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After NaNoWriMo

By on December 4, 2010 in Editing Basics

It’s December already, beginning to look a lot like Christmas and the effects of National November Writer’s Month are starting to settle in and down in our thoughts, and hearts. If you did well, you’re feeling pretty good about yourself right now. As you should! Congratulations. If you didn’t do well and, I’m just going to say it — failed — to accomplish your November writing goal, you’re feeling defeated. Maybe you’re beating yourself up and dredging all your past sins and failures to the surface. Stop. This falter does not define your whole existence. Take a look at what happened to cause you to miss your goal, and figure out how to make adjustments. As many of you know, I love college football. Half time is the famous “make […]

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Why must we breakup? Isn’t there another way?

By on November 24, 2010 in Editing Basics

  If you tuned in yesterday, you know we talked about the Breakup in writing a Romance.  Why is the Breakup Important?…   Because….   After the breakup, they’re going to realize Beat 8:  the Great WHY.  They will, after their hearts are breaking, realize they belong together.  If you’ve set up Act 2 correctly, the reader will see why they need to be together (because you will be showing us those essential scenes – covered in the Act 2 blogs).  This Great Why will suddenly trump the Why Not (the reason they broke up) and convince them that they can’t live without each other.   They will also realize what is holding them back from love – their flaws.  (and, perhaps, their lie).  And, in order to win back […]

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Act 3: Breaking up is hard to do…(but it makes him a better man! (or woman).)

By on November 23, 2010 in Editing Basics

 (Editor’s Note: You may want to go back and read the previous blogs on putting together all the beats of a romance into Act 1-2 before you read this blog.  Just as a recap, over the past two months, we’ve talked about how to incorporate the 10 beats of romance into the three act structure, covering the elements of Act 1 and Act 2.)   It’s time for the messy ending.  The breakup.  The Breakup is Beat 7 in our romance lineup.  This is when the biggest WHY NOT rises to push them apart. Every romance has a Breakup. Without it, we have no triumphant run into each other’s arms! We have no giant sigh of happiness.   I was fortunate to only have one bad breakup before I met […]

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Managing the Muddle

By on November 16, 2010 in Editing Basics

How is your NaNoWriMo manuscript is going?  I thought I’d take a break from our romance structure today and offer a bit of encouragement.    Just keep writing, Just keep writing….(that’s my Dorie impression).    But, I know, once you get to the middle, it can be a challenge to keep the tension high, the reader turning pages.    I call it…the Muddle.    How do you manage the Muddle?  If you find yourself stuck, writing the same old scenes, rehashing the same issues, the same tension, I have a solution.    You may be missing an element of the Tension Equation.    Tension is what drives every scene.  You’ve heard it over and over.  But what is Tension?  It’s a combination of a Sympathetic Character + Stakes + Goals […]

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