Prompt 21 in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing prompts you develop an object or place or detail you introduced in an earlier and that now can be repeated and then used again later for emphasis and with the potential to reveal deeper meaning in your novel, memoir, screenplay.
As you scan your story for a significant detail you've created in your story, look for anything that seems to represent (or could be written to represent) suppressed emotions in the protagonist. Flip through the scenes you've written for any detail that can stand in for this emotion-charged symbol, phrase, observation.
Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a more loving relationship with your writing. Whether writing a first draft or revising, if you falter wondering what comes next in a story with a plot, follow the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing.
Today, I write.
To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: how to use foreshadowing in novels, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 2/11/2013
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: authentic details, how to use foreshadowing in novels, suppressed emotions in the protagonist, emotionally charged objects in stories, Add a tag
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/10/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, how to use foreshadowing in novels, tricks to write the middle of a story, rewriting tricks and tips, Add a tag
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/9/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, how to use foreshadowing in novels, tricks to write the middle of a story, rewriting tricks and tips, Add a tag
Each of us dreams of being lifting to great heights. So does your protagonist. We imagine our dreams from the safety of our own habits and routines and within a framework of mutually agreed upon rules and customs. Comforted by the known sameness of our lives, we wait for something outside ourselves to lift us up, always waiting...
Not so for the protagonist of your story. She has to move from the ordinary world of the Beginning into the murky Middle. The very definition of the main character of the story as the one most changed by the Dramatic Action. From the great height of the Climax of the book or screenplay, she prevails to lead the way for others to follow.
The Climax is the moment one chapter or scene before the very end of the story when the protagonist does something she could not have done anywhere else in the story because she first had to rediscover and learn the skills needed to shine.
What we are doing here at the 4th Annual International Plot Writing Month is dry compared to the magical and mystical process of writing a first draft. Processing your story through your intellect and analyzing it wipes away befuddlement and leads to clarity of character goals and motivation which in turn helps to create convincing expression and emotion.
Today is two-pronged:
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/8/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, how to use foreshadowing in novels, tricks to write the middle of a story, rewriting tricks and tips, Add a tag
Today represents the End of the Beginning of our month-long plot writing endeavor. The past week has been introductory. You're getting to know what is expected of you during PlotWriMo. You've made a few discoveries you hadn't known about your story and experienced a couple of ah, ha moments. Finding the time everyday proves challenging, but you've managed.
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/7/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers
(Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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how to use foreshadowing in novels, tricks to write the middle of a story, rewriting tricks and tips, revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, Add a tagThe Middle poses lots of difficulty for writers for a multitude of reasons, many of which I discuss in The Plot Whisperer book.
Yikes, what if I'm adding scenes that are not in my draft at all?
Sorry to be dense, but I can't make heads or tails out of this sentence: "Write in the scene the hits directly before the Climax and the Climax itself and the Resolution you came up with in your first draft." Even when I try substituting "that" for the second "the" I still don't understand it. Do you really mean "directly before the Climax and the Climax itself and the Resolution"...because that all sort of runs together and is nonsensical to me. ???