Yesterday Suz talked about those moments or incidents in our lives that provoke us to change. They can be small or large events, but something in them jump starts our hearts to do something different. Susie wrote: Inciting Incidents don’t have to derail us. And whatever path we then take, we can know, despite our feelings, God is always with us, and will greet us when we get to our destination. Today, let’s talk about the inciting incidents of our stories. First, what is the inciting incident? One thing I’ve learned from studying the writing craft is the language used to describe story telling doesn’t always compute with our various brains. The inciting incident is the event, moment of truth, issue, problem, quandary, whatever, that sends your hero (or heroine) […]
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Play the Premise Game!
Yay, I love games! Especially WORD games. (Monopoly and Risk, not so much) We’re going to take everything we learned this week, and all the practice we did, and play a game! Remember on Tuesday I posted three premises for you to guess: She just wants to prove that she can be a Pulitzer-prize winning writer. He wants to be at the top executive at his ad agency. But when two high achievers are thrown together to achieve their own goals, they just might discover that falling in love is the greatest prize of all. Answer: How to lose a Guy in 10 days She gave up on her future, believing her true love dead, and agreed to marry a king. But when her fiancé returns, ready to fight for […]
Read the RestHouse Calls: Premise
Let’s get dirty… I have three brave souls willing to go under the Doc’s knife today to benefit us all – I feel like we’re on Greys, sitting in the observation gallery as McDreamy carves into a brain… Except, well, I’m not McDreamy. I’m more of the new woman Cardiothroasic surgeon…except everyone hates her, and I really don’t want to be hated…. So, bad example. Let’s just look at the premises… Premise 1: It’s the roaring twenties and Evie Kimball bucks a life of wealth and privilege for big dreams and true love. Naively believing she can have it all, Evie leaves her true love waiting in the wings and sets off for the bright lights of Broadway. As the Great Depression envelopes New York, Evie returns home ready to […]
Read the RestCrafting your premise ~ The tools and secrets!
I love crafting a premise – it’s one of the first things I do after I get a story in my head. With my premise as my guide, I know where the story is headed, the main themes, and the stakes. For those who are SOTPs – (Seat of the Pants plotters) – you can STILL do this – you don’t have to nail down every scene and nuance right now. But I’ll bet you have in your head the theme, the characters, and what the story is about. That’s all you need to craft a great premise. Let’s get started. Step One: Name your character, and their significance. For example, if the story is about a veterinarian, and her job is crucial to the story, then her occupation should […]
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