Part 8 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel Sometimes just the mention of “sequel scenes” makes writers cross their eyes. Isn’t a sequel, you know, a followup to your first book? What does it have to do with individual scenes? The answers to these questions are important, because the sequel makes up […]
May 17, 2015 by 67 Comments Structuring Your NovelHow the Perfect Midpoint Moves Your Protagonist From Reaction to Action
I have to thank the Marvel movies for a lot of things–like my Captain America shield pillow, my Iron Man socks, my Spider-Man poster, my Hulk thumb-wrestler. Ahem. Where was I? Oh, yes, talking about being a writer, not a fan-girl. One other, slightly more important thing for which I have to thank the Marvel movies […]
October 29, 2014 by 42 Comments Structuring Your NovelWhy You Might Be Ruining Your Story’s Best Scenes
This week’s video talks about why appropriate repercussions will always be the earmark of your story’s best scenes. Video Transcript: Stories are about stuff that happens. But even more, they’re about stuff that happens because other stuff happened. In short, they’re about repercussions. Every event in your story needs to create character reactions that are […]
April 27, 2014 by 21 Comments CharactersCreating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 11: The Second Half of the Second Act
The Second Half of the Second Act is where you cue the hero music in character arcs. Thanks to that major personal revelation at the Midpoint, the protagonist now gets it. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. The light bulbs have flashed on. He sees what he has to do to win the conflict. […]
April 20, 2014 by 43 Comments CharactersCreating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 10: The Midpoint
In a positive change character arc, your protagonist will have spent the First Half of the Second Act blundering around in foreign territory, making mistakes based on false assumptions, and getting his hand slapped for his every wrong move. But he’s also going to have been slowly—maybe even subconsciously—learning his lesson and figuring things out. […]
April 13, 2014 by 28 Comments CharactersCreating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 9: The First Half of the Second Act
In the structure of character arcs, the First Half of the Second Act is where your character ventures (or is thrust) into uncharted territory—and gets lost. He may not quite see it that way himself, but this is where he begins to discover that the old rules (the Lie He Believes) no longer apply. This […]
May 17, 2013 by 20 Comments CharactersA Powerful Storytelling Tool: Getting Readers to Fill In Your Character’s Blanks
You know that moment when you’re reading a story and you know what a character is thinking? You’re so in touch with him that you feel it yourself? Wonderful, isn’t it? But this has to be handled with care. There are times when readers are eager to fill the blanks; just as many times, though, they are not. […]
March 10, 2013 by 63 Comments ProseMotivation-Reaction Units: Cracking the Code of Good Writing
What’s the secret to good prose? What makes it work—not just on the aesthetic level of vivid and poetic word choices, but on the deeper and ultimately more important level of functionality? In short, is good writing just all luck and gut instinct—or is there a method authors can learn to create clear and powerful […]
February 17, 2013 by 18 Comments Structuring Your NovelStructuring Your Scenes, Pt. 11: Variations on the Sequel Scene
Sequels*, even more than scenes, offer all kinds of flexibility in scene structure. In large part, this flexibility is what can make sequels difficult to quantify in stories. Unlike the scene, sequels can be so subtle they blend right into the scenery. This can sometimes lead authors to believe sequels aren’t as important as scenes, but their flexibility […]
January 27, 2013 by 38 Comments Structuring Your NovelStructuring Your Story’s Scenes, Pt. 8: Options for Character Reactions in a Scene Sequel
At the heart of every sequel* is the narrating character’s reaction to the preceding scene’s disaster. This is where you get the opportunity to dig around inside your characters’ emotional and mental processes and find out what they’re really made of. While the scene is about external action, the sequel is about internal reaction. The sequel will sometimes […]
