Plotting

An Assortment of Plotting Tips for You (Part Three)

Some more goodies for you–three more excerpts from the series of live trainings I did in October about plotting methods for both plotters and pantsers (From Premise to Plot: Easy Story Structure for Plotters and Pantsers).

Romance brainstorming questions, illustrated with a romance story’s inciting incident:

Weaving multiple inciting incidents together in a multi-plotline story:

How to turn plot events into specific scenes that move your story forward:

Of course, we covered so much more in From Premise to Plot, which ended up generating more than 9 hours of video training!

If you missed it and would like to learn more about the replays (and how you can get them), go here: http://jvz1.com/c/257231/184347

An Assortment of Plotting Tips for You (Part Two)

Yesterday, I shared some excerpts from a series of live trainings I did in October about plotting methods for both plotters and pantsers (From Premise to Plot: Easy Story Structure for Plotters and Pantsers).

The result was more than 9 hours of video, covering an array of plotting techniques for all types of writers, both organic writers (pantsers) and outliners who love traditional story structure (plotters).

Here are some more excerpts from this training with you.

A couple of the “rules of thumb” for escalating conflict in fiction (applies to both outliners and intuitive writers, but each of you will use them a little differently):

How understanding power shifts in traditional plot structure can help organic or intuitive writers:

Why romance fiction is so tricky to do well:

Of course, we covered so much more in From Premise to Plot!

If you missed it and would like to learn more about the replays (and how you can get them), go here:  http://jvz1.com/c/257231/184347

An Assortment of Plotting Tips for You (Part One)

In October, I taught a series of live trainings on plotting methods for both plotters and pantsers (From Premise to Plot: Easy Story Structure for Plotters and Pantsers).

It was a ton of fun, and so many of you who attended asked great questions that spurred me to add extra content beyond what I’d planned.

The result was more than 9 hours of video, covering an array of plotting techniques for all types of writers, both organic writers (pantsers) and outliners who love traditional story structure (plotters).

I’d like to share some excerpts from this training with you.

Functional definitions of “plot” and “plot point” (it’s not the same ones you learned in your high school English class):

Brainstorming questions for plotting, using the first pinch point as an example:

Plotters vs. pantsers – why you shouldn’t think of it as a “versus”:

Of course, we covered so much more in From Premise to Plot!

If you missed it and would like to learn more about the replays (and how you can get them), go here:  http://jvz1.com/c/257231/184347

Why Do Writers Get Stuck Even When Writing With An Outline?

A quick tips video for you today — two reasons why you might get stuck in the middle of your first draft, even if you’re writing with a detailed plot outline.

 

P.S. I’ve been working on a secret project for a couple of weeks now, and it’s almost time to pull back the curtain!  More news coming soon…

How to Create Powerful Internal Conflicts for Your Characters

I’m blogging at Savvy Authors today about how to construct internal conflicts so that they generate plot ideas and help you make the theme of your story stronger.

If you can complete the Internal Conflict Sentence, you’ll find out if your character’s internal conflict works (and it’ll be obvious how to fix it if it doesn’t work).  If you struggle to writing stories where the character’s inner struggles drive the external plot, this is where you start.

Read all about it at:

http://savvyauthors.com/blog/index.php/the-internal-conflict-formula-that-generates-plot-points-and-strengthens-theme-by-lynn-johnston/

Hope to see you there!

The 8 Steps of the Character Growth Arc

For easy reference, here are the eight steps of the character growth arc (from my workshop, Dynamic Characterization: A No-Inspiration Required System for Creating Unforgettable Characters).

character arc tip graphic-300 wide 100 dpi

Editing for Romance Writers: How to Map Out the Relationship Arc

Whether you’ve written a romance novel or a novel that contains a romantic subplot, it’s important to make sure that the relationship arc is strong. A relationship arc is a specific type of growth arc that the couple will move through together as their romance unfolds.

In order to evaluate your story’s relationship arc, you first need to map it out with a list of the moments in the story where the relationship changes, starting with when the couple meets and ending with the scene where they affirm their commitment to each other.

Step One:  Map the Relationship Arc

Divide a piece of paper into two columns (or create a table in Word or Excel, if you’d rather), and in the first column, note the important relationship moments.

Keep it simple — it’s not important to capture every nuance. You just want to be able to see the major moments that form the twists and turns of the relationship.

For example:

– Mike meets Sarah, the investor that’s bailing his nearly-broke company out, and discovers she’s the girl he worshipped from afar in high school. 

