Jessica Brody's Blog, page 6

July 30, 2020

Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis of Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” Video

Taylor Swift’s new album, folklore, is here and critics are already calling it her “storytelling album”. That seems to fit given that her first released video from the album, “Cardigan,” follows ALL of the key story beats!

I realize there’s about a zillion analyses and lyric interpretations floating around out there, as Swifties everywhere attempt to decode all the secret meanings and uncover all the hidden easter eggs. I’ll leave that to the experts. Instead, I thought I’d throw my interpretation into the mix, from the point of view of a fan and a fellow storyteller.

In this post, I break down the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet for the music video for “Cardigan.” If you’re unfamiliar with the Save the Cat! Plotting method, check out my book, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel or my Save the Cat! Online Novel Writing Course.

If you haven’t seen the video for Cardigan yet, be sure to watch it below before reading the post! Or feel free to watch it beat by beat along with my breakdown!

As with all of my Save the Cat! Beat Sheets, this is only my personal interpretation of the story, analysed for educational purposes.

Opening Image (0:00 – 0:10)

A set of old, broken piano keys, which we will soon discover has the ability to transport our hero (Taylor) and ourselves into the past to revisit and relive things that have been broken.

Set-up (0:11 – 0:34)

Pull back to reveal that we’re in a very interesting setting: a small house or cabin that looks cozy but definitely old and perhaps abandoned or neglected. Taylor is singing at the piano, conjuring up vivid images of things from the past, like “vintage tees” and “high heels on cobblestones,” “sequin smiles” and “sensual politics.”

Her voice and her word choice and everything about this scene, down to the warm fire and her comfy nightgown, evoke a feeling of coziness and nostalgia, thus bringing us to the hero’s flaw: An inability to let go of what could have been, which leads to a tendency to romanticize about the past, instead of seeing it for what it really was. This is perfectly summed up later in the story, when she sings, “I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs.”

Here is a hero who can’t move on and keeps returning to the past (represented by this cozy cabin with its dilapidated piano).

Theme Stated (0:17)

Right in the first verse, Taylor sings the theme of the story (the first of several times): “When you are young, they assume you know nothing.”

This video is a story about growing up and gaining perspective on the past (in particular, a past relationship), something that’s almost impossible to do when you’re in it. When you’re “young” and :”know nothing.” Even as she negates the line, repeating “But I knew you…” we still come to realize that her view of the relationship (i.e. what she thought she “knew”) was skewed.

When the video starts, the hero is still stuck in that past, clinging to her romanticized memory of the relationship, but through her journey, she will eventually come to have perspective on it, something only time and growing up can give you.

Catalyst/Debate (0:35 – 0:40)

The story reaches its first turning point as Taylor opens the lid of the piano to find a magical golden glow inside. This is another nod to looking at the past through a golden, romanticized lens.

But what is this magic glow? And what will she do about it? This immediately becomes the Debate question.

Break into Act 2 (0:41-0:53)

Duh! She’s going to climb into the piano to chase the glow. Because as any good storyteller knows, that’s what heroes do: they chase the wrong thing. They first “fix things the wrong way” (as I explain in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel). And right now, as we launch into Act 2 of the story, our hero is still flawed, still chasing that romanticized version of the past, right through the magic portal in her piano.

Fun and Games (0:54 – 2:09)

Taylor emerges in a whole new world (the upside down world of Act 2). It’s quite different from the cozy, warm cottage we just left. Now we’re in a magical, enchanted forest where moss has grown over everything, including the piano (another nod to the passage of time). There’s even a waterfall flowing out of the piano. If this is not a magical nostalgic view of the past, I don’t know what it is.

Here, Taylor continues to play and sing, reminiscing even more about this past relationship. Lyrics like “Playing hide and seek and giving me your weekends…your heartbeat on the High Line, once in twenty lifetimes,” give us a feeling of excitement and possibility. While the title lyric–”And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite”–gives us a sense that this relationship seemingly “saved” our hero from feeling lost and lonely. She relied on this other person to make her feel worthy.

We feel like we’re on an upward path here. Following that golden glow into this romanticized version of the past feels magical and wondrous. We’re back in the excitement and sentimentality of the relationship. This seems to be what our hero is feeling too as she smiles whimsically and gazes around the forest with an almost sublime expression while beautiful golden light streams from the sky above her. We also get a glorious wide shot of Taylor at her piano, which is perched (a bit precariously) on the edge of a cliff, as the piano waterfall cascades over the side.

Is that cliff a hint of things to come? Of how dangerous romanticizing the past can be? Waterfalls are beautiful and magical…until you follow them down to the sea below. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

B Story

The piano is the only other “character” in this story and it does a fantastic job of representing the theme, serving as Taylor’s guide throughout the entire story. The magic of the piano (and her music) transports her to fantastical worlds and stormy seas, before finally bringing her back home and to the truth she needs to learn.

Midpoint (2:09 – 2:21)

False Victory. Right at the middle of the video, things seem to be going well for Taylor, our hero. This feels like the right place to be, led into the past by a tempting, golden glow, surrounded by enchantment, wonder, and dreamy memories.

But then, comes a twist. Taylor sings, “You drew stars around my scars,” another reference to this past relationship “saving” her. But this one is quickly followed by a darker turn. “But now I’m bleeding.”

The stakes are raised as we start to wonder if perhaps this relationship wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.

Of course, it wasn’t. Because this is only the Midpoint. The story is not over. She can’t stay in this picture-perfect snapshot forever. The golden glow is back. Now it’s coming out of her piano bench. Where will it take her next?

Bad Guys Close In (2:22 – 2:44)

Taylor emerges in a dark and stormy sea, desperately treading water and trying to stay afloat. She searches for help, casting her gaze from left to right, but it appears she’s all alone out here.

These seas represent the “bad guys” of the story, and they’re literally closing in.

On the one hand, the sea symbolizes the stormy nature of the relationship she’s been reminiscing about. The truth is starting to come back: it wasn’t as magical and wondrous as she’s been remembering. We get hints of loss and leaving from the lyrics, “Tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy” (a nod to Peter Pan whose theme is also about growing up.) And “leaving like a father, running like water.”

On the other hand, the sea also symbolizes her own “internal bad guys”. Remember that flaw that was identified way back in the Set Up–an inability to let go and a tendency to over-romanticize the past? Now it’s catching up with her, as flaws often do, especially when we ignore them and try to “fix things the wrong way” (as our hero did earlier.) And now, if she doesn’t fix things the right way (i.e. fix herself), she will literally drown.

