Now that you've read your novel, memoir, screenplay all the way through to the end, sit back and close your eyes.
(***Click on green highlighted plot concepts for further explanations via video. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay.)
To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms we use throughout December:1) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (Now also as a Kindle edition)
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/15/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, rewriting tricks and tips, Scenes that lead up to the climax of novels, tricks to write the beginning of a story, Add a tag
As a reward for continuing to show up for your story and yourself, it's time....
Pull out that binder with your manuscript.
With all the work you have done in the first half of the month still fresh in your mind, read your manuscript from beginning to end.
- Do not take notes.
- Do not edit.
- Just read. Like a reader.
- Keep in mind the deeper meaning you've been exploring in the past couple of weeks.
The next part of the process and the actual craft of writing is to craft the words that came during the generative stage into a pleasing form for the reader.
Be ready to be firm with the critic in your head as you read. Allow for slop. To phrase what comes out in the first draft as "disjointed like a dream" is correct but a bit too clean and lovely. What comes out is really much worse with lots and lots of words that do not always add up to much.
But... that's why we're here, right? To take what came and turn it into a book.
To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms we use throughout December:1) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (Now also as a Kindle edition)
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/14/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, rewriting tricks and tips, Scenes that lead up to the climax of novels, tricks to write the beginning of a story, Add a tag
We are deep in the middle of the 4th Annual International Plot Writing Month. And, you know what happens in the middle of a story. Challenges intensify. Tension increases. The exotic world becomes more difficult to navigate. Doubts and fears build. If this is happening to you, you can either give up or you can persevere. I'll be here either way. The choice is yours.
How does that differentiate from how she acts at the End?
(***Click on
By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 12/13/2011
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revision, memoirs and screenplays, PlotWriMo, rewriting tricks and tips, Scenes that lead up to the climax of novels, tricks to write the beginning of a story, Add a tag
Create the Beginning portion of your Plot Planner similar to the End of your Plot Planner you created on Day Eight.
To review, so far, you have an index card or piece of 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper or whatever works best for you as the Plot Planner for the End of your story AND a smaller version for the Beginning and Middle where you had plotted at least one or possibly two scenes from the Beginning section and at least one or three at the most for the Middle from Day Five.
Today, you are to expand the Beginning portion to its own index card. Simply draw a line that travels from the left to the right with a gradual ascent that ends at the End of the Beginning.
Thanks for this excellent post!
Yay, the halfway point, the recommit. I hope to transform from despairing to brimming with hope, so I can power up my rewrite.
Great its really helps! Thank you very much !
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