define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); Susan May Warren Archives » Page 21 of 28 » My Book Therapy

Archive | Susan May Warren RSS feed for this section

Conversations: Summary of the Three Act Structure of a Novel

By on April 30, 2012 in Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“I think I just need to sum up.”  Sally sat on the deck of the coffee shop, staring out at the lake, the waves frothy along the shore as it coughs up the debris of winter. A spring fragrance seasons the air, and from the earth around the deck, irises brave the crisp Minnesota air. Any warmer, and we might be out here in our shirtsleeves, so anxious we are for summer. I sit down, lift my face to the sun. “Sum away.” “I just want to make sure I have the Three Acts correct.  I know we discussed them all, and then I dove right into my synopsis, but I just need to make sure I understand the overall flow of story structure.” “I’m all ears.” “Okay, in Act […]

Read the Rest
Continue Reading • Comments { 0 }

Quick Skills: Tips on Creating that First line

By on April 24, 2012 in Editing Basics, How do I start my Scene?, Quick Skills, Susan May Warren

How you hook your reader on the first page? I love this quote by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature for 100 years of Solitude. “One of the most difficult things is the first paragraph…in the first paragraph, you solve most of the problems with your book. The theme is defined, the style, the tone. At least in my case, the paragraph is a kind of sample of what the rest of the book is going to be.” By the way, that book sold over 10 million copies. The hook paragraph, your first paragraph just might be the most important paragraph you write in your entire story. Yesterday, I talked about four ways to begin your story. Today, I’m going to share with you my […]

Read the Rest
Continue Reading • Comments { 0 }

Conversations: Common Writing Mistakes I’m seeing

By on April 16, 2012 in Author Mistakes, Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, How do I enter a Contest?, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

I miss Sally and our morning coffee.  But I’m on the road this week, teaching at conferences, and judging contests and I thought it might help to see a quick summary of the common mistakes I’m seeing as I look at entries and talk to aspiring authors. So here they are, in no particular order.   Not starting the story with a compelling situation.  So many entries and rough drafts are starting in a place where the author is either explaining the character’s backstory or creating the storyworld instead of getting to the character and creating a situation where we see him interacting with his world, setting up for the inciting incident (or even in the middle or after it). Remember, the first three chapters of your novel are the […]

Read the Rest
Continue Reading • Comments { 1 }

Quick Skills: 5 Essentials of a First Chapter

By on April 10, 2012 in b. Building a Scene, Chapter 1, Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, How do I Fast Draft?, Limelight – Sample Novel, Quick Skills, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified

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 Rest
Continue Reading • Comments { 1 }
MBT Menu