Taylor catches sight of a piano floating nearby. She swims to it and clings on. This is a hint that music can save us from our internal bad guys and inner demons, but she’ll have to figure out how. Until then, all she can do is cling to the keys while the storm continues to rage around her, seemingly growing worse.

All Is Lost/Dark Night of the Soul (2:45 – 3:16)

Taylor rests her head against the piano keys like she’s giving up, succumbing to the sea.

As the camera zooms out to reveal miles and miles of empty ocean, we get a sense of loss and a “whiff of death” or ultimate defeat. She’s utterly alone out there, no one to help her but herself. In her lowest moment, she repeats the theme, “when you are young, they assume you know nothing.”

Will she finally gain the perspective she needs to pull herself out of this storm? Will she finally “grow up” and come out of this transformed? We shall see.

Meanwhile, as lightning strikes ominously nearby and the sea thrashes against the side of her piano, the lyrics match this low beat by hitting a low point of their own:

I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss

I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs

The smell of smoke would hang around this long

‘Cause I knew everything when I was young

I knew I’d curse you for the longest time

Chasing shadows in the grocery line

All hope definitely seems lost now. But then…

Break into Act 3 (3:16 – 3:24)

The magic golden glow is back. It’s coming from within the piano again. Desperately, Taylor lifts the lid and climbs in.

Finale (3:24 – 3:55)

But not to escape into a romanticized version of the past. She’s now back in the cabin, which as we established earlier, does represent the past, yes, but it’s different now because Taylor is a different version of herself.

As is the case with so many stories, it’s not the world around the hero that changes, but the hero themselves, which is represented in this story by a return to the same house. The same past, just with a different perspective.

She shivers from the water, shaking off the final remnants of her old self and her old flaws. She finds a cardigan next to her on the piano bench. This is an obvious reference to the previous line in the song, “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.” But she no longer needs this past relationship to make her feel worthy. She can do that herself. Which is why she now puts on the cardigan, wrapping her arms around herself to stay warm.

The past will always be the past. She can’t erase that. The cabin will always be there with its lowlights and broken piano keys. The relationship she lost will always be part of her history. It’s just a matter of how she looks at it.

Which is why when we cut to…

Final Image (3:56 – 4:01)

Taylor is no longer looking at the old piano with its broken keys. No longer looking for an escape into a mystical version of the past she thinks she can find again. In a mirror to the Opening Image, she’s now facing the opposite way on the piano bench, looking determinedly into the camera. Into the future.

This journey has taken her into the depths of her subconscious and her past. She explored both the romance and the pain of it, the enchantment and the storm, until finally she found the strength to break herself free from its siren call.

The piano (and her music), as she discovered, is magic. It has the ability to transport her to both fantasy realms and stormy nightmares. But most of all, it has the ability to save her, by giving her the perspective that one can only get from time, and by looking back on the past, not with romantic notions, but with the goal of becoming a better version of yourself because of it.

And isn’t that exactly what Taylor uses her music to do? Isn’t that what music should do?

Check out my beat sheet for Taylor Swift’s Begin Again!

Want to learn more about the Save the Cat! storytelling method, check out my Save the Cat! Online Course!

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis of Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” Video appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

2 likes · Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on July 30, 2020 15:40

July 14, 2020

Four Catalyst Quick Fixes for Save the Cat!

So, here’s the problem: If you’ve read Save the Cat! Writes a Novel or taken my Save the Cat! Novel Writing Online Course, you know that the Catalyst (literally defined as the moment your story finally gets “going”) doesn’t come until 10% of the way in. So, mathematically speaking, if you have a story that’s 400 pages long that’s 40 pages of…what? Boring status quo Set Up where nothing happens? Let’s hope not!

Or what if you’re writing a story for younger readers who have shorter attention spans and you want to get the plot moving sooner? Even as soon as, say, Page 1? (This is the case in Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo where the Catalyst–the meeting of Winn Dixie–literally comes in the first chapter as is alluded to in the first sentence!)

Whatever the case may be, there are definitely story scenarios that warrant something big to happen sooner than the 10% mark.

So what do you do? Well, the way I see it, you have a few options. And that’s what this Writing Mastery Tip is all about.

Introducing my four Catalyst Quick Fixes! These are all strategies that you can use to pull the reader into your story faster and ensure they don’t give up before you even get to Act 2!

Catalyst Quick Fix #1: The Cryptic Allusion

You can cryptically allude to the Catalyst earlier in the story, like perhaps in a Prologue. In other words, you reference a “big event” that’s going to completely change the hero’s world, but don’t actually spell out what it is until the actual event arrives. You might give them hints like, “Before the phone call came, I was a different person…” or “I’ll never forget the night the man in the trench coat knocked on my door and handed me the key.”

The “pull” of this tactic is the reader’s desire to find out what this “big event” is that you’ve alluded to and try to guess what it is, in reference to the rest of the Set Up, before you actually reveal the answer.

Take a look at the first chapter of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini as a great example. I also employed this tactic in the small half-page prologue of The Geography of Lost Things, which starts with the line, “By the time the messenger arrived at our front door, Jackson had already been dead two weeks.” What did the messenger bring? Who is Jackson? Well, the Catalyst will soon reveal all, but before that, I narrate all the events that happened before the messenger arrives, which ultimately serves as my Set Up beat.

Catalyst Quick Fix #2: The Flash Forward

You can start the story with the Catalyst. I.e. drop it on the reader like a teaser (rhyme unintentional) and then back up in time and tell the story leading up to it. Usually, in this scenario, you give the reader more information and a better idea of what the Catalyst is (as opposed to Quick Fix #1, when you only cryptically allude to it), but you leave out key bits of information (like how the Catalyst came to be, or how it ultimately turns out.)

The “pull” of this tactic is the withholding of those key bits of information. You’ve piqued the reader’s interest with a semi-complete picture of this future event, and now they want to find out exactly how it plays out.

Check out Ready Player One by Ernest Cline to see this strategy in action. I also do this in my book, Unforgotten (the sequel to Unremembered), which starts with my hero burning at the stake. Why? And how does she get out of it? Well, that comes later.

Catalyst Quick Fix #3: The Hint Dropper

Dropping subtle hints about an upcoming Catalyst is another effective way to keep your reader engaged until the actual Catalyst arrives. These should be hints that the reader notices but the hero doesn’t. Or if they do, they ignore them.

