While everyone else is carving pumpkins and hunting for a black turtle neck and New Balance sneakers, in between desperately trying to finish my house repairs before freezing temperatures arrive, I’m preparing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).In the Seattle area, the [...]]]>

Autumn leaves mean NaNoWriMo plot and character development time!

While everyone else is carving pumpkins and hunting for a black turtle neck and New Balance sneakers, in between desperately trying to finish my house repairs before freezing temperatures arrive, I’m preparing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).In the Seattle area, the NaNoWriMo fans filled not one, but two plot development workshops in a few short hours of registration. So I thought I’d put up some NaNoWriMo Preparation Tips and ideas for those of us who didn’t get to attend.

Plot Development Worksheets

First, let me provide some novel plot and chapter development storyboard worksheets. Click on the title below to download:

Novel Storyboard Worksheet : An open storyboard for making notes about events and characters by chapter

Traditional Plot Storyboard Worksheet : The traditional fiction arc broken down into the standard 20-chapters used by mass market paperbacks for decades.

Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! Storyboard Worksheet : Screenwriter and teacher Blake Snyder’s technique condensed into a storyboard format for plotting today’s high-concept fiction.

Chapter Storyboard Worksheet : Good for breaking a chapter down by scene; especially useful if you use multiple locations and character point of views to keep events in a clear sequence

Character Development and Profiling

Heroes and heroines, even just protagonists and antagonists, can often get fuzzy in the heat of trying to write a novel in a month. So I started using the Target Audience Profile worksheet that I give my marketing students to help them keep their potential customer or client in focus. Try completing the Target Audience Profile Worksheet and writing a profile of your main characters to keep on hand. It helps when trying to answer that magical, musical question “What would this character do now?”

Target Audience Profile Worksheet

Once I have a basic demographic profile of a character, I add things like family background, any key incidence in the characters life like bullying at school or winning a competition that had an impact. I find a lot of times if I’m stuck or blocked in a project, it’s because I haven’t really defined a character (or any of them) well enough to clearly know how he or she would react or respond to the situation.

Visual Techniques for Developing Plot and Characters

A number of writers I’ve met use collage to prepare for their writing projects. Bestselling romantic comedy author Jennifer Crusie has a collection of them now and here (Wild Ride Collage)  and here (this one is more about the process).Basically it’s similar to doing a visualization collage.

Begin by focusing on the title or theme of your story. Next collect images and words from magazines or other media while focusing on your theme or title. You can even collect found objects that seem to fit (I met one author who actually creates sculptures for his writing projects). Once you feel you’ve collected enough stuff to start, grab a large sheet of paper — or a box if you want to go 3-D — and start assembling your images, words, objects as it moves you. Jennifer Crusie and others talk about leaving placeholders for characters or story elements when they feel something is missing and tracking it down later.

Writeoncon.com has a video by author Tera Lynn Childs demonstrating how she makes a character collage here.

I’ve also met authors who draw or paint a scene from their story. I met several who actually create the book covers to inspire them throughout the whole process and keep the mood and another (a screenwriter) who created the movie poster.

My absolute favorite was a writing friend who persuaded a B. Dalton’s employee to give her one of their old bestseller list cards; carefully replaced the number position with her book title and name; and then hung it up in front of her workspace to keep her writing daily. She also created book covers to place in front of her workspace and individual character collages. She didn’t reach #1 before she died, but she did make it on the list.

There’s no right or wrong way to do any of this. There’s just your way. These are all simply a way for authors to use a different part of their brain in solving plot and character development. Give it a try. If nothing else, you’ll have a conversation piece.

The goal is to get to know our characters, get a feel for their story arcs, and inspire us to keep our backsides in our chairs and our fingers on our keyboards until we have our book (or at least 50,000 words and the basic spine of our book).

So NaNoWriMoers, let’s start our engines!

And feel free to share this post with your NaNoWriMo community!

As a writer I consider words and reading important. But I was also trained in the visual and graphic arts and have longed been attuned to the type and fonts that create the words and make them legible — or not, that can enhance the meaning of the text — or undermine [...]]]>

Even when the message isn't very clear, clear type has a voice of authority

As a writer I consider words and reading important. But I was also trained in the visual and graphic arts and have longed been attuned to the type and fonts that create the words and make them legible — or not, that can enhance the meaning of the text — or undermine it, that can influence whether we even read a single word — or all of them. I’ve also been keenly aware for some time that we are moving from text to verbal and visual communication. Oral traditions and pictographs gave way to literacy which will eventually give way to voices (mostly computer generated) and images.

