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25 Things You Should Know About Plot

25 Things You Should Know About Plot
Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling 25 Things You Should Know About Character And now… 1. A plot is the sequence of narrative events as witnessed by the audience. 2. Some folks will ask, incorrectly, “What’s the plot?” 3. A plot functions like a skeleton: it is both structural and supportive. 4. The biggest plot crime of them all is a plot that doesn’t make a lick of goddamn sense. 5. The simplest motherfucker of a plot is this: things get worse until they get better. 6. Fiction is driven by characters in conflict, or, put differently, the flame of fiction grows brighter through friction. 7. Of course, the essence of the essential conflict — the one below all that Wo/Man versus stuff — is a character’s wants versus a character’s fears. 8. A plot grows within the story you’re telling. 9. 10. Plot offers the promise of Chekov and his gun, of Hitchcock and his bomb under the table. 11. 12. 13. 13. 14.

TEN SIMPLE KEYS TO PLOT STRUCTURE Structure is something that every agent and executive in Hollywood talks about, and that all of us teachers/authors/consultants/gurus/whatever go on and on about, to the point that it can seem complicated, intricate, mysterious and hard to master. So I want present plot structure in a way that simplifies it – that will at least give you a starting point for properly structuring your screenplay without overwhelming you with rules and details and jargon. Here are what I consider ten key elements of structure – ten ways of looking at structure that will immediately improve the emotional impact – and commercial potential – of your script. THE SINGLE RULE OF STRUCTURE I once got to work with long time television writer Doug Heyes, who used to say that there is only one rule for achieving proper plot structure: What’s happening now must be inherently more interesting than what just happened.

Edgar the storyteller Creating a Web App from Scratch - Part 1 of 8: Basic Idea and Design Today we begin Part 1 of an 8-Part series on building a web application from absolute scratch to a complete product. I am going to kick things off by introducing the idea, and then I will be handling the design, UI, and general front-end stuff. We are going to be going back and forth from here over to my friend Jason Lengstorf's site Copter Labs. Jason will be handling the back-end stuff like application planning and database stuff. At the end of the week, we'll unleash the actual working application for you. Here is the plan: It's Easy, Right? What we're going to create is a "list app". First of all, it needs to work and it needs to work well. Through this whole 8-part series, we are going to create an app that hopefully does all these things pretty well. The Big Idea This "list app" is going to be called Colored Lists. Sketch It Out No need to get fancy right away. Looks like a list to me. Early UI Planning Click-to-editDrag and dropTwo-click deleteAutomatic saving (after any action)

Unique Plots Plotting Short Fiction Last month at MRA, I listened to Jacqueline Woodson speak about her writing process. It wasn’t the first time I heard her speak and I hope it won’t be my last. She is one of the writers I consider as my personal mentor. Not to be over-dramatic, but listening to her last month changed my writing life. She said, “Plot happens.” One thing I’ve learned about writing fiction is the importance of allowing the characters’ to have free will. Kim Jones invited me into her fourth grade class to lead a fiction unit. Still, as a teacher of young fiction writers, it’s necessary to teach what works for me and what might work for other writers. Yesterday I introduced the story mountain to the fourth grade fiction writers. Then I gave them this planning sheet (click the link for a PDF). About half of the writers in the room used the planning sheet and found it helpful. A few notes: Enemy Pie by D. Like this: Like Loading...

Warbeats > Home How to Build Subplots From Multiple Viewpoints Multiple viewpoints provide diversion from, and contrast to, the protagonist’s perspective. They can deepen conflict, enlarge a story’s scope and add to a novel the rich texture of real life. Subplots carry those effects even further. Subplots and multiple points of view are often linked by their very natures. Of course, subplots and multiple points of view make novels longer and more work, but rewards for that effort are there for writer and reader alike—that is, if they are successful. —By Donald Maass, author of The Breakout Novelist Choosing a subplot begins with choosing characters with which to work. If none are to be found, it might be worthwhile to grow some of your secondary characters, depending on the nature of your novel. Subplots will not have the desired magnification effect unless there are connections between them. A second requirement of subplots is that they each affect the outcome of the main plotline. A third quality of successful subplots is that they range.

Best free software for writing: 10 programs to unleash your creativity The best free writing apps don't just let you work on your projects - they also let you organize and manage all your writing. Whether it’s work documents, essays, or your creative stories, free writing apps - like the best free word processors - let you organize your thoughts on the page without breaking the bank. These days they will also make it even easier to save, share, and sync documents online. Some of the best choices offer distraction-free interfaces and gamification-style challenges to keep you in the zone. Our picks cover the best free writing apps and software on the web and across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. To help you find the right tool, we've tested the best free writing app for all types of writers, whether you’re at a desk or writing on the go. We’ve also rounded up the best note-taking apps to make sure you can keep on writing wherever you are. Best free writing apps of 2023 Best distraction-free writing app Specifications Reasons to buy Distraction-free design

Plot Development: How to write the climax and ending of your novel. by Glen C. Strathy* Plot development is something you should think about after you have written a brief plot outline (Part 3). Many writers, especially pantsers, don't like to think about how their plot develops until they've written most of the first draft, preferring to let the ending evolve organically out of what comes before. I believe, however, that you can save yourself a lot of time and effort in the long run by making a few decisions about how your plot develops and the nature of your story early on. Of course, your ending must make emotional and logical sense. Will Your Novel End Happily, Unhappily, Or Somewhere In Between? You may find this hard to believe, but – without at all becoming formulaic – story endings generally fall into four different categories. To make the first choice, you need to know your Story Goal or Problem, which is the foundation of your novel's plot. If the answer is no, then in classical terms, your novel will be a tragedy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. (E.g. 2. (E.g.

yWriter5 - Free writing software designed by an author, not a salesman Download yWriter5 5.6.2.7 as a self-installing EXE file (recommended) yWriter5 exe installer (9.3mb) Download yWriter5 5.6.2.7 in a zip file yWriter5 zip file (3.9mb) Requires the Windows .Net 3.5 SP1 framework (Runtime) or newer. Installing on Windows: 1) Download the installation file. Click Yes to proceed or No to cancel. Instead of the above, Windows may throw up a warning similar to the one below: At this point you either trust me (and my company, Spacejock Software) and click 'Yes', or you click 'No' and delete the installer. 2) Follow the prompts to set it up. You can run my programs from a memory stick.

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