I employed this tactic in my young adult novel In Some Other Life, which actually has a very late Catalyst. It doesn’t come until page 48 of a 450-page novel. In this story, the Catalyst is when Kennedy walks in on her boyfriend, Austin, kissing her best friend, Laney, (and then discovers they’ve actually been cheating on her for a while). It’s a huge shock to her, but savvy readers, I’m sure, are able to pick up on the clues I dropped. Like the fact that Austin has way more in common with Laney than Kennedy does. Or the fact that both Austin and Laney went to the same coffee shop that morning, but claim to not have seen each other. Or the moment when Kennedy suggests that Laney and Austin watch a TV show together while she’s at an event with her parents, Laney protests just a tad too much. The idea is that readers will start to theorize about the Catalyst to come and keep reading to see if they were right.

Remember readers love to play detective. They love to pick up on subtle clues that the writer leaves them. It’s a little game that readers and writers play together, each trying to outsmart the other. The writer leaves the clue, wondering if the reader will catch it. The reader picks up a clue, wondering if the writer expected them to find it. Talk about reader engagement!

Catalyst Quick Fix #4: The Double Bump

And finally, my favorite tactic to solve all your Catalyst troubles. It’s called the Double Bump. This is when you effectively have two (or more than two!) Catalysts, each serving to move the hero a bit closer to Act 2.

With this strategy, there’s usually a very early Catalyst that kicks the story into action (as soon as page 1), and then another Catalyst (which happens closer to the 10% mark) that kicks the hero into action.

Because I enjoy writing long, luxurious Set Ups, I end up employing this tactic a lot. Like in my novel 52 Reasons to Hate My Father. The Catalyst comes on page 38, when spoiled heiress Lexington Larrabee is told she won’t be receiving her trust fund of $25 million until she completes 52 low-wage weekly jobs. But because I feared readers might not be willing to read that far, I put in a mini Catalyst on the first page, where Lexington Larrabee has just crashed her $500,000 Mercedes convertible into a convenience store on Sunset Blvd. That’s the event that kicks off the story. And I use the aftermath of that to do all of my Set Up work (i.e. show how Lexi lives, how spoiled she is, who her friends are, how fraught her relationship with her father is, etc.) This, ultimately, is the event that inspires her father to make the decision about Lexi’s delayed trust fund, but it’s not the event that actually pushes Lexi to try something new and Break into 2. That will come later, in the form of a second Catalyst.

There’s also another version of the Double Bump: A Catalyst that happens at 10%, and then a second Catalyst that happens closer to the Break into 2. This variation of the Double Bump is used for particularly stubborn heroes who just refuse to take a hint and take action after the first Catalyst and therefore a second “bump” is needed to convince them to do something and finally cross that threshold into Act 2.

If you’re getting feedback from readers or agents or editors that your story is taking too long to “get into” or you, yourself, are feeling like your Set Up beat is a bit of a slog to read, chances are you’re in need of one of these Catalyst Quick Fixes.

Give one a try and see if it doesn’t infuse your story with the extra “bump” it needs.

Want to learn more? Check out my Save the Cat! Online Novel Writing Course

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post Four Catalyst Quick Fixes for Save the Cat! appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

3 likes · Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on July 14, 2020 18:34

May 30, 2020

TITLE REVEAL for System Divine Book 3!

THE TITLE OF BOOK 3 IS HERE!

If you’ve reached the end of Between Burning Worlds, you might be itching to find out what happens next (we did leave the planet in a bit of a lurch, didn’t we?)

Well, you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out.

BUT…in the meantime, we thought we’d give you, our beloved readers, the FIRST EVER sneak peek at the title for BOOK 3 (Coming 2021!)

And we think all of our fellow Les Mis fans out there are really going to love it.

Are you ready for it….

Are you SURE?

…..

KEEP SCROLLING!

….

OH, THE SUSPENSE!

…

….

ALMOST THERE!

…..

….

THIS IS MORE OF A CLIFFHANGER THAN THE END OF BOOK 2!

….

VOILA!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much significance! So many questions! So many possible metaphors!

We can’t tell you how excited we are about this book and we can’t wait to share it with you next year!

Don’t forget to join my reader newsletter to get exclusive sneak peeks of SUNS WILL RISE and my other books!

The post TITLE REVEAL for System Divine Book 3! appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on May 30, 2020 14:04

May 27, 2020

How Heroes Transform Across Series (Save the Cat! for Series)

If there’s one question I get more than any other when it comes to plotting (particularly using the Save the Cat! method), it’s this: But what about series?

So, I do talk a little bit about the “series beat sheet” in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, but clearly not enough because the questions keep coming! And they’re good questions! What about series? One day, in a dream world when I have all the free time and none of the deadlines, I would love to write Save the Cat! Writes a Series (and who knows, maybe that dream world will be a reality one day), but for now, let me add a little more insight to the topic here, via my newsletter.

I think the root of the question boils down to the main character, or hero. How do they continue to change and transform and arc through multiple books? If you’ve done your job well, then yes, your hero should have transformed in book 1. They should have learned an important lesson about life and conquered a debilitating flaw that’s been holding them back or causing problems in their life. After all, that’s why we write stories: to transform heroes (which by extension transforms our readers!. But what about book 2 and 3 and maybe even 4 or 5 if you’re super ambitious? What happens to the heroes there? Do they continue to arc and change?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is: well, it sort of depends.

So, the way I see it, you have a few options depending on the kind of series you’re writing and the kind of story you’re seeking to tell. Let’s take a look at a few of the more popular scenarios and how we might conquer the multi-book hero problem in each of them.

Scenario 1: You have a series with one main protagonist who continues to be the lead throughout all the books (i.e. the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.) In this scenario, you’re probably going to have a larger arc across the entire series which is then broken down into smaller arcs (or steps toward the larger arc). Look at Katniss and Harry. They both have larger arcs about accepting and fulfilling their destiny (Katniss to become the Mockingjay, Harry to become the “boy who lived” and defeat Voldemort for good.) And in each of the installments, we see them work toward that larger arc. In book 1, The Hunger Games, we see Katniss first learning how to defy the Capitol, in book 2, we see her learning how to take a bigger role against them, including dealing with President Snow, and in book 3, we see her resisting her role as the Mockingjay before finally embracing it for good.) And in each book, she has smaller flaws that she must conquer in service to her larger arc.

Scenario 2: You have a series with multiple protagonists and each book focuses more on one of these protagonists (i.e. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The System Divine series by myself and Joanne Rendell). In this scenario you’re probably going to have a larger arc for the “star hero” of each book and smaller arcs in each book for the other heroes. In The Lunar Chronicles, book 1 is all about Cinder, book 2 about Scarlet and so forth and those are the heroes that arc the most in their respective installments. But as Marissa Meyer continues to add heroes to her saga, the “stars” of the previous books do continue to have mini-arcs along the way. Cinder continues to fight demons, fears, and setbacks as she works toward her destiny. Cress continues to work on her confidence, and so forth. So by the time we get to the final installment of Winter, the hero, Winter, is having her big arc, while the rest of the characters are still dealing with their smaller arcs.