So what does this all have to do with Steve Jobs and the iPhone?

On Tuesday, October 4, the new CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, introduced the iPhone 4S. Many Apple fanatics, and less astute reporters, were disappointed that the phone lacked significant physical design changes. They missed the significance of a little feature named Siri. Bascially, Siri acts something like an artificial intelligence interface. You say something natural to your iPhone like “I have a meeting with John Doe on Wednesday at 3 o’clock” and the phone adds the meeting to your calendar and will even remind you that the meeting is approaching. You can ask it something like “Where’s the nearest sushi restaurant?” and Siri will note your present location and return a listing of sushi restaurants sorted by proximity (and provide more information on each). It can do a lot more and you don’t. have. to. speak. slow—ly. and. careful—ly. like you did for earlier voice-activated interfaces.

Just in case you aren’t certain, This (Siri) Is Big.

Steve Jobs and the Mac made us aware of how fonts and type affect what we read

It’s like going from a manual typewriter to a wordprocessor big. Or like going from hand-copied books to the printing press big. It’s game-changer, life-changer, society-changer big. It’s 1984 all over again. Trust me on this. In a society where less than 2% of the population has ever entered a bookstore, this is going to make epubs eventually seem like the invention of White-Out or the auto-correcting Selectric typewriter. Apple really doesn’t care if Microsoft Windows copies touch-screen technology or Amazon creates a Kindle iPad. The folks over at Joy of Tech got it right — Apple has developed “fusion.”

Tuesday night I started reading the book (in hardcover) Just My Type by Simon Garfield. It’s a book about fonts and their impact on what and how we read. The introduction begins with an excerpt from Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 where he discusses how he came to take calligraphy classes and the lasting impact of what most considered a useless liberal arts waste of time and money had on him and his business decisions throughout his life not the least of which was the decision to introduce the MacIntosh computer with a selection of carefully crafted, for their day, set of font choices. The book later discusses how the MacIntosh introduced the world to the concept of fonts and font selection, to the idea that how the words looked affected the tone and perception of the message often as much as the words.

Which is one of the reasons I find it ironic that Apple restricts font selection on its epubs.

So I went to sleep with my head swimming with the implications of Siri and a greater respect for yet another way in which Steve Jobs dedication to fine design and detail radically affected my life.

The morning, I awoke to the news that Steve Jobs had died. I wasn’t especially surprised. We all knew he was dying and after a half a year spent dealing with a family members pancreatitis, I knew a great deal more than I ever wanted about the pancreas and pancreatic cancer.

What struck me was the irony of his death the day after the introduction of the Siri interface and the eeriness of my having read about his contribution to text and type and visual literacy just the night before. Obviously, Mr. Jobs knew about Siri and I’m certain he knew of its implications to future of reading and writing and the communication of stories and information.

May Steve Jobs rest in peace. His legacy will live on.

In the near future, because of oral interfaces, the stories that live on will be the ones that sound good with words chosen for their cadence, well-defined characters with distinctive voices and plots that make us ask “What happens next?” These are the stories that live on now, in printed text, that we read again and again and pass along to our children whether it’s Winnie the Pooh or Pride and Prejudice. 

Next week (Oct. 14-16) my town is host to the Forest Storytelling Festival. Each year the storytelling festival holds workshops in the not-quite-extinct art of telling stories: folks tales, new tales, native peoples stories and all the other oral storytelling traditions. There is always some sort of workshop focused on cadence or rhythm. In the past I’ve only caught a few of the public performances, but this year I may just have to register for the whole weekend and brush up on my oral storytelling skills.

A friend of mine who writes urban fantasy novels turned me on to Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat!®  The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need and his technique of developing story plots. I was skeptical at first since I’d gone through a screenwriting phase a few years back and thought I’d [...]]]>

Blake Snyder's Cat series makes it easy to visualize your plot

A friend of mine who writes urban fantasy novels turned me on to Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat!®  The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need and his technique of developing story plots. I was skeptical at first since I’d gone through a screenwriting phase a few years back and thought I’d pretty much read and discovered everything there was to developing plot as if writing a screenplay, but I picked up some new techniques and ideas from Mr. Snyder. I’ve added a quick summary worksheet below that you can download to get a feel for the technique.

