One thing I always stress to writers is the importance of writing subjects you’re passionate about. Most of the time this advice is aimed at novelists, but it’s every bit as true when it comes to non-fiction. As we approach the September 1st release date for my non-fiction book Structuring Your Novel, I’d like to share a bit about my own journey with story structure. In lieu of the standard book trailer, I put together a fun little video that talks about how I discovered story structure and how it changed everything about my approach to writing.
Video transcript:
Structuring Your Novel (affiliate link)
Hi, my name is K.M. Weiland, and I am a historical and speculative novelist, and a mentor to other novelists. I am an analytical, left-brained, very structured, scheduled person, so, as a writer myself, you’d think I would have taken to this whole structure thing like a cat chasing a mouse. But I actually didn’t. I was really resistant to the idea in the beginning.Writing is supposed to be this airy-fairy, instinctive feeling that just flows out of you. You mess with that, and, pfft, forget artistic genius So, like so many other writers, here I am struggling along, pounding out my brains against my keyboard, writing these stories that almost work, but that just aren’t quite there.
In the past, I’ve compared writing to digging myself out of a hole. I don’t know what’s in that hole. I don’t know what the next shovelful looks like. But I just have to keep digging until I hopefully reach the bottom. In other words, most of us are going into our stories totally blind.
We know there’s this checklist of “story must-haves” we have to include in our story to make it work.
Strong hook in the beginning, characters with pronounced arcs, this balance of action and reflection, and then this rising suspense, until suddenly you reach the end where everything is just supposed to fall into place.
But I think we’ve all written at least one story that didn’t work out quite that way. And it’s frustrating, because you know about all these story elements, and you’re checking them off your list. But they’re just not hanging together the way they’re supposed to.
That’s where structure comes into play.
The first time I heard structure explained to me, point by point, it was like a light bulb going off in my head. I mean I was ready to get up and jump on the bed and turn somersaults and kiss the cat, and all that stuff. It was revolutionary. And the thing about story structure—the beauty of it—is that, once you understand it, it is so simple.
The way I approach and teach structure is with a ten-step checklist. Starting with the hook and ending with the resolution. Once you can visualize your story as these very specific building blocks, you’re suddenly able to understand what makes stories work. You’re not blind anymore. You’re able to approach your story from a place of knowledge, which is always going to be a place of empowerment.
I mean, even years after this was a discovery for me, I still get so excited about structure. I sit down every day at my computer, and I am thrilled with this power that I wield. I get to be the master of my story, instead of its slave.
I’m really excited to be able to share this discovery and this ten-step approach to classic story structure through my new book Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story.
My goal as a teacher and a mentor of writers is to help people find that knowledge and that empowerment, so they’ll be able to access the tools they need to write their own unique stories. And, truthfully, structure, more than any other tool, is the key to not only making our writing lives easier, but to unleashing the best stories we have in us.
