Chronicling a writer’s improbable journey (good, bad, and ugly) from manuscript to publishing contract to actually someday holding the book in my hands.
A Night at the Edgars
Back in December I sent my little haunted house mystery novel to the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel contest, in which one book was selected out of something like 400 people submitted manuscripts to win a Minotaur publishing contract and $10,000 advance.
And it won.
Shut Up, Norbert! (slaying the dragons that tell you you suck)
This is Norbert.
I honestly don’t remember where I acquired him, but he has been with me for a long time. The name was proposed by a former co-worker and it stuck. His deeper identity remained shrouded in secrecy to the more nuanced layers of my mind, as was no doubt his intention, until I heard the amazing Sue Campbell of Pages and Platforms speak to a group of writers about the resistance writers (and others) often experience in our work, as discussed by Stephen Pressfield and his book The War of Art. He refers to this phenomenon as “lizard brain”…
Evolution of a Logline (review: Sell Your Story in a Single Sentence)
The Claymore and conference have goaded me into at least beginning to think about what querying this book might look like, and what that whole process involves, and how hard a hard hat I need to acquire. (They don’t call it the “query trenches” for nothing.) And one of the key components of querying, conferences, talking to agents, etc. is the one-sentence log line for one’s story…
A Character by Any Other Name…
K. M. Weiland is the first author/educator I encountered in my journey to geeking out about story structure, and I still read or listen to most of what she puts out there. Today in my inbox I found her response to a reader question about character names, and it got me thinking…
For someone as structure-oriented as I am about most things, I take a very nebulous and intuitive approach to character names…
The Complexity of Simple Stories (Rings of Power Season One)
…my younger offspring is my favorite nerd-partner about film music and story structure. We remembered how we got to the end of the first episode of Rings of Power, and they said to me seriously, “You know, it’s absolutely beautiful, gorgeous to look at, wonderful music, good acting, but…it’s been an hour and I genuinely have no idea what the actual story is they are trying to tell. And I don’t know whose story is more important, and who we are supposed to care about. So…I don’t really care that much about anyone.”
I think they kind of nail it there. ..
Subplots: Moulin Rouge, the Musical (Part 3)
Subplots are fun, they can give other characters a moment to shine, and add interest to your plot and the external happenings of your story, especially if you need to relieve emotional tension from a too-long-sustained primary plot.
But: a subplot must have its own shape and structure, and its characters must have wants and needs that connect fully to it. And—repeat after me—the subplot must connect to and move forward the primary story.
Secondary Characters: Moulin Rouge, the Musical (Part 2)
Part 2 will stick with character arc, want, and need, but this time it will look at the secondary characters, who also need arcs and wants and needs. But theirs ultimately serve a very different purpose from those of the main character: the main character’s want/need conflict drives the story; secondary characters’ wants/needs serve the story…
Main Character Arc: Moulin Rouge, the Musical (Part 1)
Diving into story structure in a formal way is the best thing that’s ever happened to my writing—it’s shown me how to look at why some stories seem to work, and when they don’t, why they can’t quite land.
On the other hand, it’s also probably made me an annoying person to go to movies, shows, or even listen to songs with, because I tend to start critiquing the story structure.
Early last summer, I got to visit New York on practically a whim, and we got to see the stage version of Moulin Rouge on Broadway…
Geeking Out about Story
…For the first time in my over-literate life someone was talking to me about how a story was built—about the three (or four) act structure, about the midpoint shift, about the wants and needs of the characters and the tension created when they are at odds with each other. About arcs and subplots…It was like a giant floodlight lit up my creative brain, and I could suddenly see.