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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Set me Free!
The Truth Journey (or Inner Journey, or Spiritual Journey) for your character Part 3 Okay, I’m just going to say it, and I’m using my Mom tone. The Black Moment is the POINT of your story. Because without the Black Moment, there is no epiphany and no character change, and if you are writing a romance, it is Absolutely Required. If you don’t have a black moment in your story, then you don’t have a story. Sorry if that hurts…BUT, we’re going to fix it, right? Last week, I talked about building the black moment. Today, let’s revisit that a moment, and talk about how to weave in the lie for effective character change! Step Five: The Black Moment In this step, the lie rears its […]
Read the RestI have a lie, really?
The Truth Journey (or Inner Journey, or Spiritual Journey) for your character Part 2 Yesterday we started our charcter’s spirutal journey by asking: What lie do they believe? (by the way, I often use this when chatting with children, or eve myself when confronted with behaviors that might not be healthy…it’s a good exercise!) Anyway…Armed with the lie, the first thing you want to do on the journey, probably in that first scene is PROVE IT. Step Two: Confirmation of the Lie – Proof What can you do to convince the hero that his lie is true? You want to do something at the beginning of the book that will cement him into this lie – of course, it needs to be something that only pushes him deeper in […]
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The Truth Journey (or Inner Journey, or Spiritual Journey) for your character Part 1 I recently read the Kite Runner. GREAT story. Loved the writing. And, although it was a secular book, it still contained themes of redemption, forgiveness, grace….everything that makes a book resonant…however, I couldn’t help but think, what if he’d added the spiritual perspective — the understanding that God had given him a second chance. As a reader, I don’t want the spiritual plot to be so thick that it strangles me – and as a writer, I don’t want to strangle my reader. I want the story to intrigue, to draw my reader deeper, to allow them to look at the issues and wrestle with them without feeling as though they are told what […]
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