Angela Ackerman's Blog: Writers Helping Writers, page 84

When ‘Situational’ Writing Works Better Than Plotting

Hi everyone! Help me welcome Brandon Cornett to the blog today, who is discussing a great plotting technique Stephen King uses for people who struggle with plotting. Please read on!

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Do you have a hard time plotting an entire novel in advance? Do you get bogged down or overwhelmed, to the point it paralyzes your story? If so, you might be more of a situational writer. And it might be time to set yourself free.

Plotting has long been my nemesis. Over the
years, I’ve read many books and articles on fiction writing that stressed the
importance of advance plotting. I understand the merits, on an intellectual
level. In some cases, as with epic fantasies and the like, plotting becomes
more of a necessity than a choice.

But not all writers fall into that boat. Some
could benefit from taking a more situational approach to their work.

(Book titles may contain affiliate links)



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I first encountered the concept years ago, while reading Stephen King’s memoir and writing guide On Writing. He was discussing the manner in which he writes his books — or prefers to write them — and he used the term “situational.” Suddenly, I had a label for something I’d been drawn to all along.

Here’s a relevant passage from On Writing:

“Gerald’s Game and The Girl
Who Loved Tom Gordon are two other purely situational novels. If Misery
is ‘two characters in a house,’ then Gerald is ‘one woman in a bedroom’
and The Girl Who is ‘one kid lost in the woods.’ As I told you, I have
written plotted novels, but the results, in books like Insomnia and Rose
Madder, have not been particularly inspiring. These are (much as I hate to
admit it) stiff, trying-too-hard novels.”

For me, the pressure to create an extensive
plot stifles the artistic process. It bogs me down. It removes the organic
spontaneity from the story. And that spontaneity — those little surprises that
emerge along the way — is one of my favorite things about writing. When I eventually
nixed the plotting and embraced the situational model, I felt liberated. I found
more surprises within the story, more life. I got to see my characters emerge
and figure things out on their own. It was all I could do to keep up and
chronicle their evolution.

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Now, before you plotters start throwing
tomatoes at me, let me clarify. I’ve read many novels that were plotted in
advance (as disclosed through author interviews) and enjoyed them immensely.
Plotting works for some writers. For some novelists, plotting is a tool that
paves the way to a finished book. And that’s what it’s all about, right? Finishing.
So, if you’re one of those writers, and plotting is how you reach the finish
line … plot away!

I would also be remiss not to mention the hybrid approach. This is where you start with a general plot but leave room for situational writing and spontaneity.

It’s not an either-or scenario. You can mix
it up.

If you’re like me, however, and you feel
weighed down and walled in by plotting, it might be time for a different
approach. Try the situational method. Let the story emerge bit by bit, the way
real life happens, and see where it takes you.

So, how do you go about it?

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The first and most important thing is to
create a strong enough situation. This is mission critical. It won’t result in
a finished work. You still have to figure out what your characters are all
about, how they change during the course of the story, etc. But it all starts
with the situation. That’s the seed from which the story grows.

In the above quote, King was downplaying when he said the situation behind Misery was “two characters in a house.” There was more to it, obviously. Yes, there were two people in a house. But one was a popular romance novelist, immobilized by a car accident, and the other was a deranged fan with serious entitlement issues. Now that’s a situation!

Misery,
and many other novels like it, evolves though a series of “what next”
questions. (Or “what if” questions, if you like.) What would Paul
Sheldon do if he realized he was being cared for by a closet lunatic? What
would Annie do if she suspected he was trying to escape? These questions —
these situations and their results — drive the story forward.

Maybe you’re not a Stephen King fan. That’s
okay. There are plenty of other examples. Many successful and prolific authors
have written novels in this manner. So don’t get too hung up on the whole King
thing. It’s the idea I want you to consider. And the idea (to borrow another quote
from On Writing) is this:

” A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot, which is fine with me.”

So you start with a situation. Then you move toward it, establishing mood, building character. And you ask yourself: what next? What would this character do in this situation, and how might that complicate things? What conflicts would arise? Thus, the story moves forward.

Some critics malign the situational writing
method. Some claim it results in one-dimensional stories. I say they’re missing
the point. The situation is not the novel. It’s the spark that conflagrates. It
is the basis of conflict that creates drama and friction. Even with a strong and
intriguing situation, there is much work to be done.

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But for some writers, the situational
approach makes that work easier to tackle. It gives you a first draft. Then you
go back and add layers to deepen the story. Chances are, you’ll discover things
about your characters you didn’t know when you first set out. That’s a
best-case scenario. It requires revisions. A lot of them, in some cases. But it
also allows you to smash through tropes and formulas to produce something new,
something the reader never saw coming.

If you’re a veteran writer, you probably have
things figured out already. You’ve got your method, and it works for you.
Great! But for novice writers, a bit of exploration might be warranted. You
have to figure out what kind of story you want to create, and what strategy is
needed to accomplish that goal. Situational writing is one approach worth considering.

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Brandon Cornett has written three novels and published one. His first published book, Purgatory, is a horror-based thriller with a reality TV tie-in.

His next novel will be out in 2020. You can connect with the author by visiting https://www.cornettfiction.com .

Have you ever tried situational writing? Were you able to plot your way to an entire novel? Let us know in the comments!