Starting in the 1980′s the the logline of a script became critical. Used for both pitching a manuscript and selling the movie, the logline is a single line description of the story and an extended or enhanced logline is a 1-2 sentence description of the story with all the critical elements included.  The goal was to creating something that could sell your script in the length of time it took to ride an elevator. By the end of the 80′s, novelists used the them to pitch their manuscripts as well.

Snyder’s basic logline template is composed of the hero (with a descriptive adjective), the antagonist (also with a descriptive adjective) and the hero’s compelling, ironic primal goal written to spark images of possibilities. For example, Die Hard’s logline would be: A bullheaded cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife when her office is taken over by terrorists. The enhanced logline would something like: On the brink of a divorce, a bullheaded, street-wise, New York cop is trapped in his wife’s office building by terrorists and teams up with an L.A. “desk cop” to stop them; but when his taunts of the terrorists risks exposing his hostage wife’s identity, he must learn to adapt and change to outsmart the lead terrorist and prevent the true goal of a billion-dollar heist.

The enhances or extended logline contains all the key story elements. In his Save the Cat!® series, Blake Snyder identifies these as:

At a Stasis=Death moment (if things don’t change, something will end or die), a flawed Protagonist (the flaw proving an obstacle to the resolution) has a Catalyst (something that happens to change the situation) and Breaks into Act Two with the B Story (the subplot or underlying foundation of the situation); however, when the Midpoint (pivotal event or crisis) happens, the protagonist MUST learn the Theme Stated (whatever is the underlying theme of the story) before All is Lost (the antagonist wins) to the flawed Antagonist (the flaw being the cause of the antagonist’s defeat).

Being a screenwriter, Blake Snyder thinks in images and he breaks things down that way starting with the Opening Image and ending his story plot development board with the Final Image. He also provides a series of questions to help us develop and revise our characters and plots. For my novelist friend, who is considerably younger than I am and grew up in the much more visual world of anime, manga and video, the Save the Cat!® approach was much clearer than the Traditional Fiction Writing Story Arc or even John Truby’s 22 Building Blocks approach.

I found his second book in the Save the Cat!®  series, where Snyder does a break down of several well-known and successful movies, so useful in actually seeing his technique in action I purchased the third book in the series (which offers additional tips to avoid common problems and pitfalls). Blake Snyder has also produced a software program for screenwriting that helps you develop your loglines and storyboard your plot with the ability to create and shuffle the necessary scenes for your manuscript.

A Plot Development Storyboard Worksheet for You

Since I don’t do screenwriting any more, I decided to make another worksheet that I could use with my manuscripts to remind me of Snyder’s key concepts. You can download it here:

Blake Snyder Storyboard Concepts Worksheet

Be sure to check out Blake Snyder’s website to download his various worksheets, tip sheets and tools for things like his 15 story beats, writing comedy and writing horror. You can also get a schedule of his upcoming classes and workshops which includes not only his Screenwriting Beat Sheet Workshop but his Novel Writing Beat Sheet Workshop. All of which are far better than using my Cliff Note’s worksheet.

Doris Booth has been an agent for over 13 years. She actively follows the changes [...]]]> Doris Booth, founder and agent with the Authorlink Literary Group and Authorlink.com, presented a workshop at the DFW Writers Conference, May 2, 2009 entitled:

Navigating the Changing Book Industry

— an insider’s view of what writers should know

Doris Booth has been an agent for over 13 years. She actively follows the changes occurring in the publishing industry as new technology and marketing methods change the traditional business model. Below are my highlights from her presentation (with occasional editorial comment). It is by no means a transcript of the presentation. I tried to capture the most salient points she made and those that I thought of interest to other writers. I will say I went expecting little and left enormously impressed by Booth’s savvy understanding of the significant shifts taking place in the industry and the impact on authors.

Today’s Publishing Trends

• Lower or no advances. Few writers are making a living from it (I believe she meant novel and non-fiction book writing).
• Contracts now include all digital rights
• Look for publisher/author partnerships with 50/50 deals on profits
• Ebook royalties are now 25% of net, resulting in payments to authers the same as 6-8% of hardcover
• Few titles are being published by fewer publishers in the traditional model, thus increasing competition in the traditional publishing market

Booth sees opportunities in the “Net Cloud” as she calls it. She wasn’t certain of where and how these opportunities will come but was certain that the shift is toward the internet. She pointed out that Barnes & Noble has bought Fictionwise (an ebook publisher and distributor). She also noted that Amazon, Google and Barnes & Noble are duking it out for dominance.

