For the last two weeks on the blog, I’ve been going through the 10 beats of a romance that we discussed last February so as to refresh our minds before we start putting the elements together. This week, we’re going to dive into taking those beats and combining them with our story structure so that we can actually build our novel. Just to sum up, we’re going to be working with the first three beats as we start putting together Act 1. Beat 1: Boy Meets Girl: In this component, there is an event, goal or circumstance that occurs to bring our hero and heroine together—Usually this happens in the first chapter, but it definitely needs to happen by Chapter 3. Some examples that you thought up […]
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I’m making an executive decision.
There will be no voting about the Inciting Incident. Because, well, I want to surprise you. First, the Voices have come up with some incredible inciting incidents, and part of the problem is…well, they’re so good I want to use bits of and piece of many of them. I can’t break them apart to vote on. But, Secondly (and I’m writing this as I’m getting my weekly Grey’s fix), this is a teaching blog (hospital) and while it’s great for you all to scrub in along the way, hold the scalpel, and even do the procedures, (and probably some even better than we would!) someone needs to be the attending. To use their experience to sort of guide us all in the right direction. Which means me, and Rachel. […]
Read the RestThe Winning Inciting Incident!
*** Feeling along the wall, she found the edge of the secret door, camouflaged with thin stones to mimic the rest of the structure. Her right hand sought the key tucked between her bodice and under gown for silence; she’d even switched the chain that held it for a leather thong to prevent the clink of metal on metal. Her free hand groped the wall for the keyhole. Waist-high, five forearms from the corner. She found it, and bent to slide the key inside. To the left. Chink. Karel straightened to gain better control of the key as she used it as a doorknob to ease the door open. Quietly, if possible. The door shifted an inch, then two. Something tickled the back of her neck. She didn’t have time […]
Read the RestThe Six Elements to an Inciting Incident!
What do all I.I. have in common? I wanted to touch briefly on the elements of an Inciting Incident today before I post the winning I.I. (and I’m telling you, it was hard to choose, thanks to the gallery of great writers in Voices!) By the way, next week, we’re going to take a breath and recap everything we’ve been talking about over the past two months, and show you how it all fits into the structure of the Hero’s Journey. So, if you’re feeling lost, or overwhelmed, I promise by the end of next week, you’ll have a framework in which to put all your gathered information and know where it will take you next on the Journey. But, today – Inciting Incident! We talked this week about WHEN […]
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