When Joanne and I wrote the second book in the System Divine series, Between Burning Worlds, we really struggled with this element. In book 1, Sky Without Stars, Chatine is the “star” hero among the three protagonists. So she arcs the most. She goes from selfish to selfless, eventually proving that she’s changed by sacrificing herself for a bigger cause. But then, what do we with her in book 2? We finally came up with a continuation of her book 1 arc, learning to accept the help of others and not always relying on herself. And now, as we plot book 3 (title to be announced soon!!!), we’ve come up with yet another continuation for Chatine: learning how to be a team player and allowing herself to be vulnerable. So, as you can see, the arcs are related and they’re smaller parts of a larger whole. They work in steps, building up to a series-long transformation.

Scenario 3: You have an ongoing series that doesn’t have a definitive end and usually has one main protagonist (i.e. most ongoing mystery series). This is sort of the exception to the rule. In these situations, where you don’t have an end in sight, the hero usually only arcs in the first book, and after that, is usually just the impetus or catalyst for change in another character’s life. We see this done a lot in mystery series like the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci or The C.B. Strike series by Robert Goldbraith (Rowling strikes, again!). In Memory Man by Baldacci (the first in the Amos Decker series), we see Amos having a significant personal transformation. He has to deal with his grief and find closure in the murder of his family. But in book 2, The Last Mile more of the “emotional” work is done with the “guest star” of the novel, Melvin Mars, who must find closure with his own family tragedy. And how appropriate is it that Amos is the one to facilitate that, after he’s dealt with a similar transformation in book 1?

And in The Cuckoo’s Calling by Goldbraith, Comoran Strike conquers the flaw of being emotionally locked in an abusive relationship, while in the second novel, The Silkworm, it’s Strike’s partner, Robin, who does more personal growing in her own relationship with her fiancé.

So hopefully your situation falls somewhere within these scenarios or some combination of them. No one said writing a series was easy (I learned that the hard way!) but if you can pull it off, kudos to you! The key thing to remember when writing a series (or a standalone, for that matter) is that someone has to arc in each book, whether that be the same hero, a new hero, or a “guest star.” Someone must be changed by this story. Otherwise, what’s the point? Where did we go? Why did we take this journey?

Want to learn more? Check out my Save the Cat! Online Novel Writing Course

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post How Heroes Transform Across Series (Save the Cat! for Series) appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on May 27, 2020 11:00

May 16, 2020

How to Add More Conflict to Your Fiction Writing

Does your fiction need more conflict? If you’re asking, then the answer is probably yes!

Let’s talk about conflict. We all know it’s UBER important in fiction and narrative nonfiction writing.

Conflict is what makes the storytelling wheels go round. Conflict is what keeps your reader from giving up because the story feels too easy. And let’s face it: Conflict is what keeps your story from being half a page long.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to be an Olympic pole vaulter. Lucky for her, the trials were that week! She made the team and won the gold. The end.

Snore!

Think about the zillions of dollars a year that the entertainment industry makes on just pure conflict alone, like reality shows and televised sporting events. Do you think millions of people would tune to watch a basketball player sink free-throw after free-throw all by themselves on the court?

So, yeah. Conflict is pretty key to grabbing people’s attention. But does every single scene or chapter in your story have to have conflict? The answer is: Yes.

At least a little bit.

Now, you certainly don’t want every single scene to have MASSIVE, LIFE-CHANGING conflict where the world hangs in the balance. That would get pretty old, pretty fast. There’s an important balance that must be struck. The level of conflict is directly proportional to the goal of the scene.

Oh, right, did I mention every scene has to have a goal too? Well, it does.

That’s how you get the conflict in. Because what is conflict if not something that stands in the way of a goal?

Your hero wants to talk to the boy of their dreams. What’s standing in their way? Fear, self-confidence, the boy’s significant other, a locker door in the face. CONFLICT!

Your hero wants to make a piece of toast. What’s standing in their way? An empty bread bag, an electricity outage, a debilitating fear of toasters. CONFLICT!

Your hero wants to break into the headquarters of their company’s biggest rival and steal top-secret documents. What’s standing in their way? Security guards, an alarm system, the inside man who never showed up, their conscience. CONFLICT!

Your hero just wants to go out to eat in a restaurant and work out in a gym and see a movie in an actual theater with other people! What’s standing in their way?

You get the picture.

So, you see inserting conflict is easy as soon as you establish the goal of your scene. Because once you determine what your hero or main character of the scene hopes to get out of it, the sky’s the limit on what kind of fun obstacles (both external and internal) you can put in their way.

Even quieter, more emotional scenes have a whiff of conflict in them.

A heart-to-heart conversation with a best friend can have whiffs of resentment, betrayal, distrust, jealousy, fear of loss.

A seemingly straight-forward lunch with mom can have whiffs of anxiety, childhood memories, fear of disapproval, tension about a recent fight.

Or if there’s not direct conflict in this scene, the hero is worrying about something they have to do in the next scene and that’s the conflict!

Basically, the harder you make it on your hero, the easier it is for your reader to get behind them. Readers don’t want to read about a character who has it easy, because, who likes that person!? Life is filled with conflict. Sometimes big and sometimes small And since fiction is just reality exaggerated, then go ahead and make it hard.

Conflict! As much as we hate in our day-to-day lives, we love it in our stories.

Happy…Conflicting?

Need help with writing a killer plot that keeps readers turning the pages? Check out my online novel writing course!

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post How to Add More Conflict to Your Fiction Writing appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on May 16, 2020 17:00

April 18, 2020

Does Your Hero Have a Mushy Goal?

Everyone in the world wants something. Well, except maybe a few Buddhist monks who live in the mountains and meditate all day. They might not want anything. But the rest of us—we want things. We want a new job, a new car, a nicer house, to ask the cute boy to the movies, to win the championship game, to save the galaxy from being destroyed by the evil empire (I definitely want that.)

And so, obviously, our characters have to want things too.

And they have to actively be pursuing that thing when your story begins. But here’s the mistake I see way too many authors make: the want or goal that they establish for their hero is…well, it’s…mushy. It’s muddled. It’s not concrete enough. They say things like, “My wants to be happy.” Or “My hero wants to forgive himself” Or “My hero wants to feel more fulfilled.”

Unfortunately, these goals are not tangible enough. Why? Because when does the reader KNOW that the hero has achieved them (or failed to achieve them?) The answer is, they don’t. How, as the reader, do I know for sure that your hero is happy? How can I root for them to achieve their goal of happiness if I don’t know what will make them happy?

