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Extreme Book Makeover: 7 Twists and Turns to add to your novel!

By on April 21, 2014 in 1. Discover your story, 6. Search by Series:, Brainstorming Strategies and Tips, Editing Basics, Extreme Book Makeover, Susan May Warren

A great story is plotted by looking inside your character, figuring out what his lie is – and how this journey will somehow set him free – and then putting him in situations that make him confront his lies, his flaws and his weaknesses until he takes a good look at himself, figures out what he wants, and charges forward into a new future.

I know, that’s a bit oversimplified, but a story, boiled down, is simply about a character’s inner change, brought about by the external circumstances.
However, how do we make those circumstances intriguing enough to keep our readers’ attention?

At My Book Therapy, we have a character change chart/questions that helps us generate ideas on this journey. However, if you’ve already plotted this journey, and are still stuck, here are 7 ways to add more “trouble” or Twists and Turns into your plot.

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Rachel Hauck

Extreme Book Makeover: Start with the End to craft the Beginning!

By on March 10, 2014 in 1. Discover your story, Extreme Book Makeover, Susan May Warren

I love writing contests for unpublished authors. I got my own start with a writing contest, and I believe there is nothing better for a new author than entering a contest to see if they have what it takes to write a story. (by the way, here’s a shameless plug for our own contest, the Fraiser!) The feedback can be essential to helping an author strengthen and add shine to their story.

The problem with these contests, however is that an author can have a fantastic opening chapter, honing and crafting it to compelling brilliance….

And still have the book fall apart after that.

Why does this happen? Because it’s easy to get excited about the beginning of a story – but maintaining the momentum to the end is challenging. In our Extreme Book Makeover seires, we’re headed into ACT 2 – how to keep the middle from muddling. But the key to keep Act 2 momentum going starts with a look at the END…and hinting at it in the beginning.

Start with the End in Mind.

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Extreme Book Makeover: Help Me Hook My Reader: Starting on the RUN!

By on March 3, 2014 in 1. Discover your story, Crafting the Inciting Incident, Extreme Book Makeover, Susan May Warren

I watched the Oscars last night. (Best. Oscars. Ever. #OscarTwitterPic #PizzaDelivery)

I’d only seen one of the movies in the Best Picture category – Gravity. In fact, I saw it this weekend, in our home theater, where I think I only breathed twice in an hour. Terrifying, in a non-horror-film, wow-I-never-want-to-be-there way.

The story, in a nutshell, is about a scientist who is working on the space shuttle – specifically OUTSIDE the shuttle in a spacewalk – when, due to a crazy set of circumstances — she gets untethered and thrown into space. Her quest is to somehow get back to earth.

It’s an amazing movie – the special effects will blow your mind.

And, it’s a great example of starting a movie with just the right amount of PIPE.

Pipe is the distance between the first sentence and the Noble Quest. As an author, you’re opening the faucet of your story, and the pipe is how long it takes for it to start spilling out. The shorter the pipe, the sooner your reader receives the benefit of the story.

However, many authors suffer from Too Much Pipe Syndrome, or the belief that they must tell their reader everything about their main character before the story starts for the reader to enjoy the story. Another way to put it is they start their story way too early.

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Help! How do I make my reader care?

By on February 24, 2014 in 1. Discover your story, 2. Create Your Story, Extreme Book Makeover, How do I write Emotions?, Susan May Warren

I sat on the tarmac on my way to Florida for five hours last week (#IloveMinnesotaweather), and while we were waiting, I stirred up a conversation with my seatmate.

“What do you do for a living?”  I asked.

“I break into building to check their security.”

#Cool!

Poor guy suddenly discovered the dangers of sitting next to a novelist. By the time the plane took off, we’d plotted a story about a man living two different lives – a spy living in suburbia, posing as a regular guy.

Then came the moment when we had to figure out the first scene.  “We need to make him relatable,” I said to 24B.  “Someone who the reader can relate to.”

“Why?” 24B asked. “He’s not a regular guy.”

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