The post When ‘Situational’ Writing Works Better Than Plotting appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

How Premise Plays into Theme

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For many writers, theme is an afterthought–something they
may try to figure out once the book is mostly written. But in reality, for a
lot of stories, the premise actually promises a theme, or at least, a theme
topic. This may not be true of all premises, but a surprising number
actually have a theme already begging to be explored.

First, what do I mean by premise? Because a quick search
online shows me multiple writing websites that define it slightly differently.
Most will agree that a premise is the main idea of the story. It’s about 1 – 3
sentences that say what the story is about, typically the setup. This means it
has a character, a goal, and a conflict.

Before we start writing, most of us have some idea of a
premise, even if we haven’t officially written it down and ironed it out. And
as we brainstorm and work on the story, that may become more defined. Here is
an example of one:

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When Fa Mulan learns her weakened father must go to war
to fight the invading Huns, she secretly disguises herself as a man to take his
place. 

So we have a character, Mulan, a sense of conflict with the
Huns and how that affects her family, and a sense of desire illustrated by
proaction–she takes her father’s place.

And would you believe it? It already has thematic elements begging
to be explored!

The most obvious one is gender. The protagonist is
trying to pass as the opposite gender. Just this setup already tells us
that we are going to be including her personal struggles with that. How can you
not? And if you didn’t, the story might feel like it’s lacking–like you are
possibly dancing around a topic that deserves to be addressed.

So in a sense, at least one of the theme topics is already
decided just by the premise.

Let’s look at what else we have going on in that single
sentence. We have both a personal problem and a public problem: Mulan’s family
life and the Huns invading China. So we will probably need to be addressing
both of those. Looking at the setting and the fact that Mulan is going in her
father’s place, which is a no-no, we might start to get ideas for a second
theme topic that should be address: honor.

Already, just from the basic idea, the setup of the story,
we have two theme topics.

Let’s look at some more examples.

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When an ogre, Shrek, who craves solitude discovers that
fairytale creatures are being exiled to his swamp by Lord Farquaad, he sets out
to reclaim his property–while reluctantly being befriended by a very social
Donkey. But when Shrek meets with the lord, a deal is struck that he must
rescue Princess Fiona, who is awaiting her true love in a tall tower guarded by
a dragon. 

Okay, so just from this setup, we have some great things
happening. Shrek craves solitude, and the worst thing that can happen is having
his home overrun with magical creatures AND having to pal around with a Donkey
who will never shut up. To make matters worse, he has to rescue a (at
this point) seemingly stereotypical princess who is awaiting her true love (and
his kiss), but he’s an ogre.

And look at that! I see some theme topics that are aching
to be developed and explored. We’ll want to address something with solitude and
socializing, and also probably disappointing others by not meeting
expectations.

Sure, this maybe needs a bit more work to nail down
specific themes. But if you are familiar with the story, you’ll see how these
things tie into the bigger theme of not judging others based on their
appearances. (Ogres are like onions!)

Here is Arrival‘s.

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Linguistics professor Louise Banks leads an elite team
of investigators when gigantic spaceships touchdown in 12 locations around the
world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must
race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial
visitors. (source)

Take a moment and look at that setup. That premise. Do you
see any theme topics that are begging to be addressed?

The most obvious is language/communication.

Which will feed into a higher, linguistic concept that
language itself affects–literally–how our minds process the world.

This is also played into not only by trying to communicate
with aliens, but with “nations teeter[ing] on the verge of a global
war”–communications between nations, and humans as a whole.

Premise plays into theme. 

One of the problems that can come up when working with
theme, is that the author may already have a premise in mind, and then chooses
a theme topic that doesn’t really fit.

However, you can surprisingly get a lot of theme topics to
fit a lot of premises. For example, we could have instead made Shrek
explore communication–the topic of Arrival. After all, Shrek craves
solitude but is paired with Donkey, who talks nonstop. He also has to learn how
to communicate with Farquaad and Fiona.

But could we have made Shrek explore the topics of
gender and honor? Well . . . perhaps, but not as powerfully or as apt as Mulan,
which frankly begs for it.

Now, imagine picking a topic that has little to do with the
story you’ve decided to write–it’s going to create problems, probably some of
the most common problems that writers run into when it comes theme (such as
being too preachy)–because it’s unnatural. 

So instead, look at the premise of your story to help you identify what theme topics you should probably explore–and troubleshoot which don’t fit in as easily.

September C. FawkesResident Writing Coach

September C. Fawkes has worked as an assistant to a��New York Times��bestselling author and writing instructor, and now does freelance editing at FawkesEditing.com. She has published poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction articles, and her award-winning writing tips have appeared in classrooms, conferences, and on Grammar Girl. Visit her at SeptemberCFawkes.com for more writing tips, and find her on
Twitter �� Facebook �� Instagram �� Tumblr

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Conflict Thesaurus Entry: A Partner Being Unwilling to Commit

Conflict is very often the magic sauce for generating tension and turning a ho-hum story into one that rivets readers. As such, every scene should contain a struggle of some kind. Maybe it’s an internal tug-of-war having to do with difficult decisions, morals, or temptations. Or it possibly could come from an external source���other characters, unfortunate circumstances, or the force of nature itself.