So much of the Save the Cat! beat sheet is constructed around WANTS and NEEDS. They are like the framework that hold up the other beats. So if your reader can’t understand HALF of that framework, your story won’t work. Or readers will give up. Or both! Which is why we have to make the goal tangible enough for the reader to understand exactly what it means.

So, how do we do that? How do we take a mushy goal and turn it into a concrete goal? Easy. By completing the following sentence for your hero:

I will be happy WHEN…

or

I will feel fulfilled WHEN…

or

I will forgive myself WHEN…

The “when” is the key word here. The “when” prompts you to really think about what your hero wants and what they THINK will make them happy. The “when” forces you to attach something concrete to your goal.

I will be happy WHEN I find my lost sister who was abducted as a child.

I will feel fulfilled WHEN I earn enough money to move out of my parents house.

I will forgive myself WHEN I scatter my father’s ashes off the coast of Ireland.

Now, remember, this sentence doesn’t actually have to be true. In fact, if you remember the difference between WANTS and NEEDS, you know that it probably won’t be true. Your hero probably won’t find true happiness just by getting the date to the prom or moving out of their parents house. But that’s not the point of the WANT. The want is all about what the hero thinks will complete their life. The NEED is what will really complete their life. But having your hero pursue their WANT instead of their NEED at the start of the story is half the fun of the story!

So make sure YOU, the author, can complete the second half of that sentence for your hero: “I will be happy WHEN…” You’ll be surprised at how many plot problems that second half of the sentence fixes.

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post Does Your Hero Have a Mushy Goal? appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

5 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 18, 2020 18:55

March 31, 2020

YA Scavenger Hunt: Spring 2020 Edition

YA Scavenger Hunt banner

Welcome to the Spring 2020 YA Scavenger Hunt! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! (THE GOLD TEAM!!!) But play fast: this contest will only be online for 5 days!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are four contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GOLD TEAM — but there is also RED, BLUE & PURPLE teams for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt Author List.

If you get stuck or need help, you can check out the How to Hunt page.

Scavenger Hunt Puzzle

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GOLD TEAM, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, April 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Welcome, Aprilynne Pike!

Today, I am hosting Aprilynne Pike on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Aprilynne Pike is a critically acclaimed, international and #1 New York Times bestselling novelist. Her genre-spanning work has garnered starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Bulletin, and VOYA and been published in more then twenty-five languages worldwide. Aprilynne lives in Florida with her husband and their four children; she is enjoying the ocean.

Find Aprilynne online: Twitter | Facebook

About Glitter

In the Kingdom of Sonoman-Versailles, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.

When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play . . . blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny.

Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates. Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.

But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.

Exclusive Content:

Aprilynne’s bonus content is a sample chapter from her upcoming project called Stoneborn, a Regency-esque epic fantasy.

*****

Chapter Eleven

Slate

“It’s disgusting that we’ve sunk to this.” Slate yanked on her riding boot, pulling the top just past her knee and shoving the cuffs of her fawn breeches beneath them with a burning rage that singed the edges of her shame, making it minutely more bearable.

“You’re going to tear them,” Bryony scolded in barely over a whisper.

It was enviable how her older sister could imbue such sharpness into so quiet a voice. Personally, Slate preferred stamping and shouting. “I don’t care,” she muttered.

“You’ll care when I make you wear a dress because that’s your last pair of breeches without patches.”

Slate’s fingers stilled. A low growl sounded in the back of her throat, but her long fingers relaxed. There was no reason to actually tell Bryony she was right; Slate gave her a sharp nod and switched to carefully tucking the fine fabric under the worn leather of her last wearable boots.

Her sister’s eyes followed each movement, speaking louder than her mouth ever did.

With a creak, Slate rose from the edge of the bed and gazed longingly at the leather waistcoat that hung from a peg on the wall, still faintly gleaming from being well oiled the previous night.

“No.” Bryony said. “We agreed.”

Slate flung her arms wide, indicating her person. “I’m a maiden knight in training. Why should I hide who I am?”

“No one’s hiding that status.” Bryony’s left eyebrow was well above the right. Sometimes Slate thought it was stuck there. “Your boots and breeches give it away just fine. But will you truly go stand before a king in simple training apparel to beg a favor? Formality matters; the split-skirt gown. Now.”

“It feels wrong,” Slate said, pulling the sleeves of embroidered silk up her arms so Bryony could fasten the tapes down the back of the bodice.

“It doesn’t feel wrong when you wear it to church services,” Bryony said.

“That’s different,” Slate grumbled.

It felt wrong because it was the last fine article of clothing their father had purchased for her—for any of them—before the war started in earnest. It was extravagant then, and triply so now. She rarely wore it, and had made the argument to sell it many times. Bryony insisted it would be necessary some day and Slate hated that she was right. Was always right these days. And thank the universe for that.

Bryony pulled the ribbons tight in the back, making Slate jerk in a breath. Also making her barely-there breasts pop up into double half moons. It was so humiliating. A split-skirt gown was fashion’s nod to the many young ladies who had taken up the sword in the last generation or two. It featured a fairly standard, if lower-waisted, bodice with a large segment of the skirt missing in the front, intended to be paired with fitted breeches and riding boots, with cascades of silk falling down on both sides and sometimes even forming a train in the back. From behind, no one would know it wasn’t a traditional evening gown.

It was hardly fighting attire, but at least Slate could carry a sword and maneuver enough to protect herself in it. It was a start. But just like traditional gowns, the bodice was lined with whalebone and tightened with crisscrossed ribbons down the back. Because, of course, society could allow you to use a sword and fight for your life, but only with a fashionable amount of cleavage showing.

Slate studied her face in the full-length mirror. Why did she appear so normal? Exactly the way she looked every time she readied herself for church, or a fair, or any occasion that required this degree of fancy dress. But today was pivotal and somehow, she thought it should show. In her eyes, maybe.

“Very pretty,” Bryony said, and didn’t react when Slate rolled her eyes. “Today it’s good to be pretty,” she pressed. “You always try to hide it, but you have your mother’s looks, and since you’re not using them for anything else, you may as well make the most of them this once to save us all.”

“I’m not trying to seduce him.” The thought made bile rise in her throat.

“Of course not,” Bryony said, putting both hands firmly on Slate’s shoulders. “But when a knight goes into battle she doesn’t hold back; she uses every weapon in her arsenal. When you go to that roadside today, you take every weapon in your arsenal. And that means you remember to smile,” she added.