[editorial note: Booth seemed to think Google was trying to get into book publishing. Google has always stated that their purpose was to make knowledge and information readily available with a simple search and their business model has consistenly been advertising revenues. I believe Booth is seeing Google as the bogey man when the real threat to authors is Amazon with is rapidly moving to a complete vertical integration of book production and distribution. But more on that when I report on Maya Reynold's excellent workshop.]

Booth noted the rise of well-run, digital small presses like Kunati and Rosetta Books.

Booth believes authors should want an agent with broader perspectives; that agents are going to become managers and you should want an agent who looks at the full picture, to go beyond just pitching a manuscript to a traditional publisher.

Booth believes that “the cream is going to rise to the top.”

Booth Recommends Writers Wanting to Sell a Manuscript Should:

• write energetic titles with broad appeal and ask ‘How can I appeal to young people?’ (keeping in mind the growth of the 18-24 year old market)
• think in terms of a niche markets
  [editorial note: Booth understand the basic concept of the niche or Long Tail market. She is unfamiliar with fan fiction and the entire fan culture with its long tradition of word-of-mouth networking]
• mostly speak to today’s issues
• write in short snippets
  Booth noted that James Patterson is now doing this as his model
• think in self-contained scenes and chapters
• ask yourself ‘how likable is your subject matter?’

Book Marketing Trends Today

• Frequent updating, even in some fiction
• Competitive pricing and positioning
  Google average is $4.99 for ebooks
• Maintain excellent writing and production values
• Compel the reader to immerse him or herself in your story and world
• Know your audience in-depth

Book Publishers Today

Traditional publishers have redefined themselves; the book is merely the core of the packaging. New models are being tried. Corporates sponsors and product placement is growing. Ford sponsored a series of micro-thrillers last year. [editorial note: it's like corporate sponsors for early TV shows].

The primary issues for authors are finding the audience and distribution. Authors need to be cognizant of their market. Do you want to use the internet as marketing tool, publishing tool or combination of both? Authors must have a marketing plan.

Ask yourself what can you offer for free to get to selling a product! [editorial note: this is the question of current marketing no matter what the product] What can you give away to engage your audience? Several thriller authors offer snippets, others are looking at related short stories.

Authors Must Build An Audience

Locate and engage your audience. Engage your audience in thoughtful conversation. Get positive votes for your work through social media. You need lots of eyeballs reading your work. The size of a potential audience will interest and agent or publisher. [editorial note: Later I'll write a report on a session where a young man explained how he got a book contract before he had even completed the manuscript, let alone submitted it, due to the number of Twitter followers he acquired in a 9 month period] Authors need to network, share and connect to build a platform for those eyeballs. You must be known for something (to be successful). [editorial note: I discuss this a lot in my entrepreneur and small business presentations. It is called "establishing authority" and doesn't have to be traditional authority. Jennifer Crusie has established authority as a screwball romantic comedy writer. I'm planning to move my writing site to a new home and focus on marketing for writers. Keep an eye out for the announcement later this summer.]

Collaborate with other writers. For example, participating in the Creative Writers Network. [editorial note: For those in the Seattle area, check out Hugo House and no matter where you are, there's a NaNoWriMo group nearby] Authorlink is a membership site where authors share information and support. Authorlink has an average 40,000 unique visitors per month with guest interviews such as Christopher Moore.

Promote your listing and track your work and web presence in news stories with PR and news sites like Yahoo! News and PRWire ($195/year membership fee).

Compartmentalize and schedule time for social media marketing and other online marketing.

Look at Storyplace and Amazon’s Kindle to see the future — downloadable and accessible. Check out eBookmall which allows non-traditionally published writers to publish and take a commission. [editorial note: Booth apparently didn't know about e-junkie which has done the same thing for years and is very popular with non-fiction ebook authors. e-junkie also offers affiliate sales and programs which is a great way for authors to get their fans to help promote them.]

Google, btw, reads and indexes Booksurge (print-on-demand publishers now owned by Amazon) and Createspace (also now owned by Amazon; anyone starting to see the problem here?) will handle distribution of creative work. Other self-publishing options include lulu, Rodale and Chronicle Books. Production quality is key in self-publishing. The end product needs to look good and professional.

