And, now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! The climax is the pièce de résistance of our gourmet meal of a novel. When we wheel out the climax and lift the serving dish’s gleaming silver lid, this is the bit that gets all the “oohs” and “aahs.” The climax of a story should have readers on the edges […]
April 25, 2012 by 27 Comments Plotting Your NovelDoes Your Story Need Subplots?
We’re always hearing about subplots. But what exactly are they? And does your story really need subplots? In a nutshell, a subplot is just a miniature plot that features a sideline story. If your story is about an escaped convict who’s trying to prove his innocence, your main plot is going to be his escape, […]
April 22, 2012 by 44 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 9: The Third Act
The third act is the moment we’ve all been waiting for—readers, writers, and characters alike. This final section of the story is the point. It’s what we’ve been building up to all this time. If the first and second acts were engaging and aesthetic labyrinths, the third act is where X marks the spot. We’ve found the treasure. […]
April 15, 2012 by 12 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 8: The Second Half of the Second Act
Now that we’ve passed the midpoint, things are starting to heat up in our story. The second half of the second act is where your plot really starts popping. Your main character caps the dramatic event at the midpoint with his decision to stop reacting and start acting. Almost always, this is born of a personal revelation, even […]
April 8, 2012 by 44 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 7: The Midpoint
Halfway through our stories, something marvelous happens. There we are, minding our own business, toiling along in the seemingly endless desert of the second act, when—whap! bang! shazam!—everything changes all over again. Legendary director Sam Peckinpah talked about how he always looked for a “centerpiece” on which to “hang” his story. That centerpiece is your second major plot point, the […]
April 1, 2012 by 26 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 6: The First Half of the Second Act
Every segment of a story offers its own challenges, but perhaps none leaves writers more bewildered than the second act. Beginnings and endings are tough to get right, but at least we have a checklist of things to accomplish. The middle of the story, on the other hand, is a yawning blank. We feel like we’re entirely on our […]
March 30, 2012 by 10 Comments DialogueWhen Arguments Are a Good Thing: Conflict in Dialogue
Most authors and their readers will agree that nothing beats a good bout of dialogue. Witty, poignant, romantic, angry—it’s all good. We all love it when characters open their big mouths and let fly. But creating good dialogue isn’t as easy as saying the first thing that pops to mind. Good dialogue is all about […]
March 28, 2012 by 32 Comments BackstoryHow to Tell if You Should Show Your Character’s Backstory
In other recent posts, we’ve discussed the value of backstory, even to the point of writing your backstory as your story when it’s the more interesting of the two. But generally speaking that’s going to be the exception to the rule. Backstory is actually at its most powerful when we don’t tell it—or rather when we don’t […]
March 25, 2012 by 73 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 5: Inciting Event and Key Event
The first quarter of your story hinges upon two important and irreversible moments: the inciting event and the key event. I’ve saved our discussion of inciting and key events until this late into the series because these events can take place at any number of the structure points we’ve already discussed. Now that we’ve got a sense of […]
March 18, 2012 by 69 Comments Structuring Your NovelThe Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 4: The First Plot Point
Stories are a series of scenes. Some of those scenes are expected, some of them are even purposefully repetitious for the sake of emphasis. But some scenes change everything. These game changers are the plot points. They introduce significant elements and events that alter the subsequent course of the story. Your story can have any […]