Slate knew this was her moment to groan in good humor and accept her half-sister’s teasing, but Bryony’s words were true. And like most truths, they burned like a score from a blade. She peeked at the mirror again, and tried out a smile, attempting to iron out the wrinkles of ferocity that were practically a permanent fixture between her eyebrows. “I’m wearing Father’s sword,” she said, turning away when a wave of fear swept over her.

“Of course you are,” Bryony said. “It’s the most expensive piece of metal in the entire household.” She walked over holding a dainty gold chain that had once belonged to her mother. The chain she always wore around her own neck. Slate said nothing; Bryony had already won that argument the previous night. “Including this necklace,” she added quietly as she fastened the clasp. “It’ll have to do.”

“Thank you,” Slate said, even though she wasn’t thankful at all. But she knew she ought to be. Further, she knew how much this loan meant to Bryony. So she said the words she wasn’t a good enough person to actually feel.

Bryony just shook her head and handed over the sword.

Slate crossed the scabbard’s strap from shoulder to hip over the cutaway gown, and its familiar weight made her feel like herself once more. She’d waited six months after her father’s death before daring to travel back to the accursed valley—newly rechristened Valley of the Three Sons, no bonus points for subtlety—to dig up his sword. Even then, she’d gone on a day with heavy snowfall that veiled her form and covered her tracks. After she arrived it had taken almost two hours to find her hiding spot, her fingers near frostbit. But four days after leaving her home with no explanation whatsoever, she’d arrived back on Stalwart, carrying the filthy sword wrapped in linen.

Her brothers had both wanted it—Callum especially. But she’d simply said no, it was hers, and they seemed to sense there would be no dissuading her. Slate hadn’t told anyone what she’d done. She hadn’t lied exactly. Just wouldn’t talk about the day her father died, or how the sword hadn’t been surrendered to the demon-cursed Taberians. Since returning, she’d trained with it daily, determined to master the enormous sword that required an entirely different set of skills than a normal blade. Her brothers hadn’t bested her in months. Even that gave her little satisfaction.

Six months ago, when their empty cellar necessitated selling Stalwart—to everyone’s dismay, but especially Maisley’s—Bryony had tentatively brought up finding a buyer for the sword instead, which would bring at least ten times the price of one serviceable, yet still past-his-prime war unicorn. Slate had threatened to throw the blade into the sea rather than see it leave their family. Possibly end up in Taberian hands—although she didn’t say that part out loud. She knew her threat made no sense, but the family had backed down and Maisley’s most precious possession had been sold instead. Slate felt guilty about that, in a general simmering way, but she’d have made the same choice a hundred times over if it was presented to her again, and she couldn’t completely elucidate why.

“Will you wear it unsheathed?” Bryony asked.

“The better to see it.” Slate gently slid the sword into a leather loop lined with a rectangle of iron that gripped the hilt just below her shoulders, and let the ornate blade hang down her back like a long, deadly braid, tilted slightly at an angle so her ankles wouldn’t hit the cutting point when she walked. It was showmanship. Unabashedly. Risky too, as the blade’s edge would cut the bearer as easily as an enemy. Normally she wore it fully encased in a sheath—the only practical way to wear it. But showing it off made her feel more confident, and demon knew she’d need as much of that as she could muster today.

Bryony took a breath like she wanted to argue, then simply said, “Don’t you dare draw it before the king, and for flame’s sake don’t cut off your fingers. Or his,” she added after a minute pause.

Slate finished adjusting the hilt, then held still while Bryony fussed with her hair. That had taken the longest as not only did Slate rarely let Bryony practice dressing her hair, her hair had no intention of being tamed. It was a riot of curls that many young ladies would have paid significantly for, but that was because they looked good in puffs and ringlets. Slate looked absolutely ridiculous. She strongly preferred the Trynellian styles that draped long, sleek sections of hair in twists and plaits … but sleek was never going to describe her blowsy curls.

Bryony had compromised with some sort of wavy plaited knot that any lady’s maid would have been jealous of, and that Slate could never have pulled off on her own. Despite Slate’s protests, Bryon had also dusted her eyelids with something pink and a bit shimmery, and darkened her lips with cherry juice from the last jar of fruit she’d bottled two summers ago. Gazing at her own high cheekbones framed by a loose, wavy plait that crossed over her head like a crown, Slate saw hints of the lady she could be if she tried, and she turned her eyes away. Being a lady would get her nothing; she needed to be a dame knight.

“I feel like I should have a stripe of war paint across my eyes,” Slate said, laughing to cover the tremor.

“Only if you’re prepared to use white,” Bryony replied wryly.

“I haven’t lost that much pride.” Their father had died with a stripe of Frossian red across his eyes and Slate vowed she would never wear the white. No matter what Tree Aslain’s so-called king came from.

“Then you go bare-faced. Are you ready?” Bryony asked, a grave solemnity in her voice.

It was her last chance. “You’re a better bargainer, Bry. You still have the courtly manners you were raised with. Why not you?”

“Because,” Bryon said—repeated—while carefully twisting a ribbon into Slate’s carefully dressed hair, “you’re beautiful. And word in the taverns is that young king Gere is a lusty bastard led by his cock as completely as his head.”

“You’re lovely too,” Slate said, though they both knew Slate had long been considered the prettier—much to her chagrin.

“Lovely and married and six years older than you.”

“Maisley—”

“Has exactly the opposite problem.”

Slate swallowed. “I don’t like lying.”

“We’re not lying; we’re creating a mistaken impression. There’s a difference.”

“Well, that makes everything better,” Slate said with faux brightness.

Bryony pulled a leather strip from her pocket and held it in both hands. “I’ve never gone a day without it. Obviously,” she said, and though she gave a little laugh, it was choked.

“You don’t have to do this,” Slate rushed in to say. “I have Father’s.”

But Bryony was already shaking her head. “It’s not enough. You need two. You must have the appearance of high nobility. Someone who could potentially help him as much as he can help you. I wish we could get you three but Maisley …” Her voice trailed off. “There’s still hope for Maisley,” she finished. “Some hope.”

“There’s hope for you,” Slate said, hating this final step.

Bryony laughed, and though Slate listened hard for it, there was no bitterness in the sound. “Slate,” Bryony chided, “I’m the illegitimate, orphaned daughter of a disgraced noblewoman, and married to a common-born knight I love more than life. The fact that I’m technically stoneborn was never going to help me.”

“But—”

“I’ve made my choice,” she said calmly. “The truth is we don’t have enough resources to last the winter. Not food, not fuel, not even thatching for the roof to keep us from freezing. And we’re doing better than most. Our entire county is suffering; even Granite Moors is in reduced circumstances. Without the mine, the entire metropolis of Milltown will slowly die.”