Booth recommends working on-screena and getting very comfortable communicating via the net, particularly with smartphones. She anticipates writers will need to start working online, including using online software for writing.

I was very impressed by Doris Booth, both her knoweldge of the industry and her awareness of the changing environment for writers. I was somewhat concerned that the majority of the audience was older and definitely resistant to change.

Ms. MacDonald refers to these [...]]]> The essential elements of a marketable novel author Janice MacDonald teaches in her writing course are:

• Hook
• Sense of place
• Interesting characters
• Compelling dialogue (she’s English)
• Strong storyline (one with a logical pattern)
• Appropriate pacing
• Distinctive voice
• Particular point of view
• Slowly revealed secret or answer (the presentation of information)

Ms. MacDonald refers to these as the “Furnishings.” She’s speaking of the traditional novel or genre novel. If you’re looking to be the next James Joyce, then I’m afraid your on your own. I guess because I’m a frustrated interior designer and rarely leave furniture in one spot for more than a year, I visualizing the elements of selling fiction as furnishings for the structure that’s my novel. It somehow makes them less intimidating.

Defining the Fiction Writing Furnishings

The Hook or Theme of the Novel

To quote Ms. MacDonald, “The hook is what gives readers clues as to what the story is about, whose story it is…” Is this a journey of profound universal human need, such as love or fear of loneliness? What happened? The theme is the duct tape holding all the elements together into a cohesive human story. Ideally, the theme is a universal one appealing to a wide readership. There’s often a secret or question to be revealed and a puzzle or dilemma to be solved.

There needs to be a rational progression and development; one event must lead to the next with an ever-increasing sense of urgency or tension. Overall, the story structure must lead to an overall theme or objective in which, in the end, the total picture is revealed (but not all in the last few pages and pulled out of a hat like a magician’s rabbit). For the conclusion to satisfy, it needs to be consistent with the reader’s expectations.

And finally, the story must match the intended audience and genre.

Sense of Place

The atmosphere and location must match the mood and genre of the novel. In some situations, the place is almost a character in the story. For example, the isolated hotel in The Shining or the Thames in Three Men in a Boat. But the story needs to be anchored in a location that feels real to the reader.

Characters

It’s the characters responses to an event that drives the plot and the conflict, not the other way around. It should feel the same as real life. Something happens and we do something in response to whatever happens which causes something else to happen.

For example, Sam wakes up late because the alarm didn’t go off which makes him angry (which tells something about Sam’s character — he’s angry, not fearful or accepting). His response is to slam things including the medicine cabinet door which causes the glass to break and cut his foot. His response doesn’t change, he becomes angrier and more reckless in his haste to get to work which leads to his rear-ending an unmarked police car and so and so on. If Sam were to wake up late because the alarm didn’t go off and take a deep breath, repeat a relaxation mantra for a count of ten and then call his office to let them know he’s on his way, we see him as a completely different character.

Characterization is the result of what a character thinks, feels, says and most importantly does.

Characterization is also presented by what others think, feel or say about another character.

Every major character should have a past, or backstory, that has shaped him/her into the person he/she is — however, while you need to know the characters complete backstory, you don’t need to tell your reader everything. The reader only needs to know the backstory that directly relates to the present storyline.

The best plot conflicts come from specific, opposing, internal facets of two well-drawn characters that put them in conflict, often a difference in values or beliefs, instead of artificial plot constructs that force the protagonist and antagonist to take opposing sides.

Readers care about well-developed characters with whom they relate or find compelling. A large goal or life-threatening circumstance does not guarantee reader interest.

Know the goals of your characters, especially your protagonist and antagonist. What are the specific, concrete situation or object do they each need? What events and actions are keeping them from getting to their goal? They must be willing to sacrifice, possibly everything, to reach their goals. Unfortunately, there goals will appear to them to be mutually exclusive.

Plot tension is created as struggle between the protagonist and the antagonist (which could even be something like the weather as in The Perfect Storm) increases in stakes and consequences with each choice made and action taken by the protagonist that’s met by the antagonist. Eventually, the conflict reaches a breaking point or climax.

Plot your story so that at each major turning point, where the protagonist makes a critical decision or choice, something happens to raise the stakes, giving your primary characters more to lose, even when they appear to win.

