Tips For A Great Storyline

Source: How-to Author, Randy Ingermanson – Margie Lawson.
The storyline is a single sentence that summarizes your story.  If you write a great storyline, your editor will instantly get what you story’s about.  She’ll be able to explain that storyline to the publishing committee and they’ll get it too. Ditto with the sales team, the buyers [...]

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The Sequence Of Scenes

Source: How-to Author, Randy Ingermanson – Margie Lawson.
The only teacher whom I’ve seen mention this is Robert McKee in his book STORY, but he doesn’t explain how it’s useful to the novelist, because he’s interested in teaching screenwriters.
This critical layer [of plotting] is the “sequence of scenes.”  McKee explains in his book that the tension [...]

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How to Create Three-Dimensional Characters

Source: How-to Author, Randy Ingermanson – Margie Lawson.
Characters always do something for a reason. Writers usually call that reason the “motivation.” I like to break that out into three main parts, and let me go backward from the most visible parts to the least visible parts:
1) A STORY GOAL — Each character [...]

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Left vs Right Concept Map

Source: Left vs Right | Information Is Beautiful.
If you ever need to write a politically-motivated character or write political dialogue, then this diagram may be very useful. It was created as a joint effort by David McCandless and Stefanie Posavec for David’s book, The Visual Miscellaneum.

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How to Identify a Story Premise with Promise

Source: Novel Journey: Interview with Tim Maleeny.
The ideas that can drive a story immediately lead to questions. What happens next? Why did she do that? Who killed him? What would you do under similar circumstances? If a premise doesn’t lead to an endless series of questions, it won’t sustain a novel-length story.
Practical advice.

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Writers are Sponges

Source: Novel Journey: Interview with Tim Maleeny.
Writers are constantly learning and seem interested in everything, no matter how trivial or obscure. They are sponges, soaking up information that will one day be regurgitated in some other form, little bits of detail or trivia that define a place, a character or a plot.

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A Writer on Writers and Writing

Source: Novel Journey: Interview with Tim Maleeny.
I think writers grow up as readers — passionate readers who get lost in books in a way that casual readers don’t. At some point a subset of those readers decide they have a story inside them, and then it becomes a question of stamina and commitment. And long [...]

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How to Beat Writer’s Block

Source: Novel Journey: Author Dorothy Howell ~ Interviewed
Thanks to my extreme good fortune selling books, I’ve gotten a clear picture of what writer’s block means to me. First of all, I never sit at the keyboard and stare at the screen unsure of what to write. If I find myself doing that, I walk away.
This [...]

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A Quick Definition of Depth

Source: http://www.steamthing.com/2009/09/agees-ekphrases.html
Author: Caleb Crain
Depth: a sense of the complexity of reality.
What a good definition for literary depth.

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Our Marketing Plan

Title: “SUBJECT: OUR MARKETING PLAN” by Ellis Weiner
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner
What a hoot! This column makes for hilarious reading. You’ll find every bad thing you ever thought could go wrong in a marketing plan – and then some. The only other piece I’ve ever read that is even comparable is Cheryl Klein’s The Annotated Query Letter from Hell.
Enjoy!

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