Slate knew all of this. And it was really only scratching the surface. Any war brought the chaos of the demon in its wake, but the fight to make first Maxim, and then Gere Vaulder, king had cost so many lives. So many stones. The heavens had raged with snow and sleet and rain that fell harder and thicker than anything Slate had ever witnessed in her short lifetime. Over on the widder shore, mere leagues from their own metropolis, an enormous wave of water had simply risen up and wiped away a handful of fishing villages, and spread salted water over acres upon acres of crucial cropland.

Aslain must have lost a decent number of orange stones, because there were earthquakes at least monthly for the first year, and Slate had read a report in the Heatherton Herald of a great split in the earth a few days’ journey seaward, that leaked red-hot lava into a once-prosperous fishing bay. It had slowly raised the temperature to the point that all the fish died—hundreds of livelihoods snuffed out. The report said that a third of the people in the nearby villages and one metropolis that lined the shore had starved to death that winter, after ice made the roads impassable for anyone who might have been able to offer aid. Even if the reports were exaggerated—as reports were wont to be—it was still a tragedy. It didn’t help that the metropolis was the Frossian barony at Kott, held by the Baron and Baroness Garrett. No one could be certain just how hard the young Taberian king had actually tried to get his rescue forces in.

Disease killed entire communities in pockets all over Aslain, and the summer following the battles had, of course, resulted in a terrible drought. Even where crops could be planted, few thrived. The closing of the Brandyn’s coalmine felt like adding insult to the injuries rained down on them by their trickster god. Except this was caused directly by Gere Vaulder. If they had the mine back, they might make it. Might.

“Demon knows Baroness Azure would never sink so low as to ask for help from a Taberian king herself,” Bryony said, and Slate held her tongue while Bryony brushed non-existent dust from the shoulders of her gown, and smoothed the sleeves. “If there’s any hope for this family—for Milltown—it lies with you.” Bryony carefully detached her blue stone from the leather strap, darkened with age and sweat, and held it out to Slate. “For you, Slate Brandyn of the Tree of Fross, I revoke my claim.”

Despite the confidence in her voice, Bryony’s face was pale, and whitened further as the stone left her fingers and dropped into Slate’s. Just like the last time, Slate expected something to happen, but the stone was neither cold, nor warm. It simply sat there on the palm of her hand, glowing dimly, as though it weren’t an artifact that held back the floods of the demon.

Bryony took several deep breaths then pasted on a grim smile. “Let’s get it into your headband. I finished the detail work last night.”

“You work too hard,” Slate said, remembering how late both of them stayed up. Her eyes had been closing on their own by the time she fell into her bed and she felt a prick of guilt that Bryony had stayed up even longer.

“Necessary,” Bryony said, waving her hand in dismissal. “Besides, I can go back to bed now.”

“But you won’t.”

The space between then was silent for a long moment before Bryony smiled. “No, I won’t. Now turn.”

Slate watched in the mirror as Bryony lifted a deep-blue satin band with white embroidered edges and laid it across her brow, tying the ribbons at the back of her head, just below the confection of her hair. Even when there had been only one, the stone pressed just hard enough against the skin to make a headache after a few hours. Slate had gotten used to that after the first few months, but now, feeling the new twin points of pressure—both in a new spot—she knew she was in for more dull pain. But the stones only worked when worn against the skin, so she would suffer this small annoyance for everyone’s sake. As all stonebearers did. She reached up to touch the new blue gem, shimmering beside the red one she’d inherited from her father. “I feel as though I’ve stolen something from you.”

“You can’t steal a stone,” Bryony said. “You know that. Just remember that it’ll all be for nothing if you can’t get our father’s lands back from the king.”

“No pressure,” Slate muttered.

“Not pressure—reality.”

Slate swallowed hard and ducked her head.

“No,” Bryony said, lifting her chin. “Stand tall, be proud. You have our father’s sword, the bravery of a true dame knight, the beauty of your mother, and two stones from family members who love you. Go enchant that usurping traitor of a king and get our mine back.” She glanced at the closed door to her left. “Preferably before our brothers and my husband wake up and discover what we’ve done.”

*****

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Aprilynne! Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me (Jessica) and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 11. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GOLD TEAM and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Continue the Hunt

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author on Elle Cosimano’s website.

The post YA Scavenger Hunt: Spring 2020 Edition appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 31, 2020 01:00

March 19, 2020

How do the Save the Cat! Beats Translate to Chapters?

A question I get a lot from novelists following the Save the Cat! plotting method is this: What’s the relationship between beats and chapters? Or in other words, how do the beats break down into chapters and vice versa?

The answer, as is usually the case, is: It depends.

Super helpful, right?

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 19, 2020 16:11

March 12, 2020

Juggling Multiple Points of View in Your Save the Cat! Beat Sheet and Novel

Today we’re talking about heroes…plural. What do you do when you have multiple points of view in your novel and need to juggle multiple beat sheets (and character arcs!)

Here’s another question I get a lot from writers:

If I have multiple POV-characters, do I need multiple beat sheets?

The short answer is: yes!

But let’s take a look at that answer in my more detail.

The “beat sheet” is, of course, referring to the Save the Cat! plotting method that I teach in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and my online course, Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps.

When you’re dealing with a novel that has multiple point-of-view characters, a simple rule of thumb would be:

If they’re worthy of a point of view, they’re worthy of a beat sheet.

In other words, for every POV character in your story (assuming they have a point of view that continues throughout the entire story, and is not just sprinkled in sporadically as a plot device), you should track that character’s transformative arc with a beat sheet. Because what the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet really is, is a road map for change. It guides us through the character’s journey toward thematic growth. And that thematic growth is why we CARE about who’s telling us the story.

So therefore, for every character you want your reader to care about or be invested in (this includes antagonists!), they should have a trackable arc toward some type of change.

So, does that mean that every character has ALL 15 beats of the beat sheet? Even beats like Theme Stated, B Story, and All is Lost (Another question I hear a lot).

And the short answer to that is also…YES!

HOWEVER, characters can (and often do) share beats. For instance, two characters can be each other’s B Story. And two characters can experience their All is Lost at the same time (perhaps with the same “whiff of death”.) And I would imagine that if your characters are interacting with each other, they will appear in a lot of each other’s beats, particularly the longer ones like Fun & Games and Bad Guys Close In.

OR…you can have multiple POV characters who have their own unique set of 15 beats. This is what my co-author, Joanne Rendell, and I did in our YA sci-fi/fantasy, Sky Without Stars (the first in the System Divine trilogy.) In this sci-fi re-imagining of Les Misérables, we have three POV characters who all have their own distinct 15 beats. AND, because it’s a revolution story during which the planet of Laterre is spiraling toward civil war, we also crafted what we called the “world beat sheet,” which tracks the political transformation of the planet (as if it were its own character), complete with its very own Theme Stated beat!