It’s our hope that this thesaurus will help you come up with meaningful and fitting conflict options for your stories. Think about what your character wants and how best to block them, then choose a source of conflict that will ramp up the tension in each scene.

Conflict: A Partner Being Unwilling to Commit

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Category: Power struggles, relationship friction

Examples:
A significant other who doesn’t want to get married
A partner who doesn’t want to move in together
Refusing to call the relationship exclusive even though there is no one else

Minor Complications:
Arguments and friction in the relationship
Having two of everything (two homes, two beds, two closets, etc.)
Awkward questions from family and friends
Being judged or talked about by those outside the relationship
“Bleeding money” because finances and assets are not consolidated

Potentially Disastrous Results:
An ultimatum being delivered
A partner leaving the relationship
A partner looking elsewhere for the commitment they desire (engaging in emotional cheating or an affair)
A rival moving in out of the belief that the relationship isn’t serious
A pregnancy forcing the issue or upping the ante

Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
Loving someone yet hating the part of them that can’t commit
Feeling like they are defective yet knowing the commitment issues lie in the partner’s painful past
Feelings of self-doubt; soul searching as to whether they are making a mistake by staying in the relationship
Wanting marriage and a family but being unsure if their partner will ever “get there”

People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: The character and their partner, any children in the mix if commitment issues spill over into the child’s life

Resulting Emotions: bitterness, conflicted, confusion, contempt, defeat, desire, determination, disappointment, frustration, hopefulness, hurt, insecurity, longing, neglected, powerlessness, resignation, self-pity, unappreciated, vulnerability, wistful

Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: confrontational, insecure, jealous, martyr, needy, possessive, selfish, uncommunicative, withdrawn, worrywart

Positive Outcomes:��
A resistance to commit also means not committing too early, especially if the couple is missmatched
Being unable to commit may cause friction that will lead the character to search within for reasons as to why, hopefully leading to personal growth and being able to let go of the past

If you’re interested in other conflict options, you can find them here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

This conflict thesaurus is still being developed, but if you would like to access our entire descriptive collection (14 unique thesauri and growing), visit our main site, One Stop for Writers.

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How to Find Critique Partners & Beta Readers

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Outside feedback is vital to the success of your manuscript. 

As I���ve quoted many times before on my YouTube channel, according to Terry Pratchett, ���The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.���

Our first drafts are imperfect translations of the perfect story in our minds. This version of the story isn���t ready for the eyes of the reader. But in order to improve the weaknesses in our story, we first need to be able to locate them. That���s where critique partners (CPs) and beta readers come in. 

Before we get into where you can find CPs and beta readers, let���s first talk about what they are.

Critique Partner Vs. Beta Reader



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Critique partners are writers who provide feedback on your work, usually by request (to exchange chapters or full manuscripts).

Beta readers are people who read your manuscript as a reader first (rather than a writer). Most of the time, beta readers are not writers.

A good CP will:

Be kind and professional when providing any kind of feedbackBe timely in their feedback and maintain agreed-upon deadlinesBe attentive to the feedback you are looking for (such as big-picture editing vs. grammar)Find any faults or shortcomings in your writing (that you may have overlooked), including world-building holes, wonky pacing, pointing out when a character is two-dimensional, and much, MUCH moreShow you the worst and best of your writing to help you to reach your full potentialProvide specific recommendations for areas of improvement (without telling the writer how to write their story), and not simply ���I don���t like this���Encourage you to write the best version of the story you want to write���and not the story they want to see

A good beta reader will do many of these things as well. However, since many beta readers are not writers, their feedback will not be as in-depth. For example, common feedback from beta readers might be something like: ���I was bored in this section.��� Then it���s up to you, the writer, to determine where your pacing lagged and how you can make that scene or chapter more engaging. (Unless, of course, you meant for the pacing in that chapter to slow down.)  

Finding a Critique Partner or Beta Reader Is a Lot Like Dating



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I will be the first to tell you that finding CPs and beta readers, especially when you are first starting out, is exceedingly difficult. It���s a heck of a lot like dating���where you put out feelers to see who would be interested in swapping chapters. If it���s not a good fit, then you amicably part ways and start again. If you find someone who clicks, you have to continue to channel your inner chill and ask if they want to swap manuscripts. (Or whatever process works best for you.)

Personally, I���ve probably worked with an upwards of fifty CPs over the course of the last ten years, and I���ve now found my humans. It���s not going to take everyone nearly as long, but be prepared that the first CPs and beta readers you connect with might not be your tribe. 

Where Do You Find Critique Partners and Beta Readers?

First and foremost, you must put yourself out there. You can���t wait for them to come to you. Below are a few places where there are writing and/or reading communities and you can potentially find CPs and beta readers.

TWITTER 

If you see an interesting pitch in a Twitter pitch contest, tweet at that person and ask them if they are looking for a CP.Follow writing hashtags, such as #amwriting, #writingcommunity, and so on. Start chatting with writers and see if anyone there wants to swap stories. 

INSTAGRAM

Similar to Twitter, follow the writing hashtags to see who is currently writing a book and might be looking for feedback. Be a friendly, normal human and engage with them in the comments. When it feels natural, ask them if they want to swap stories. 

YOUTUBE

I���ve said this in my iWriterly videos, and I���ll say it here. There are writing communities on YouTube. Don���t be afraid to jump into comments on my videos (and other writing videos) and ask other writers if they want to exchange chapters with you. AuthorTube is a great place to connect with writers, especially in the comments. But respect the person if they say no. 

