At the beginning of a novel, a character starts out in his identity – who he thinks he is. By the end of the story, if you’ve developed the story correctly, he ends up in his essence – who he really is.
Finding Balance with Writing & Life: Writing Efficiently
I shop for groceries at a market that offers discount prices. Most of the food items aren’t brand name. Patrons bring their own bags or buy them at checkout. In …
Extreme Book Makeover: Help Me Hook My Reader: Starting on the RUN!
I watched the Oscars last night. (Best. Oscars. Ever. #OscarTwitterPic #PizzaDelivery)
I’d only seen one of the movies in the Best Picture category – Gravity. In fact, I saw it this weekend, in our home theater, where I think I only breathed twice in an hour. Terrifying, in a non-horror-film, wow-I-never-want-to-be-there way.
The story, in a nutshell, is about a scientist who is working on the space shuttle – specifically OUTSIDE the shuttle in a spacewalk – when, due to a crazy set of circumstances — she gets untethered and thrown into space. Her quest is to somehow get back to earth.
It’s an amazing movie – the special effects will blow your mind.
And, it’s a great example of starting a movie with just the right amount of PIPE.
Pipe is the distance between the first sentence and the Noble Quest. As an author, you’re opening the faucet of your story, and the pipe is how long it takes for it to start spilling out. The shorter the pipe, the sooner your reader receives the benefit of the story.
However, many authors suffer from Too Much Pipe Syndrome, or the belief that they must tell their reader everything about their main character before the story starts for the reader to enjoy the story. Another way to put it is they start their story way too early.
Welcome to March!
I have always loved March 1st. No matter how dreary the winter months, I begin to notice the days getting longer, the sun shining brighter and the promise of spring …
What’s The Advantage of A Writers Retreat
I’m in sunny yet sometimes rainy Destin, Florida at the 5th annual Deep Thinkers Retreat.
Seventeen writers (all women at this event) gathered to learn the craft of writing a novel.
There’s laughter, fun, frustration, confused looks, pondering, break throughs and friendships being forged.
A writers retreat like Story Crafters and Deep Thinkers is the pressure cooker of learning craft.
You can’t escape. It’s all around you!
Everyone is talking, breathing, sleeping STORY!
So how do you know if a writers retreat is right for you?
It is a commitment of time and money.
Are you really ready to invest in your writing journey at the retreat level?
Maybe you’re asking what’s the difference between a retreat and a conference.