Embark with us on the Heroes Journey! We’ll be studying the structure of an Epic Novel, taking it apart step by step to uncover the secrets of a best-selling novel! Get your subscription to My Book Therapy today and don’t miss an of the exciting chapters! Here’s a syllabus of the pit stops we’ll be making along the way: The Writer’s World and Discipline Premise 3 Steps to a great hero 3 Steps to a great heroine Using the GREATEST devices: Great Fear/Greatest Dream Competing Values StoryWorld Inciting Incident Hook Building a Scene Stakes Goals Backstory Secondary Characters Dialogue POV Inner Monologue Writing Tension in a Scene Weaving in Spiritual Threads Romance – Love me Tender Villains Writing Suspense – Structure Emotional Layering Subplots – how they affect the heroes […]
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Spend a Year with a Hero!
Take the week off, fellow writers! But be sure to stop by on January 1st, when we start our new Year Long event – A Year with a Hero! We’ll be studying The Hero’s Journey, step by painful, exciting, epic step, from premise to characterization, to plotting, to the not-so-saggy middle, the black moment, epiphany and much, much more! We’ll dissect scenes and even help you with your own exhilarating WIP! Take advantage of our weekly exercises, post your excerpts and get feedback to take your novel from everyday to Epic! Look for weekly chats on problem spots and even an occasional podcast! Spend a year with Hero…(After all, who doesn’t need a good man in their life?) See you in the New Year! Happy Holidays from Rachel and Susie, […]
Read the RestPrescriptions: Hooking your Reader wk 5
Welcome back to our HOOKS discussion! We’ve been talking about the elements of a great HOOK – using the acrynom SHARP: S= Stakes (Public or Private) H = Hero Identification (or Sympathy) A stand for ANCHORING! Or, using the journalist inside to create place! I can’t stress how important it is to anchor your reader into the scene. So many books I’ve read recently start out with dialogue or action, and they leave out the where, and when, and even to some extent, the who. You want your reader to know where they stand in a book, what the world is, who the players are, and to some extent, why they’re there. Here’s the novelist’s twist, however: you want to use these elements to anchor your reader in a way […]
Read the RestDoctor’s Notes – The Colors of Emotions
I am just going to brag for a moment…My son played Daddy Warbucks in this season’s Community Play’s fall show, and did it brilliantly. One of my favorite scenes is when Warbucks wants to adopt Annie, and she turns him down because she wants to find her parents. Warbucks, who loves her, is torn between wanting her to be his daughter, and wanting her to be happy. It’s a powerful scene, without words, and David played it with vivid emotion…first loss and grief, to pure love for Annie, then a determination to make her dream come true. As I sat in the audience, I also experienced a mix of emotions – pride at his performance, sadness that he is growing up so fast, and joy that he would be proud […]
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