FACEBOOK WRITING GROUPS

There are many writing groups on Facebook, some of which are dedicated exclusively to beta reading. Do some research, ask your fellow writer friends what they have used, and see what happens!

GOODREADS 

Unlike the other recommendations I���ve offered thus far, Goodreads is a community of readers (vs. writers). This may be where you find more beta readers than CPs. However, definitely check out some of the groups on this platform for beta reading. There are lots of voracious readers!

LOCAL WRITING GROUPS AND SOCIETIES

Depending on what age category and genre you write in, you might want to check out some local chapters for writing societies, such as SCBWI. If you���re unable or do not want to pay the annual fee to be a part of writing societies, you could also check out places like Meetup, which hosts a number of different groups.  

One thing I recommend to all writers looking to find CPs and beta readers is to post on whatever social media platforms you are most active on, saying you are looking for volunteers to read your book and provide constructive criticism. However, if you have an existing author platform, it���s much easier to call for beta readers and have folks interested in reading your story (than if you have no platform at all). Still, I do think it���s worth trying���in addition to proactively putting yourself out there in the handful of communities and places I���ve recommended above. 

Best of luck finding your writing tribe! 

Meg LaTorreResident Writing Coach

Meg LaTorre is a writer, YouTuber (iWriterly), creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, blogger, and she formerly worked at a literary agency. She also has a background in magazine publishing, medical/technical writing, and journalism. To learn more about Meg, visit her website, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, sign up for her monthly newsletter, and subscribe to her YouTube channel, iWriterly.
Twitter �� Facebook �� Instagram �� You Tube
��

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Tools to Make You a More Powerful Writer in 2020

The start of the year is when I pay close attention to what is happening in our industry: what publishers and organizations are focusing on, the changes occurring on sales platforms, and what author advocates are suggesting writers pay attention to in order to succeed.

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One of the big things I keep reading over and over is that 2020 will be a year where many authors will invest in tools and services to help them do more.

So with that in mind, I have a roundup of resources that can help you be more productive and write stronger fiction, faster.

Get Focused



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Brain FM: I purchased a lifetime license years ago and have never looked back, and why? Because it helps me focus on the task at hand. This app plays special neural phase-locking music that engages with your brain to put you in a state of focus, relaxation, or sleep, whichever your goal is. It starts to work in 15 minutes, shutting out distractions…which we can be prone to as writers. If you’d like to try it free, use my member’s code to get a free month.

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Freedom: On Facebook a bit too much? Constantly dipping in and out of your email box? Do notification pings and banners break your train of thought? If so, you aren’t alone. This is another product I have used with Chrome because an unending stream of information via the internet is a blessing and a curse. So, if you want to claw back your keyboard, distraction-free, try this app and website blocker. (There’s a free trial).

Feed Your Creative Brain



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Reverse Dictionary: Sometimes as I tappity-tap, the right word eludes me, driving me bonkers. It doesn’t matter how many throw pillows I move or cushions I upend on my mental couch, I can’t grasp the words that will convey the feeling or mood I want to build in a scene. The reverse dictionary has saved me so many times as you can type in something abstract like “fear” and it will pull up a cascade of words related to fear. This almost always triggers an idea and boom, I’m writing again. This is a free site, so bookmark it.

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Descriptionari: If you get inspired by reading through the descriptions of others, you will love this site. Enter in a keyword like “Tree” and a host of user-written descriptions will pop up. Clearly I’m not suggesting you borrow or alter any descriptions (that’s plagiarism) but if reading a few helps to unlock your own imagination so you can write something fresh, check it out.

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One Stop for Writers: I can’t discuss creativity and not bring up One Stop for Writers. Between having the largest fiction-centric Description Database ever created, a powerful Idea Generator, customizable Worldbuilding Surveys, and a Character Builder (which can produce a Character Arc Blueprint!), you will never be at a loss for what to write next. And that’s just some of the site’s tools.

Becca and I are writers and coaches, so we know what writers need most. That’s why we created One Stop. So if you want to create magnetic stories and become a stronger writer at the same time, put One Stop in your toolbox. If you like, give the free trial a go.

Clean Up Your Prose



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Grammarly: This is a useful tool for all sorts of editing and usage fixes, whether you are writing emails, blog posts, social media updates or polishing your novel. It integrates with many programs, going where you go and will prompt you with fixes as you type (which I really like). The paid version has a lot of great features including a plagiarism checker, handy for us writers as we read a lot and would not want to unintentionally borrow something. The free option is helpful too, and easy to set up.

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Natural Reader: This handy text-to-speech app is terrific for self-editing. Our eyes may skim over flaws in our writing, but the ear rarely lies. Find typos and disconnects in tone or cadence by listening as your story is read to you. The free version allows for 20 minutes of reading, so that’s a nice chunk of time to do some prose polishing.

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ProWritingAid: This site is another favorite of mine. Like Grammarly, PWA takes good care of you on the editing side of things but it has analytical reports that will be of special interest to writers and boasts a stellar blog packed with articles on how to improve your storytelling. It also comes with lots of integrations, so you can use it in the program that you like to write in. Give the free trial a spin.

