The next Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? Plot Book Group for Writers has officially begun!
Every Monday we upload a new video with a brief plot discussion, using a new novel, memoir or screenplay selection each month -- this month is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.
At the end of each session, you are assigned a task to apply to your own novel, memoir, screenplay. These exercises are designed to give you the opportunity to deepen your relationship to your story's plot and structure, character development and thematic significance.
Click to view the first in the Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? Plot Book Group for Writers
For added support regarding each week's plot discussion, you are invited to view a specific video(s) in the 1st Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?
and to follow along in The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
For more about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post.
For more tips about how to use plot and the Universal Story in your novel, memoir or screenplay, read: The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
and visit:
and visit:
2 Comments on Universal Story -- Test Your Story, last added: 9/15/2011
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 8/20/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: screenplay?, a memoir, the plot whisperer: secrets of story structure any writer can master how do I plot a novel, the universal story, Add a tag
I like to think of them as potter people. People who look like us but are more eccentric, often with a flair of whimsy. They magically appear, complete a task effortlessly and disappear -- the exact right person at the exact right time.
Peter Archer is a bit of a potter person to me. He also exemplifies to me an East Coast intellectual. Granted, my impressions are just that... I have never met the man. He was the editor assigned me for The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master. I admire him greatly.
By the time I met Peter, via email and phone, Cathy and I had begun shooting the final steps of the Plot Series -- Step 22: How Do I Plot the Beginning of the End of a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay .
(As I write this post, I am struck by how the timing of the vlog steps fall into place according the principles of the Universal Story. At the time, if I was consciousness of that at all, it was buried beneath the task at hand -- writing a book worthy of publication.)
Thanks to Peter, the rough draft of The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master turned into an amazing book.
I started the vlog with literary examples of novels, memoirs and screenplays to "show" the concepts covered. Where the vlog leaves off, the Plot Whisperer book expands to even more examples to guide you through the process of writing the story inside of you from beginning to end. Examples come from picture books, middle grade and young adult and adult fiction, mysteries, romance, literary, screenplays, memoirs and more. Visual aides are included throughout the book to help ground the more abstract concepts.
Beneath the surface of both the vlog and the book is the element I am most passionate about --
2 Comments on Evolution of a Book -- Part Three: Working with an Editor, last added: 8/22/2011
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 10/19/2010
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Memoir, Plot tips, how to write memoirs, plot for writers, screenplay?, how do I plot a novel, cause and effect in screenplays, video series, turning points in stories, Add a tag
Turning points keep your story moving in surprising and organic directions to more fully engage the reader and audience and satisfy universal expectations.
I spoke about Turning Points in Step 11 of the wacky Plot Series posted on YouTube.
I move with less resistance and greater joy if I follow the energy. The energy has taken me to presenting the information caught on the video camera rather than post the words here.
So, rather than read plot tips, stop by and watch them.
The steps are presented in an organized format from Step One to Step Thirty-Two. We film Step 12 tomorrow.
Feel free to randomly click on any video. The 5 to 8 minute presentation will leave you energizes and with a new sensibility of your story.
This is all new to me. Hope you'll follow me into the great unknown...
Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?
1 Comments on Turning Points, last added: 10/20/2010
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 9/14/2010
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Memoir, how to plot, plot for writers, a character plot, screenplay?, multiple plotlines, a romantic plot, step 5 of plot series, how to develop an action plot, how do I plot a novel, Add a tag
For a story to have meaning, the dramatic action forces the character to grow and change at the least, transform at best.
Each of these threads = dramatic action, character emotional development and thematic significance runs through every great picture book, middle grade fiction, young adult and adult novels whether genre or literary, all memoirs and screenplays.
All other plot lines are determined by age and type of story. However, one other plot line is in most stories, other than picture books and middle grade fiction = romantic plot line.
The 5th step in the Plot Series of How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? covers this 4th plot line. Hope you'll visit and follow along.
0 Comments on 3 Major Plot Lines + 1 in Novels, Memoir, Screenplays as of 1/1/1900
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THank you for the post it is really pleasant to read!
Thanks for the article!
Interesting info!