One of the most common concerns writers have about story theory is the fear of creating formulaic story structure. If you’re following a set pattern of dictated beats for your story, then won’t your story lack originality? Won’t readers see the expected plot turns coming from a mile off? Indeed, won’t story structure inhibit your […]
July 10, 2017 by 52 Comments Plotting Your NovelFree Scrivener Template: How to Structure Your Story
Love Scrivener? Me too. This insanely comprehensive word processor, designed to help authors organize all their writing notes and files in one place, is arguably the single best digital tool for writers ever created. These days, I use it exclusively for my fiction (buh-bye, Word), and it is constantly helping me refine my approach to […]
June 26, 2017 by 98 Comments Structuring Your NovelHow to Calculate Your Book’s Length Before Writing
Story structure is all about timing. It’s about making sure your rhythm and pacing align for maximum impact, both in keeping readers glued to the page and in resonating emotionally. The reason this timing works is that it is largely instinctive, for both writers and readers. When I first started learning about story structure, I pulled […]
April 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment Plotting Your Novel2 Ways to Choose the Right Scene
Today, I’m guest posting over on Jerry Jenkins’s site, with the post “Does This Scene Deserve a Place in Your Story? 2 Ways to Find Out.” Here’s an excerpt: “Cut this scene. It doesn’t move the plot.” That is my most frequent comment on manuscripts I edit for others. It causes most writers to groan. […]
March 31, 2017 by 19 Comments Structuring Your NovelAn Easy Way to Notch Up Your Scene Conflict
Scene conflict is what keeps your story running, chapter after chapter, page after page. Conflict is the heart of each scene, and each of those scenes is one of the dozens of tiny engines keeping your plot moving forward—and your readers glued to the page. It’s helpful to think of scene conflict as not so much […]
February 20, 2017 by 73 Comments NarrativeLearn How to Pace Your Story (and Mind-Control Your Readers) in Just 8 Steps
Writing is really all about mind control. Seriously, think about it. You put words on paper, and if you do it right, you suddenly have the ability to control how people respond to what you’ve written. Of course, “doing it right” is the whole challenge of writing, and when it comes to this mind-control gig, […]
February 13, 2017 by 70 Comments Structuring Your Novel8 Ways to Troubleshoot a Scene–and 5 Ways Make It Fabulous
So there I was: sitting at my desk, notebook in front of me—and absolutely no words staring back at me. The problem? I knew what needed to happen in this scene, but now that the time had come to write it, it seemed flat as a roadkill raccoon. It was clearly time to troubleshoot a […]
February 10, 2017 by 99 Comments Plotting Your NovelHow to Write a Story Without a Plot (and Why You Shouldn’t)
Can you write a story without a plot? Ultimately, that depends entirely on your definition of a story. There are quite a few people who would argue for plot-less variations, but I’m not one of them. When I talk about story, I’m talking about plot. Why? Because it’s the most intuitive entry point to a […]
January 16, 2017 by 116 Comments Outlining Your NovelHow to Outline a Series of Bestselling Books
Every good series has to start somewhere. If you’re of the mindset (as I am) that a problem as complicated as the novel is best approached from the big-picture view of an outline, then it only makes sense that the even greater complexities of serial fiction will benefit even more when their authors understand how […]
December 12, 2016 by 75 Comments Structuring Your NovelA New Way to Think About Scene Structure
Stories live and die on their scene structure. A great plot—even a well-structured great plot—won’t be able to stand if its individual scenes are floundering with no clear sense of purpose and direction in the overall story. Dwight V. Swain engineered the classic approach to scene structure, which breaks down each scene into integers of […]