Never Stop Learning

To make a sustainable career out of writing, learning is key. One thing that divides professional writers from amateurs is the refusal to settle for writing that is “good enough.” Pros expect that their writing will evolve and they look forward to absorbing more knowledge.

The great thing about being a writer these days is that help is everywhere. Here are a few extra-special resources to take in.

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K.M. Weiland’s Story Structure Database: Stick your hands into the gooey innards of famous books and movies and see how their story structure works! SO HELPFUL.

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Jami Gold’s Worksheets for Writers: Want to learn about beat sheets, critiquing, revision, and more?

Become best friends with this page.

Story Mastery: I’m sure there’s someone that you fangirl or fanboy over, amirite?

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Well, for me it’s Michael Hauge. If you want to delve into the deeper aspects of writing craft, check out Story Mastery. Start with the articles, but trust me, also pick up his Hero’s 2 Journeys and check out some of his other videos, including his book that shows you how to apply storytelling skills to marketing. It’s amazing what fiction writers can learn from screenwriters!

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One Stop for Writers Tip Sheets: If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time you know Becca and I love to pass on small lessons that make a BIG difference. Especially when it comes to description we want you thinking carefully about every element and detail, and how to squeeze as much storytelling juice from every word in your story.

One Stop for Writers has a giant depository of tip sheets and checklists free to download and share. So start clicking that mouse and save these valuable tip sheets to your computer to reference later or print out.

What tools will you invest in this year? Let me know in the comments!

The post Tools to Make You a More Powerful Writer in 2020 appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Confiding in the Wrong Person

Conflict is very often the magic sauce for generating tension and turning a ho-hum story into one that rivets readers. As such, every scene should contain a struggle of some kind. Maybe it’s an internal tug-of-war having to do with difficult decisions, morals, or temptations. Or it possibly could come from an external source���other characters, unfortunate circumstances, or the force of nature itself.

It’s our hope that this thesaurus will help you come up with meaningful and fitting conflict options for your stories. Think about what your character wants and how best to block them, then choose a source of conflict that will ramp up the tension in each scene.

Conflict: Confiding in the Wrong Person

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Category: Failures and mistakes, relationship friction, duty and responsibilities, losing an advantage

Examples:
Sharing information with someone who can’t keep it to themselves
Having something private or personal be sold to tabloids
Having information be used against the character in some way
Being honest about a system flaw or security risk and being fired to cover it up
Revealing corruption and being turned into a scapegoat so those who were involved can avoid jail time
Being blackmailed with information one shared in good faith
Sharing sensitive information to a friend who uses it to turn a profit
Confiding about a lapse of judgement (like infidelity) and the person turning around and telling their partner about it
Revealing information to a co-worker who uses it to get ahead
A conversation being recorded and then having what was said be sensationalized or quoted out of context
Confessing to feelings that are then passed on without consent
Confiding in someone who morally will always do the right thing
Showing trust by being transparent and then being taken advantage of

Minor Complications:
Damaged relationships and mistrust
Being unfairly blamed for fallout
Damage to their reputation
Being put in a compromising situation
Being forced to do something they don’t want to do to to fix the situation
Having to call in an expensive favor
Being forced to lie to save face or prevent further fallout
Disillusionment
Losing access to something (or someone) they cherish
Having something private made public and being judged

Potentially Disastrous Results:
A relationship ending
Losing a position of prestige
Losing an advantage that was hard won
Being betrayed by someone close leading to an emotional wound
Being blackmailed
Being excommunicated or shunned
Being prosecuted for wrongdoing
Being forced to break the law, or sacrifice ethics or morals to reverse the fallout
Destroying one’s chances to win something important
Losing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity
Financial hardship (from being sued, dragged through the courts, or blackmail payments)

Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
Anger and disillusionment warring with lingering feelings of friendship or love for the one who betrayed
Anger that cherished memories have now been tainted or spoiled by backstabbing
Guilt or self-blame at one’s nativity at odds with rage toward the one who upended the character’s life
Anger and upset at what happened yet relief the secret is out in the open

People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Family, friends, loved ones, people the character is responsible for, people who are associated with the character (if the fallout paints any associated with them in a negative light)

Resulting Emotions: anger, anguish, anxiety, betrayed, bitterness, conflicted, defeat, defensiveness, defiant, devastation, disappointment, disbelief, disillusionment, dread, grief, guilt, humiliation, hurt, longing, panic, paranoia, powerlessness, rage, regret, relief, remorse, resentment, resignation, self-loathing, self-pity, shock, vengeful, vulnerability

Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: cocky, compulsive, confrontational, controlling, dishonest, disloyal, evil, gossipy, hypocritical, macho, martyr, needy, nervous, possessive, suspicious, vindictive, volatile, weak-willed

Positive Outcomes:
Being called out for one’s actions allows for an opportunity to take responsibility
When something private is made public, the character may gain perspective about where their loyalties should lie, who may be a toxic influence in their life, or who is working against their best interests, leading to freedom and independence
If there’s dysfunction at work, the character can seek help once everything is out in the open
Once a situation is acknowledged and made public, there’s the opportunity for closure

If you’re interested in other conflict options, you can find them here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

This conflict thesaurus is still being developed, but if you would like to access our entire descriptive collection (14 unique thesauri and growing), visit our main site, One Stop for Writers.

