November 27, 2016

How to plan your book: from idea to manuscript (Part 2)

Okay then, to the summary page (you can read Part 1 of this post here). After I'm done planning it all in the structure part, I move on to the summary part and start working my way through it from top to bottom, expanding from the title to the scene beat sheet, and filling it out. This time, because I don't have anything for Rosehead, I'll use TUBE as an example.

When you scan through this list, you will see abbreviations, and your eyes will probably cross from looking at them (I know mine did, when I got to looking at plotting terms used by other authors). Don't despair. What works for me might not work for you. Steal what you like, and get the rest elsewhere. There are as many ways to write a book as there are writers. I'm simply sharing with you what works for me NOW. Because a few years down the road this will change, and I'll be in some other place entirely.

August 1, 2016

The Hero's Journey plot and subplots explained

by Ksenia Anske

To me. I have explained it to me in a way that makes sense to me, not as a circle, but as a deep dark lake with deep dark water and a humongous scary monster sitting in a deep dark cave smack in the middle of the lake's bottom. Anya magically transformed my quick flimsy sketch into the pretty diagram above, with the heroine (of course) jumping into said lake, about to meet her near death.

Okay, let me step back a little. I have only started learning about this whole hero's concept recently, but I can already see it everywhere. Of course. It's the journey of life, in a way. And the journey of learning. We have to come close to death to learn anything, it seems. Stubborn idiots. Anyway. It does look like a boob in crosscut, doesn't it? The reason I made it this way is I can picture it easily in my head when I write and read, and if the simple three-act structure needs more subplots, then I can just break up one of the curves into more curves, like I did for the cave at the bottom. It could be simple, with no additional curve, or it could be more complex. This way any story can fit into this model. Precisely what I wanted to make sense of it.

February 9, 2016

Creating atmosphere: mention all 5 senses

by Ksenia Anske

Or 6, if your character is a psychic. Or 7. Or whatever the number. As long as you mention at least a couple!

What's about to follow is a rant brought on by all this editing I'm doing right now, and by reading writing samples some friends send me, and by reading writing submissions to @ellowrites. Sure, there are other, BIGGER, more important parts to every story, like the characters and the plot and the dialogue, but without a sense of atmosphere you're fucked. Some people call it setting. Some call it world building. Doesn't matter what you call it. It has to be there, at all times. It's the place where your story happens.

1. What do we see?