The protagonist goal should be sympathetic and convincing enough to create a desire on the reader’s part to see the protagonist achieve his/her goal.

Tips on Compelling Dialog

In a 2 character scene, it’s unnecessary to attribute every line of dialog to identify the speaker. Indicate the speaker every 6 plus lines and do so sometimes by a characters action during the conversation.

Keep in mind Elmore Leonard’s Rule #3 in his 10 Rules for Writing: “Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.”As Leonard explains, “The line of dialog belongs to the character. The verb is the writing sticking his nose in.”

And Rule #3 is immediately followed by Rule #4: “Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said,’ he admonished, gravely. To use an adverb in this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.”

While I’m not quite as adamant as Mr. Leonard about the adverb, I’ll point out that using an adverb to modify an attribute is telling the reader the characterization instead of showing it. It’s lazy writing. Ideally, the dialog itself or the character’s actions should convey the underlying emotional intent.

Use too little dialog and the story loses its immediacy. Dark, grey pages of long paragraphs indicate your doing more telling than showing, more talk than action.

Use too much dialog and the story may lose its connection for the reader. It’s like listening to a movie without the images to clarify place, tone and character nuance (you need those Cary Grant double-takes or the scenes aren’t that funny). And in print, you don’t even have the soundtrack to help you figure out the emotional tone of a scene!

Try to make each character sound different. Use dialog to develop & distinguish characters. Word choice and sentence length convey character. “Who ya want?” and “To whom do you wish to speak?” create completely different images in our imaginations.

Good dialog should sound natural (for the character).

Avoid excessive dialect, stereotypes, heavy accents. And uh, like, uhm, this, like, includes uhm, interjections, you know? Think of them as seasons in the kitchen — just a dash is enough.

Read your dialog aloud. You may even want to record it and listen to it. Does it sound natural? Does each character have their own voice?

Strong storyline (one with a logical pattern)

The plot is basically a series of incidents, resulting from the characters’ responses to an event in their efforts to achieve a desire or goal, that enable your characters to work through the challenges they face.

Each scene needs a purpose that propels both the internal and external story.

Janice MacDonald’s suggested techniques for developing your storyline:

• Storyboarding — escalating tension moving towards turning points. (Check out my free storyboard templates in PDF format in the post Fiction Writing Plot Development)
• Break the story into scenes. One formula is: a 100,000 word book = 20 chapters at about 5,000 words per chapter divided into 3 scenes per chapter.
• Create a list of twenty ideas for scenes and plot developments. The first 3-4 come easily and the next 5-6 may spur ideas for other scenes.
• Try brainstorming.
• Ask why?
• Ask what if?
• Create a storyline (story arc)
• Write a synopis which becomes your selling tool as well as your working guideline.

Appropriate pacing

The pace of the scene should match the action and purpose of the scene. Longer, compound, complex sentences create a slower pace. Short, simple sentences are snappy and quick. Narrative description usually slows the pace. Dialog usually quickens it. When things are moving slower, paragraphs and sentences can be longer. When things are happening quickly, there should be a lot of white space on the page because of short, sharp paragraphs or dialog.

The book itself should have an overall pace (part of its voice) but contain a mix of faster and slower scenes.

Distinctive voice

Write using an appropriate yet unique voice for the narrative. What do we hate most about majority of text books (aside from being forced to read them and then tested on what we read)? Why do we find them so boring? Because they don’t have a distinctive voice. They’re all written in that bland, generic, corporate voice. It’s why so many of us fall asleep reading them. It’s like listen to someone drone on and on in a monotone.

In her book, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.), Francine Prose discusses the problem of voice with this recommendation:

…the question of voice and of who is telling the story (should the narrator be first or third person, close or omniscient?) when in fact the truly problematic question is: Who is listening? On what occasion is the the story being told, and why?

• If you’re having trouble finding your distinctive voice for a story, try telling it to someone else (my cat is a good listener).
• Or try writing it as it were telling it in a letter (e-mail) to your best friend.
• Another technique for finding your voice is to write a rough draft or synopsis in first person. It will often let you see the natural tone of the story.

Be sure that the voice uses the right tone for the story. Imagine Titanic filled with pratfalls and site gags. Now try to imagine Elmore Leonard writing War and Peace or Tolstoy writing Get Shorty. Just reading a few chapters of each of those will give you a could understanding of a distinctive voice!

