If I asked you why you used bookends, what would you say? Envision that long line of books and how those first six books are staying in place … but then the last few stragglers won’t line up. Bookends create order – helping a row of books stand up straight. While we sometimes need a pair of bookends tucked around the outside of a collection of books, have you ever utilized bookends between the book covers your story? What: Bookends are the “mirror elements” of a novel’s 1st and 3rd acts that brings a character back to face the same issue, situation or conflict and reveals the character’s growth Why: The hero and heroine readers meet in chapter one of a novel is not the same (imaginary) person by the […]
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The Fairytale Code: Write a great story using Fairytale Elements
One of the things we love to do at My Book Therapy is “break it down.” Just what does it take to write a great story? Fairytales capture our imagination in many ways. The art of creating worlds full of the supernatural, good verses evil and true love have been around since… well, The Garden. The elements of traditional fairytales are often found in fantasy and modern day science fiction. And of course, love stories. This week and next, I want to break down the technical fundamentals of a fairytale. You’ll see we use them in our “non fairytale” stories as well. Story world. All stories must have some story world, but those with a fairytale element, must have a rich, dynamic story world. The characters’ world must go beyond […]
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The Beauty of Fairy Tales
Happy New Year everyone. Hope you all are recovered from the holidays and back to your routine, back to writing. I’m in the midst of writing my second royal series book, this one about an American girl who discovers she’s a long lost princess. As I’ve been working through the first book and now the second, I realized each one has a fairy tale structure. Susie got jazzed about me blogging on this topic. The fairy tale structure is rich and entertaining. Though like all storytelling, it still requires me to dig in and work the story that is true to the characters. All the great thing we learn here at My Book Therapy on story structure still apply. Even more so in fairytales. The story world. The dark wound […]
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Idea Sparking: Getting Out of Writer’s Block Strategy #1
Every now and again that dreaded moment for every writer descends over your manuscript. You can’t shake it, no matter how hard you try. You’ve got writer’s block. There are no words appearing on the page and your brain is experiencing dead air. Writer’s block can paralyze you and leave you stranded in a particular dilemma in your manuscript unless you put some strategies in place a head of time to stave off writer’s block. Idea Sparking Your Way Out of Writer’s Block Strategy #1: Research Wait just one minute, you say. I did all of my research at the beginning of the story. Now, I’m writing. True you WERE writing, but since that has ground to a halt, doing a bit more research could get you back in print. […]
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