The Climactic Moment is the story in microcosm. The Climactic Moment is where the protagonist’s final relationship to the plot goal is determined by definitive success or failure, as is the character’s relationship to the thematic Lie and Truth. Although the events of the Climactic Moment might not be the “biggest” of the story, they […]
December 6, 2021 by 26 Comments PodcastThe Two Halves of the Third Plot Point
Like all the major structural turning points, the Third Plot Point is made up of two halves—which work together to create a scene arc (even though, technically, the entire arc of the beat might be told over the course of a scene sequence made up of many scenes). The halves that create this arc are […]
October 25, 2021 by 38 Comments Plotting Your Novel6 Questions to Help You Avoid Repetitive Scenes
It takes a lot of scenes to make a novel. Not only do we need enough scenes to progress the plot and get the characters from Point A to Point B, we also need to reach a certain word count so the book can be a novel. (Or the movie can be a movie. Ya […]
August 23, 2021 by 46 Comments Plotting Your NovelThe Main Reason Your Story’s Premise Is Important
Your story’s premise is the foundation of your work. This is true for the shaping of the story itself, and it is also true from a marketing perspective. For both writers and readers, the premise is the reason we become interested in a story. Even when you don’t know your premise until late in the […]
October 12, 2020 by 71 Comments PodcastThe Link Between Your Story’s Pinch Points
Of all the paired structural beats in a story, the Pinch Points are perhaps the most obvious. There are only two of them, they have the same name, and they perform essentially the same function in both their first and second iteration. They’re also perhaps the least known and most confusing of all the major […]
August 31, 2020 by 94 Comments Characters7 Considerations for Your Antagonist’s Motivations (Which Will Save You SOOO Much Trouble)
Your antagonist’s motivations can make or break your story. If your antagonist’s motivations are weak, unconvincing, or over-complicated (which is usually symptomatic of the first two problems), then you will severely undermine your story in several key areas. Not only will you end up with a weak character to oppose your protagonist, but you may […]
July 20, 2020 by 47 Comments Novel Endings4 Questions to Prevent Plot Holes
How peachy would the writing life be if we didn’t have to prevent plot holes. Just imagine—you could write anything you wanted to, and every single thing would make sense. No need to worry about the fact that your two awesome scenes actually don’t make sense side by side. They get to be in the […]
October 14, 2019 by 53 Comments Plotting Your NovelThis Is How to Transform Info Dumps Into Exciting Plot Reveals
Clues, mysteries, plot reveals, and plot twists—these are some of a writer’s stock tricks for hooking readers page after page. But as important as these tricks are, when they’re asked to bear the load of being the main attraction for readers, they too often turn into boring info dumps. Imagine you’re reading a story in […]
September 30, 2019 by 61 Comments Characters5 Questions for Choosing a Protagonist Who Represents Your Story’s Theme
Choosing a protagonist is often more of an event than a process. Writers sometimes feel more like the protagonist chooses them than the other way around. While most of us heed our first instinct to simply chase after this character to see where he goes, it’s important that at some point we analyze the soundness […]
September 2, 2019 by 49 Comments CharactersCreating Your Character’s Inner Conflict: Want vs. Need
Man vs. Self—it’s the most archetypal of all stories. This is because all stories are ultimately rooted in the primal and personal struggle of a character’s inner conflict. As individuals, our conflicts with others or the world itself are almost inevitably either reflections or projections of our inner conflicts—our cognitive dissonances, our conflicting wants and […]
