As a newbie writer, I completed my first Fast Draft. I was elated. I even did the happy dance. I couldn’t believe just how much I learned and of course, I had to share. Plot And Plot Some More! For me, it was truly a timesaver and stress reliever to have the story plotted ahead of time. I was really blessed; my friends helped brainstorm the story. Then I used The Book Buddy to get my thoughts down. It allowed me to have all the main points of the plot and the character development done before I sat down to write. It cut down on some of the “blank-screen-staring” that so many writers go through. At the same time, it still allowed me the freedom to change several scenes and […]
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Quick Skills: Scene Creation Checklist
I thought it might be helpful if I posted the Scene Creation Steps you could use when crafting a chapter. If you’ve been following the blog for the past month, we’ve addressed each of these sections/elements in the blogs. Part One Keeping Scene Momentum: Character Journal Ask the following questions: 1. What did you think about what just happened? 2. What are your choices? 3. What will you do next, and why? 4. What is the worst thing that could happen to you right now? 5. And, if it’s a romance –how do you feel about this person? What do you fear happening emotionally? Part Two Create Scene Tension Scene Tension Equation: Sympathetic Character + Stakes + Goals + Obstacles + Fear of Failure. Step 1: Determine your Action Objectives […]
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Quick Skills: 5 Essentials of a First Chapter
There are a lot of checklists for building a first chapter, and sometimes they can get overwhelming. MBT has an advanced checklist we use to help people build their Frasier Contest Scene (it’s the same checklist I use when building my first chapters!). However, I admit, it can get overwhelming. So, let’s start building that chapter one with 5 essential elements. In fact, this is step two in your process. As Sally and I talked about yesterday in Conversations, sometimes it just helps the writing process to let your characters walk on the page and wander around a bit. We can hear them, talk to them, discover if we have profiled them correctly. No, these wanderings probably won’t be the final first chapter, but it gives you a chance to […]
Read the RestConversations: First Chapter Essentials
“I’m angry with you!” Sally said as she sat down. She was smiling, so I frowned. “You let me write the first chapter before I was ready.” “Oh, that,” I said. “Yes, I did, knowing you weren’t quite ready. But I knew you had so much story in you that if you didn’t get started you’d only get frustrated. I know why you weren’t ready, but you tell me.” “I didn’t really know what my character wanted, nor how to hint at his greatest fear in the first chapter, so I created exactly the wrong scene.” “You created the scene that helped you jump start your story. You were doing a lot of “Wax On, Wax Off” and getting ansty. So, I told you to simply let your character walk […]
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