What is the difference between plot and story? Think of the plot as riding an airplane. It’s the path tha plane takes from one city to the next, from the beginning to the end of the novel. It’s the reason we get on in the first place, because we want to reach the final destination.… Continue reading The Difference Between Plot and Story
Use Environment to influence Your Characters
Environment can be more than just a setting for your characters. It can trigger emotional and physical responses and influence your characters. Ultimately this can add conflict and drive your story.
Readers Need to Feel Emotions in Writing
When you write emotion in fiction, you can’t tell the readers how the character is feeling. Readers need to feel emotions. They need to go on a journey with your character. You need to immerse, literally soak, your readers in the experience without feeling spoon-feeding them what they should feel.
Crafting Believable Characters Using the ABC Model
Crafting believable characters is at the heart of compelling storytelling. One of the keys to achieving this lies in understanding how characters respond to events within the narrative. In psychology, the ABC model—used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—provides a framework that can be applied to the development of fictional characters. By exploring the activating event, the character’s belief about it, and the subsequent consequences, writers can infuse their characters with depth and authenticity.
The Knock-Knock Approach: How Joke Structure Helps with Fiction Story Plotting
Writing a compelling and engaging story is a lot like telling a joke. Just as a joke follows a certain format, so does a story within a specific genre. Whether you’re penning a mystery, a romance, or a thriller, each genre comes with its own set of expectations, much like the setup, narrative, and punchline of a joke. Use genre expectations to add obligatory scenes that readers expect. This will boost your fiction story plotting and lead to a more satisfying and captivating reading experience.
Creativity is Chemistry: Ideas are Easy to Discover but Hard to Combine
If you’re a writer, then you’ve faced this question before: “Where do you get your ideas?” Well, the idea part is easy. They pop up all the time. Ideas are like atoms, easy to discover and there are only so many to choose from. It’s how you combine these ideas that matters. Creativity is chemistry, constantly rehashing the same core concepts to create something new.
Crafting Subtext for Your Character
Creating subtext for your character is a crucial tool in a fiction writer’s arsenal. It adds depth, complexity, and intrigue to your characters and plot. Subtext is the art of saying one thing on the surface while conveying deeper, hidden meanings underneath.
Using Push and Pull Motivation to Create Dynamic Characters
Character motivation forms a crucial thread that weaves the plot and narrative together. Characters in a story, much like real individuals, are driven by a mix of internal and external forces. Psychologists have labeled these push and pull motivations. You can use this trick to breath life into your story and create dynamic characters.
The Five Commandments of a Scene According to The Story Grid
The five commandments of a scene, as outlined by Shawn Coyne’s revolutionary Story Grid approach, will bring any scene to life. These commandments — Inciting Incident, Turning Point, Crisis, Climax, and Resolution — are the pillars that sustain the drama, tension, and satisfaction in any given scene.
The Scene is the Basic Unit of Story: Part 1
Scenes are the fundamental building blocks that create story. Understanding the essence and structure of a scene is pivotal in creating a compelling narrative that enchants readers. As the basic unit of story, it moves things along and keeps readers turning pages.