– Sarah takes Mike to dinner to talk about the changes she wants to make. He’s insulted and decides to look for another investor.

– Sarah talks with her best friend about withdrawing her investment, but learns that Mike has invested everything he owns in the company and will go broke if it fails.

– Mike meets with another investor, who advises him to work with Sarah, because she’s saved half a dozen companies in the same position.

– Sarah and Mike agree to work together until the company has raised enough money to pay off its debt and to ignore their mutual attraction.

…etc.

Step Two:  Identify the State of the Relationship at Each Moment

Once you’ve got the list of relationship moments in the first column, the next step is to note what’s happening in the relationship at that moment.  You’ll write A, B, C or D next to each moment.

A) hero gives in to attraction while the heroine resists

B) heroine gives in to attraction while the hero resists

C) both hero and heroine resist the attraction

D) both hero and heroine give in to the attraction

What do I mean by giving in to the attraction?  It could be as big as stealing a kiss or even trying to seduce the other character, who is trying to avoid the kiss or the seduction. Or it could be as small as deciding that the other character is not as bad as s/he first seemed, and being willing to cooperate with the other character in some way. It might even be completely internal—a moment where one character pretends to be resisting the attraction, but secretly relishes the interaction with the other character.

If both characters give in to the attraction (a D moment), it should be brief and something should happen immediately afterward that puts them back in A, B, or C.

Moments that fall into A, B or C are moments where there’s romantic conflict.  Your characters might be fighting about other things besides their relationship, but the fight affects the relationship. They might be working hard to pretend that their mutual attraction doesn’t exist. Or they might be disagreeing about the issues surrounding their relationship. 

D moments are moments where the conflict is overcome, perhaps temporarily or perhaps permanently. These are the love scenes in your story, where your characters let down their defenses to show affection, emotional vulnerability, and commitment to the relationship in some form or another. Depending on what kind of romance you’re writing, these moments can range from innocent hand holding to a graphic bedroom scene.

The majority of your story’s relationship moments should be A, B, or C moments. And you should be alternating between these three types of moments.

If your characters’ relationship consists of mostly A moments or mostly B moments, it may lack the back-and-forth feeling that good romances usually possess. 

If your characters’ relationship consists mostly of C moments, your romance may lack believability–if neither character ever changes their mind about the other, when they finally give in to their attraction at the end of the story, the reader may wonder why these two are falling into each others’ arms all of a sudden.  Those A and B moments, where the characters change their opinions of each other in small ways, are the points in the story where the romance progresses.

If your characters’ relationship consists most of D moments, your story is lacking in romantic conflict, and is likely to bore the reader. You want to sprinkle those D moments sparingly throughout your story, to give the reader just enough satisfaction to feel like the relationship is progressing without undercutting the romantic conflict in all the other scenes in the story.

Step Three:  Maximize the Emotional Impact of Each Moment

Once you’ve identified the dynamic of each moment, you can use these questions to identify how you might increase the emotional impact of each moment.

If it’s an A or a B moment, how can you increase the frustration of both characters? How might the character who’s resisting use the other character’s giving in to their advantage? Or vice versa?

If it’s a C moment, how can you make the attraction stronger or the romantic conflict bigger? How can resisting the mutual attraction help or hinder the characters in progressing toward their story goal?

If it’s a D moment, how can you show the relationship changing through the characters’ moments of trust? What are the characters risking by showing their vulnerabilities? How does extending this trust or showing this vulnerability create new problems for the characters later?

Editing for Story, Episode 1: Plot Structure

In honor of those who’ve finished NaNoWriMo and will be editing their new baby later this month or next year, we’ll be talking about the editing process for fiction.

Today’s video: tips for editing, why plot structure is important, and how to analyze the plot structure of your story.

Also, don’t forget to download your free copy of Editing for Story: http://tinyurl.com/kws5c5w

The 30 Day Novel: NaNoWriMo Series, Day 30

Welcome to Day 30, the final day of NaNoWriMo!

Today we’re talking about your story’s resolution and how to tie up all those loose story ends, as well as the emotion that you’ll end your story on.

Thanks for stopping by! Come by tomorrow–we’ll talk about what to do next and how to get started on editing your novel.

The 30 Day Novel: NaNoWriMo Series, Day 29

Welcome to Day 29 of NaNoWriMo!

Today we’re talking about the defeat or victory of the protagonist during the climax of your novel and how to make it pay off in the biggest way possible, as well as handling endings in a book that’s part of a series.

Thanks for stopping by–come back tomorrow for Day 30 tips!