I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I can’t help it – the music, the love story (and the hope of movie #4!), the rich characters. But what makes the movie come alive is the textures and sounds of the world they live in. I can almost taste the salt and smell the briny wash of the gooey Davy Jones. For nearly 3 hours, I become a pirate, and come out of the theaters saying, “Ahoy, Matey!” It’s that same for a well-written book. A well –written story world swallows me into the story, and I’m lost, with no desire to be found. Storyworld is one of the key elements that makes a book rise from the mundane to stellar. What is storyworld? It’s more than just setting, or […]
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About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
Our Awesome Story World
I love watching the Oscars. I’m not sure why…maybe it’s the dresses, or seeing actors out of their movie roles, in “real” life (like television could be termed real!). I especially love seeing the “behind the scenes” folks pick up their awards (like the make-up people, and the sound techs!)…you can tell they’re all gussied up for the event, but that they spend a lot of time in blue jeans and t-shirts. Most of all, I like to imagine what these actors lives are like behind the scenes. What they had for breakfast. What they’re reading. How many outfits they tried on before the event. Maybe I’m weird, but I want to know how their life resembles mine. This week, we’ll be talking about Storyworld – and more specifically, anchoring […]
Read the RestThe Greatest!
Hello from beautiful Montana! I’m skiing this week with the fam, so this will be my only post, but I’m itching to get our hero off the sofa and out on his journey, so I had to give you the last tool we’ll need to craft our story and head our hero in the right direction. I call them the GREATEST devices. Or, the Greatest Fear and the Greatest Dream. The Greatest Fear A few weeks ago we talked about the fears of our hero –things that deepen his characterization, and add texture, and opportunities for the heroine to know him and grow as a hero. But deeper than his surface fears is his Greatest Fear. It’s that soul deep dread that he would do anything to avoid. It’s this […]
Read the RestBeautiful Examples
I’ve really appreciated the examples of beauty that you Voices submitted this week! Here’s a few that really answer what true beauty is: From Camille ~ When Ian firsts sees Emily, he has a strong reaction on two counts which tangle together and bother him because he intends to avoid involvement. First off, she is not the dumpy little spinster he always pictured her to be, which is very clear right off the bat because she’s young (28 is still thought young, right?) pretty and carries herself gracefully.. First thing he notices after “young and pretty” is her warm smile and soft, warm voice. Something he hasn’t been around for a long time. (Susie here – that’s a vacancy, and a way that she “fills” it) After spending a day […]
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