But it’s also important to remember that the beats of multiple characters don’t have to come at the same time, nor be the same length. In Sky Without Stars, our third POV character, Alouette, doesn’t enter the story until page 83, which means while she’s having her Opening Image and Set Up, the other two characters, Chatine and Marcellus, are already well into their Debate beats. And because Alouette’s story starts so late, her beats are much more compressed. For example, Alouette’s Opening Image and Set Up beat are combined and only take up 9 pages, while Chatine’s Set Up is 27 pages and Marcellus’s is 14 pages. In fact, most of Chatine’s beats are longer than the other character’s, because she’s what I like to call the “one true hero” of the book.

I always recommend, regardless of how many POVs you have, that you choose a “one true hero” for your plot. This is the character who changes the most and who will serve as the reader’s primary “guide” through the world of your story. For this reason, they are also usually the character we meet first, and naturally, they will get the most page-time (and beat-time!) in your story.

For the System Divine trilogy, because we have three books and three main characters, we chose to have each character be the “one true hero” for each of the books. In Sky Without Stars, it’s Chatine. If you read the book you’ll see, she definitely has the biggest arc and the most pages devoted to that arc. She’s also the character you meet first. But for book 2, Between Burning Worlds, the “one true hero” is Marcellus. Although the other two characters continue to change and grow, this is more his story. He has the biggest reveals, the biggest decisions to make, and the biggest emotional transformation. We also start the story with his POV. And now, as we gear up to write book 3 (title to be released!), we are focusing the majority of our beat sheet efforts on Alouette, putting her and her transformative journey front and center in the story, while still making sure that the other characters are continuing to arc as well.

So, yeah, no one said writing a multiple-POV, multiple-book series was easy!

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post Juggling Multiple Points of View in Your Save the Cat! Beat Sheet and Novel appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 12, 2020 10:12

Juggling Multiple Points of View + FREE BEAT SHEET OFFER!

Today we’re talking about heroes…plural. What do you do when you have multiple points of view in your novel and need to juggle multiple beat sheets (and character arcs!)

Plus, scroll down to find out how you can nab my most in-depth, robust Beat Sheet analysis yet (with multiple POVs, page-count info-graphic and more!) for FREE!

Here’s another question I get a lot from writers:

If I have multiple POV-characters, do I need multiple beat sheets?

The short answer is: yes!

But let’s take a look at that answer in my more detail.

The “beat sheet” is, of course, referring to the Save the Cat! plotting method that I teach in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and my online course, Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps.

When you’re dealing with a novel that has multiple point-of-view characters, a simple rule of thumb would be:

If they’re worthy of a point of view, they’re worthy of a beat sheet.

So therefore, for every character you want your reader to care about or be invested in (this includes antagonists!), they should have a trackable arc toward some type of change.

So, does that mean that every character has ALL 15 beats of the beat sheet? Even beats like Theme Stated, B Story, and All is Lost (Another question I hear a lot).

And the short answer to that is also…YES!

Scroll down to find out how you can get a free copy of this epic four-POV beat sheet!

For the System Divine trilogy, because we have three books and three main characters, we chose to have each character be the “one true hero” for each of the books. In Sky Without Stars, it’s Chatine. If you read the beat sheet (or the book), you’ll see how she definitely has the biggest arc and the most pages devoted to that arc. She’s also the character you meet first. But for book 2, Between Burning Worlds, the “one true hero” is Marcellus. Although the other two characters continue to change and grow, this is more his story. He has the biggest reveals, the biggest decisions to make, and the biggest emotional transformation. We also start the story with his POV. And now, as we gear up to write book 3 (title to be released!), we are focusing the majority of our beat sheet efforts on Alouette, putting her and her transformative journey front and center in the story, while still making sure that the other characters are continuing to arc as well.

So, yeah, no one said writing a multiple-POV, multiple-book series was easy!

But hopefully, in reading the beat sheet I’m offering below, you’ll see how we were able to interweave the three character arcs with the arc of the world they live in, all while setting it up for a sequel (i.e. wrapping up the conflicts and threads of this story, yet still leaving more over-arching conflicts and threads open for the future installments.)

I hope this post (and the beat sheet!) help!

FREE BEAT SHEET OFFER!

Get the FULL beat sheet for Sky Without Stars!

This is not just a beat sheet though. This is an in-depth, multi-character plot analysis to help you study the techniques of crafting multiple-POV beat sheets and setting up first book in a series.

The 50+ page break-down comes with:

An Integrated beat sheet showing how the three character beat sheets and “world beat sheet” intertwine
Individual character beat sheets (each with their own Five-Point Finale!) for isolating one character arc at a time and studying it on its own (also includes “Cat’s Eye View” overviews for each character)
A super-cool, color-coded info-graphic to study how the characters’ beats are spaced and intertwined throughout the novel
An analysis of how the first book sets up the rest of the series

This is, by far, the most extensive plot analysis I’ve done yet. And I can’t wait to share it with you!

This beat sheet is available exclusively as part of the Between Burning Worlds pre-order gift!

Pre-order Between Burning Worlds (the sequel to Sky Without Stars) and upload your receipt to claim your free Sky Without Stars beat sheet plus MORE!

Pre-Order and Claim Your Beat Sheet »

The pre-order gift also includes:

A set of Limited Edition System Divine Collector Cards
An autographed bookplate (signed by both authors)
A “behind-the-book” features pack with deleted scenes, recorded brainstorming sessions, and more!

Offer expires 3/23/20!

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!
If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

Get FREE writing tips delivered right to your inbox every month!

<!DOCTYPE html>

.cp-desc-container {
max-height: 1px !important;
margin: 0px !important;
}

#kajabi-form {
padding:0px 0px !important;
background-color: #dfdfdf !important; min-width: 328px !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn {
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #635d7b !important;
}

#kajabi-form .kajabi-form__btn:not(.kajabi-form__btn--disabled):hover {
background-color: #635d7b;
}

We respect your email privacy

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-form-container .cp-submit.cp-btn-flat:hover {
background: #635F79!important;
}

.cp_id_2d19d .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit, .cp_id_18317 .cp-btn-flat.cp-submit:hover {
font-family: Roboto !important;
font-weight: 400 !important;
}

The post Juggling Multiple Points of View + FREE BEAT SHEET OFFER! appeared first on Jessica Brody.

View more on Jessica Brody's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 12, 2020 10:12

← Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 … 37 38 Next →

Jessica Brody's Blog

Jessica Brody's profile
2802 followers