“Move the plot, move the plot—everything in your story must move your plot!!!” So rail all writing professors. Meanwhile, the writers themselves just want to bang their heads against their keyboards in desperate frustration. “Okay, yes, fine, great—I want to move the plot. But what does that even meeeeaaannnn?!?!?!?!” (Enough interrobangs, for you?) (No?) (Okay, sorry: […]
March 3, 2013 by 26 Comments PodcastScene Structure Exceptions: Incidents and Happenings
After our recent series about scene structure, it might seem that everything in a book must be tied down hard and fast within that framework. But what about when something in your story doesn’t seem to fit into the goal/conflict/disaster paradigm of the scene? What if something happens (and needs to happen) that doesn’t create conflict and doesn’t end […]
January 6, 2013 by 40 Comments Structuring Your NovelStructuring Your Story’s Scenes, Pt. 5: Options for Scene Disasters
The disaster is the payoff at the end of the scene.* This is what readers have been waiting for, often with a delicious sense of dread. This is the answer, at least partially, to that all-important question, “What’s gonna happen?” The final act in the three-part structure of your scene is the outcome. The first […]
December 16, 2012 by 26 Comments Structuring Your NovelStructuring Your Story’s Scenes, Pt. 2: The Three Building Blocks of the Scene
Like story itself, each Scene* follows a specific structure. In fact, the arc of a Scene is a miniature version of the larger story structure exhibited over the course of the book: 1. Beginning=Hook 2. Middle=Development 3. End=Climax When we look at the arc this way, it makes a basic sort of sense. It doesn’t, […]
