor, generous soul that... Continue Reading →
Laini Taylor on big, juicy plots #scbwiwwa
Here are a few highlights from Laini Taylor's breakout section on plot:Everything we do in writing is a balance between dramatization and narration.Plot is the answer to the question, "What happens?""What is the story about" is not a question about plot. That is about premise and themes.The plot is the sequence of events over which... Continue Reading →
More genius on plot from Jennifer Crusie
How does she write all those bestselling romances? Here's her technique for structuring plots that work. Excellent!
Character emotion makes the plot
Martha Alderson (a.k.a. The Plot Whisperer) has a post on how a character's emotional transformation drives the plot. Here's the beginning: Some writers excel at pithy banter. Others create dramatic action. The writers I most admire are the ones who in their own natural style convey a character's emotional personality in scene through active, non-verbal... Continue Reading →
YA writers: you have to read this
Here's an excerpt from the TIME magazine book critic's view on adult novels:There was a time when difficult literature was exciting. T.S. Eliot once famously read to a whole football stadium full of fans. And it's still exciting—when Eliot does it. But in contemporary writers it has just become a drag. Which is probably why... Continue Reading →
More wisdom from Gail Carson Levine
I just love her blog. Check out the latest:Two posts ago Kim asked: One question: Do you find it difficult to make everything matter in a story, if you know what I mean? It seems like there's a lot of pressure on a writer to make everything in a story contribute to the story's progression... Continue Reading →
A couple of takes on plot
Martha Alderson, a.k.a. the Plot Whisperer, sent out a newsletter with this useful list of important scenes:1) Set-up: The set-up you create in the Beginning makes the journey the protagonist undertakes in the Middle feel inevitable.2) Inciting Incident: A moment, conflict, dilemma, loss, fear, etc. that forces the protagonist to take immediate action.3) End of... Continue Reading →
Wondermark Genre Fiction Generator
Another brilliant entry from Cory Doctorow, behold David Malki's Wondermark Genre Fiction Generator (steampunk authors, take note!):