The post Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Confiding in the Wrong Person appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

How to Make a Book Trailer that Speaks to Readers

Book Trailers can be a great way to market your story, and we’ve got the perfect person to provide insight on the process. Victor Blasco from Yum Yum videos has got some great tips on how to structure your trailer to maximize viewer impact.

So, you did the math and realized that your brand-new book could really benefit from having an awesome trailer. Good job!

While riveting writing is often enough to trap avid readers between two covers for a while, it takes much more to pique someone���s interest online. There are just too many distractions on the internet to bet all your chips on written promotion alone!

The problem, though, is that working on making a great book trailer can be rather tricky – especially if you have no previous experience with video marketing. Or trailers, for that matter.

But fret not, you���ve come to the right place.

In this post, we are going to talk a little bit about the most important elements you���ll need to consider for your fledgling trailer. And by the time we are done, I���m sure you���ll be brimming with ideas to bring yours to life!

Book Trailers as Storytelling Mediums

The first thing you���ll want to understand here is that book trailers are, in themselves, short narrative platforms. They are supposed to tell a story.

Granted, it should be an incomplete story, but a story nonetheless. It is an important point to make, especially once you notice that YouTube is riddled with ���book trailers��� that are little more than slideshows with text overlays and generic music.

Moreover, you���ll need a trailer that can accomplish said goal within the timeframe in which you can keep a viewer���s attention. PRO TIP: Most video marketing stats place that around the one-minute mark.

You want your trailer to transmit your book���s main idea and theme, and convey its tone, style, and intent by giving glimpses into its content. And while that can sound a bit overwhelming at first, it should become much more manageable once we start going through each major element using a language you are already familiar with.

You���ll quickly see that you already have most of the information you���ll need to make your trailer���s content shine.

Learning from the Pros ��� The Hollywood Method

Hollywood has been making successful trailers for decades���trailers that go on to be the central pieces of marketing strategies that consistently generate the type of hype, engagement, and interest you’re after.

They pretty much have it down to a science by now. So we’re going to take a page from their book ��� pun definitely intended ��� and go over the most important elements you���ll need to build your trailer���s narrative.

Hook Viewers from the Start

Think about your trailer���s first few seconds as the first lines in your book���s chapter one. How many times did you go back to edit those into perfection? Your chapter one���s first few lines are crucial because they have a very important job to fulfill: to grab a reader���s interest from the start. It���s the same for your trailer���s beginning.

Suspense and intrigue might be great for your book, but most people decide whether to watch something or keep scrolling based on the first few seconds of a piece. So you need to give them something that makes them stop and pay attention.

Maybe there���s a particular sentence from your book that can do the trick. Or a sequence you can start your video with that will elicit this type of attention. 

Whatever you go with, know that its job is to make people go ���Huh, do tell me more������ and then start building from there.

Use Your Premise to Flesh Out the Trailer���s Story

In terms of book trailers, the premise is everything.

As I mentioned earlier, your trailer should be telling an incomplete story ��� That is, to convey your book���s premise in such a way that leaves people wanting more.

To get a better sense of what the main ���story��� for your trailer could be, look into the work you���ve already done for the back-cover or sales copy. The idea is to distill the most relevant and interesting story hooks that can get viewers on board without revealing too much.

It can be a difficult balance to attain, as an approach of ���less is more��� might not always be the case! You want to give enough info to get anyone watching to feel that they ���get��� what your book is about without you overdoing it.

Don���t Leave Your Characters Out

I feel like too many book trailers go with a more ���artsy��� or interpretative approach for fear of committing to something more tangible. They focus their trailers on high-minded concepts or themes��� ���the big picture” instead of the nitty-gritty of it all.

I believe that���s a mistake.

Stories are great, but it is the characters and players in them that make them feel real. Why would it be anything different for your trailer?

Don’t get me wrong; you don’t have to base the whole piece around your MC ��� although you could ��� But I need to, at least, walk away from your trailer with a sense of who the main player or players are.

And all of that applies to non-fiction books as well! In such cases, the authors themselves can play the role of ���the character��� in the trailer, giving viewers someone relatable to relate to.

Write a Script

Well-developed scripts aren���t just for voice-over or acted trailers! Even if you decided to go with a mostly musical piece with text overlays, you should treat – and format – these things like a script.

Write them out from start to finish until you are satisfied with the pacing of the information-reveal to the viewer. Basically, you���ll want to plot your trailers a little bit. Once that���s taken care of, start polishing it.

Treating the content-side of your trailer in script format can help you keep things organized, but more importantly, it will make it easier for you to spot when something is missing.

Maybe the narrator is jumping too soon to a key piece of the trailer, or maybe the text overlays aren���t flowing organically from one to the next. Problems like these can really set you back if caught later in production, so you’ll want to use every tool available to prevent this.

And on that note���

Work on a Storyboard for Your Trailer

Creating a storyboard for your trailer is non-negotiable. It doesn’t have to be perfect or look professional, but you do need one.

Having your trailer���s most important beats visually displayed in front of you will give you the ultimate overview of the piece you can have before actually shooting it. Think of it as when you read your manuscript out loud to catch mistakes you hadn’t picked up previously. That���s the type of help a storyboard gives you.

