Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers English 50 Exercises for Story Writers English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. About the only thing we can say for sure is that short stories are short and that they are written in what we call prose. Some attributes, however, seem to show up more often than not. Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. If you've written a story in third person, try it in first.
Writing Realistic Injuries Quick Contents Introduction General remarks What's normal?Reactions to injury - including emotional reactions, fainting and shock. Introduction Characters climbing cliffs with broken arms or getting knocked out for an hour or so and then running around like nothing happened, bug me. I’m not any sort of medical expert - research for this article has come from a variety of sources from medical texts to personal experience – (I’m just a teeny bit accident prone…) I do historical reenactment and a large part of information here comes from the ‘traumatic injury’ (or ‘the nasty things that can happen to you in combat’ information we give the public and new members to make them go ‘urggh , I’m glad this isn’t for real’. Back to Quick Contents General Remarks There’s a lot of ‘relatively’ and ‘probably’ in this article because everyone reacts differently to injury. What’s Normal…? For a normal, reasonably healthy adult the following reading are ‘normal’. Pulse rate between 60-100 beats per minute.
Write Fiction that Grabs Readers from Page One In your novel, the inciting incident is the first sign of trouble for your protagonist: it’s the catalyst, the chemical reaction, that sets the plot into motion. But the inciting incident isn’t only important for your main character. Understanding how to harness it is also crucial to hooking your reader from the very first page and immediately investing them in the experiences, emotions, and personal struggles of the character. In this excerpt from Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton, you’ll discover that the inciting incident can be used as a trigger to focus the reader on the character’s journey and retain his or her interest throughout the rest of the novel. The Inciting Incident as a Trigger The inciting incident is the crucial event—the trouble—that sets the whole story in motion. Notice that this isn’t a point-by-point outline of a plot. The story begins with a bit of necessary setup, giving a scrap of family history.
The Thing About Sub-Plots Certain storytelling questions keep popping up. One of them, and a goodie, is this: does a sub-plot follow the same principles of linear structure as the main plotline? In other words, does the sub-plot also – like your main plotline – unfold over four contextually different parts, each separated by a succinctly defined milestone story-point? This can be tough to wrap one’s head around. Which is why this is considered art. Setting Up Your Sub-Plot Great stories give us deep and compelling heroes. The opening act of your story – Part 1 –exists for the purpose of introducing and defining that life as it exists prior to the arrival of the First Plot Point. Which, by the way, is only foreshadowed and set-up – and, at best, only partially defined – in Part 1. Then comes the First Plot Point, and it changes everything. Sometimes the First Plot Point defines a completely new life for your hero. How you string out your sub-plot, then, depends on which of those cases it is.
Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles - Creative Writing Help Enter your e-mail to get the e-book for FREE. We'll also keep you informed about interesting website news. "I have searched the web and used different worksheets, but none have come close to your worksheets and descriptions of (what to do and what not to do). "As usual - I already love the course on Irresistible Fiction, rewriting a lot and improving greatly even after the first lesson. “Essentials of Fiction proved that I could indeed write and I wrote every day, much to my boyfriend's dismay (waa sniff).” - Jill Gardner "I am loving the course and the peer interaction on the blog is fantastic!!!" "I'm enjoying the weekly email course, Essentials of Poetry Writing. "Thank you for all the material in this course. "I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the lessons and feel they were very helpful in introducing new ideas and perspectives to my writing. "Thanks very much for this course. "I'm learning so much. "Thank you so much!! "The Irresistible Fiction course is going well.
Breaking the Fourth Wall Major Monogram: Oh! Wow! What are the odds? Carl: Well, it is a cartoon, sir. Hey! open/close all folders Audio Play Opera In Sergei Prokofiev's Love For Three Oranges the action is frequently interrupted by a Greek Chorus (or rather, four or five separate Greek Choruses) of opera fans and stagehands. Professional Wrestling There was this gem from Hulk Hogan on a November 2010 episode of TNA ReAction: "Well, brother, we're lightening the load around here. Puppet Shows The Cashore Marionettes do this occasionally; one of the most significant instances is the skit "The Quest", in which a puppet scales his own puppeteer like a mountain, accompanied by triumphant music. Web Animation In episode 5 of Brawl of the Objects, Boat is attempting to speak French with Baguette using the dictionary he purchased in a previous episode.
5 Ways To Add Sparkle To Your Writing Would You Like To Add Sparkle To Your Writing? Does your writing sometimes fall flat? You can’t figure out exactly why, but you know when it happens. There’s no chemistry, no sparkle to lift your writing and give it wings. There are practical ways to put that ‘je ne sais quoi’ back into your writing. All you have to do is to recognize and fix the five common errors that dull the sparkle of your writing. 1. They might not look like each other, but they often mimic one another’s movements and reactions. What do your characters do when they’re nervous? If you find it hard to come up with different, memorable gestures, create a database of them. If you see a quarrel at a cashier’s counter, watch the customers carefully. 2. If you read like a reader, you’ll see how important pacing is. Varying the length of your sentences gives the writing its own rhythm. “According to the current master of Roseland and everyone who worked for him, the source of the disturbing cry was a loon. 3. 4. 5.
25 Things Every Writer Should Know An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Absorb them into your body. Let your colonic flora digest them and feed them through your bloodstream to the little goblin-man that pilots you. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. 4. I have been writing professionally for a lucky-despite-the-number 13 years. 5. Luck matters. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.