Particular point of view

James N. Frey , author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling (How to Write a Damn Good Novel) (an excellent book with a wonderful chapter on viewpoints) defines as

where the narrator stands in relation to the characters: as an unseen eyewitness acting as objective reporter; as a sort of divine know-it-all, able to read the thoughts and feelings of the characters; or as another character in the story.

A single view point is easiest to handle, but multiple points of view can build tension and suspense. If using multiple viewpoints, its best to keep a single view point throughout the scene.

Frey also states:

To select the proper viewpoint, ask yourself not “what viewpoint?” but rather, “who can tell this story the best? the viewpoint you choose reflects the narrative voice and it is the narrative voice and not the viewpoint per se that is crucial.”

Slowly revealed the secret or answer (the presentation of information)

Basically, this means critical information about the character or to the plot should be doled out in small portions. Huge chunks of undigestible information and background choke your storyline dead.

If you’ve ever read a story and found yourself saying, “Of course! I remember someone mentioning that way back in the beginning of the story.” then the author slipped the critical information in correctly. On the other hand, if you’ve found yourself at the end of novel ranting, “Wait a minute. Where did this come from? No one’s mentioned anything about this before!”, the author dropped the ball.

One the masters of slipping all the critical information painless to the reader is fantasy satirist Terry Prachett (Terry Pratchett’s titles). (He’s also a master of distinctive voice and multiple viewpoints.) In his title, Men at Arms, Pratchett has a poignant scene where one of his protagonist, Vimes, returns to his old neighborhood to gather evidence from a home where an old woman and a baby have died. His remembrances of his childhood and his game of hopscotch appear to be nothing more than a bit of narrative description and characterization leading up to the coffins of the dead being carried to burial. But, in fact, Pratchett uses this small scene to show us Vimes underlying character and motivation, innocuously explore a very deep theme, provide motivation for Vimes next move — and slip in the critical piece of information needed for the climax. And he still manages to include some humor. Not bad for what appears to be a small break scene.

While taking a workshop with author Janice MacDonald on developing a traditional fiction story plot (the kind with a beginning, middle and end), I decided to modify one of the templates that came with my Pages program into a set of worksheets. These worksheets can help you outline your fiction plot and [...]]]>

While taking a workshop with author Janice MacDonald on developing a traditional fiction story plot (the kind with a beginning, middle and end), I decided to modify one of the templates that came with my Pages program into a set of worksheets. These worksheets can help you outline your fiction plot and determine the story structure. I’m also a big fan of John Truby’s 22 Building Blocks structure to plot development and try to integrate his screenplay plot development into my fiction writing.

Check out More Tips & Tools from Creative Writing classes!

The first two are blank worksheets. You can copy them, fill them in, cut them up, move things around. Use them as you wish. There’s a place at the top for the name of novel or chapter and for defining the genre and the characters involve or whatever works for you. You may want to read some of the other posts on various ways to approach plot and motivation. You can then work with the blank storyboards in developing the internal and external events.

Novel Storyboard Worksheet PDF
Chapter Storyboard Worksheet PDF
The thirds worksheet is my own creation from the various things I’ve learned about the traditional story structure. I want to give a big thanks to Janice MacDonald who clarified a create deal with her own plot grid. It’s the basis for my small variations.

Fiction Writing Plot Development Storyboard

While the storyboard is designed for the typical 20-chapter genre novel, simply expand the number of chapters between the Plot Points and the Crisis to meet your needs. The last page of the storyboard contains with a basic summary of a traditional novel plot structure as well as 10 Question For Developing Your Plot which help you determine the internal motivation and well as the strongest conflicts confronting your primary character or protagonists. (Actually, if you can answer these questions for your secondary characters, you have an even stronger plot.)

I recently came across a new book on fiction writing and plot development that seemed to be speaking to me and the 4 unfinished novels cluttering up my hard drive at the moment. It gives you specific tasks and psychological techniques to get past key problems that stop your story structure, block your plot points and flatten your story arc as well as all those negative thoughts that creep in. I’ve taken to writing post-it notes with quotes from the book and pasting them on my monitor, fridge, mirrors and so on.

For more details about using the Fiction Writing Plot Development Storyboard check out
Traditional Fiction Writing Story Arc
in the category Writing How-To, Fiction Writing.