Lastly, and much like with your script, a storyboard will give you a better sense of when something���s missing or not working. Don���t be afraid to move elements around or outright change them until you feel satisfied with your future trailer���s progression.

Score Your Trailer Appropriately

Some authors spend so much time and energy figuring out the visual content of their trailer that they approach the audio design side of it last, almost as an afterthought. Big mistake.

One of the advantages of working on a multimedia piece is that you have several avenues to convey or reinforce your message. And there are lots of things you can communicate through sound and design alone, like the theme, genre, and atmosphere of your book.

Something like that might require the help of a skilled video company because it can get tricky to get right if you lack previous experience. However, if you have musical skill yourself, know that elements like the music you pick for your trailer can make or break it.

Wrapping Up

As you might have puzzled out by now, there���s a lot that goes into making an awesome book trailer ��� and we didn���t even get too much into the technical aspects of it! However, it is an effort that, done right, is worthwhile.

Getting people���s attention nowadays is a challenge, yet video remains one of the most consistent mediums to go about it. So use these tips to start fleshing out an awesome trailer that does justice to that awesome book you’ve already written!

Do you have questions for Victor about making a book trailer? Post them in the comments section and take advantage of this opportunity to ask the expert!

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Victor Blasco���s an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the��explainer video company Yum Yum Videos.

Besides running the business, he���s a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi.

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Pssst, Angela here. Did you know we used Yum Yum to make an introductory video for One Stop for Writers way back when we opened its doors? If you would like to see it, visit THIS LINK. We think they did a terrific job.

Our site has evolved quite a bit since then so we don’t have this video up there anymore, but it was a great way to convey to our audience the type of help they would find at One Stop for Writers. Feel free to stop by sometime.

The post How to Make a Book Trailer that Speaks to Readers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

Build a Bridge: From Story Beginning to Main Conflict

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During one of my previous posts as a
Resident Writing Coach, we
talked about the importance of strong goals for helping our story move
forward. But as we discussed in the comments of that post, our characters can start
off with weaker���passive���goals, as they might not embrace the need to solve the
story-level problem right away.

In fact with many cases, the story problem
and main conflicts don���t make an appearance until later in the story. Think of stories
with thriller-type elements, where the protagonist can���t possibly know the
villain is making evil plans in their secret lair until rumors, spy reports, or
weird things occur later.

In those types of stories, our characters obviously
can���t create strong goals to overcome the story problem right
from the start because they���re not even aware the problem exists. In the
meantime, bridging conflict kickstarts story momentum and grabs
reader interest before the big story problem introduces the main conflict.

What Is Bridging
Conflict?



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As the term implies, bridging conflict ���bridges���
the gap between a story���s beginning and when the main story problem and
conflict pick up the momentum. When our story requires the use of bridging conflict,
the main story problem and conflict are still usually established by the 25%
mark of our story.

In standard story structure, a major goal
of the turning point that falls around the 25% mark on a beat sheet���sometimes
called the First Plot Point, Break into Act II, or End of the Beginning���is to
establish what the main story problem is. While the protagonist might not be fully
aware of the problem yet, they should have some awareness and be dragged
into the orbit of its influence.

Not surprisingly, readers don���t want to
wait until the 25% mark for something to happen that will keep their interest.
And we don���t want our protagonist to wander aimlessly with no goals to strive
for through all those early pages either.

Enter bridging conflict. Bridging
conflict could be related to the main story problem, or it could be a separate
and unrelated issue. Either way, the bridging conflict establishes an
immediate problem for our protagonist to overcome (i.e., gives them goals
for the interim).

How Does Bridging
Conflict Help?

Bridging conflict is more than just a
standalone conflict with no effect on the other story elements. It also comes
with a problem to solve, goals to strive for, obstacles to overcome, and
motivation for our character���s actions.

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However, even if the bridging conflict is
unrelated to the eventual main conflict, we���d usually want the bridging
conflict, goals, and/or obstacles to put our protagonist onto the path that
leads to the story-level problem and main conflict. With that connection
between conflicts, readers immediately feel a sense of story momentum from the beginning,
and tying the bridging conflict to the rest of the story helps keep that
momentum.

How to Use Bridging
Conflict

Let���s look at an example���

Main Conflict: A villainous hospital administrator is using patients for dangerous
experiments.

Story-Level Problem and Goal: To save the patients, the protagonist must expose the hospital
administrator and their plans. (strong, active goal)

At this point, if our protagonist worked at
the hospital with the administrator, clues and hints of the conflict could
start from the beginning of the story. But let���s imagine that our protagonist
is a park ranger and not involved with the hospital administrator at all.

How do we get a park ranger to even be
aware of the hospital���much less the hospital administrator? Let���s add
bridging conflict…

Bridging Conflict: The protagonist���s mother suffers a heart attack and is taken to the
hospital.

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Bridging-Level Problem and Goal: The protagonist must face their mother���s mortality and juggle work
and watching over their mother���s treatment. (weaker, passive goal)

The story���s first several scenes could focus
on the protagonist, their mother, the initial emergency, their worries, the
treatment plan, whatever. At some point in the first 25% of the story, clues of
the main conflict are laid out.

Maybe the doctor���s treatment plan alludes
to experimental treatments that trigger the protagonist���s suspicions. Maybe at
the hospital cafeteria, the protagonist overhears several families weeping for patients
who suddenly ���didn���t make it.��� Maybe the elevator door opens for the
protagonist to catch snatches of nurses grumbling about how they���ll have to
find new jobs if the hospital���s death rate gets out to the media. Or maybe all
of the above.

The point is laying the groundwork to set
up the main conflict and story-level problem. In this example, the bridging
conflict and the main conflict are unrelated, and yet the bridging conflict
still sets the protagonist on the path toward the main conflict. That
connection carries the momentum of narrative drive and reader
interest from one conflict to another, making the story feel consistent and
whole. *smile*

Do you have any questions or insights about bridging conflict or how to use it?



Jami GoldResident Writing Coach

After muttering writing advice in tongues, Jami decided to put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fueled by chocolate, she creates writing resources and writes award-winning paranormal romance stories where normal need not apply. Just ask her family���and zombie cat. Find out more about Jami here, hang out with her on social media, or visit her website and Goodreads profile.
Twitter �� Facebook �� Pinterest

The post Build a Bridge: From Story Beginning to Main Conflict appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Doing Something Stupid While Impaired

Conflict is very often the magic sauce for generating tension and turning a ho-hum story into one that rivets readers. As such, every scene should contain a struggle of some kind. Maybe it’s an internal tug-of-war having to do with difficult decisions, morals, or temptations. Or it possibly could come from an external source���other characters, unfortunate circumstances, or the force of nature itself.

It’s our hope that this thesaurus will help you come up with meaningful and fitting conflict options for your stories. Think about what your character wants and how best to block them, then choose a source of conflict that will ramp up the tension in each scene.

Conflict: Doing Something Stupid While Impaired

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Category: Failures and mistakes, relationship friction, moral dilemmas and temptation, loss of control, ego

Examples:
Telling the boss or coworkers what they really think
Calling up an ex in hopes of getting back together
Calling up an ex to tell them off
Picking a fight
Taking stupid risks (jumping over a campfire, climbing out on a roof to stargaze, standing on a ledge to prove fearlessness, going swimming at night, wandering off with strangers)
Drunk driving
Indecent exposure
Sleeping with a best friend’s significant other, a co-worker, or other person who should be off limits
Trying to cross the friend zone when it’s a bad idea
Rioting during a celebration
Breaking the law
Pulling a dangerous prank where others get hurt
Sleeping with a stranger (when this is not the norm)
Abandoning friends to go off with strangers
Revealing a secret (their own, or a secret belonging to another)

Minor Complications:
Being hurt
Embarrassment or humiliation
Making a bad impression on someone
Losing the trust of others
Worrying loved ones
Letting someone down
Waking up in a compromised situation (alone in a sleazy hotel with no memory of what happened, having their wallet stolen, discovering they had unsafe sex or used drugs they would normally never take, etc.)
Causing their family, friends, or the company they work for embarrassment

Potentially Disastrous Results:
Discovering their actions while impaired were filmed and are now on the internet
Losing their job
Destroying a relationship over a bad choice (being unfaithful, sharing another’s secret and breaking trust forever, being caught in a lie, etc.)
Getting a disease (through unsafe sex or drug use)
Doing something that cannot be taken back (killing someone while driving impaired)
Being convicted of a crime and losing custody of one’s children
Being sued
Being convicted of a crime and going to jail
Hurting someone while under the influence
Being attacked while under the influence

Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
Shame over their own actions and anger at those who encouraged them to drink excessively
Guilt at losing control yet resenting the stress and pressure that led to the need to self-medicate
Embracing responsibility due to remorse while resenting others who never seem to suffer any consequences for their similar behavior
Feeling shame and humiliation but also that the punishment for this lapse in judgment is too much
Shame at what one did but horror and disbelief at the fallout

People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Family, friends, co-workers, a business’s image, people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and were injured or had to witness something they would have preferred not to see

Resulting Emotions: anguish, appalled, bitterness, contempt, denial, depressed, devastation, disappointment, disbelief, disgust, disillusionment, emasculated, embarrassment, guilt, horror, humiliation, hurt, hysteria, panic, powerlessness, regret, remorse, resentment, resignation, self-loathing, self-pity, shame, tormented, worthlessness

Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: addictive, childish, cocky, confrontational, disloyal, flaky, foolish, gullible, impulsive, irresponsible, jealous, macho, martyr, melodramatic, promiscuous, rebellious, reckless, rowdy, self-destructive, tactless, temperamental, unethical, vindictive, violent, volatile

Positive Outcomes: 
Hitting rock bottom and being determined it will never happen again
A realization that one’s drinking has become a problem and seeking help
Making a mistake and realizing to do so is human, letting go of perfectionist tendencies

If you’re interested in other conflict options, you can find them here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

This conflict thesaurus is still being developed, but if you would like to access our entire descriptive collection (14 unique thesauri and growing), visit our main site, One Stop for Writers.

The post Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Doing Something Stupid While Impaired appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

Permission to Play Video Games (Or Read, Draw, Knit, Whatever)

It happens to all of us: at some point, our creative well runs dry. There are lots of reasons for this, and one is that we become so focused on the work that we don’t allow ourselves to have fun. Farah Naz Rishi, a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, is here to tell us why we a break from our writing can often make it���and us���stronger.

I���ll admit it: I get distracted from writing all the time. I know I���m not alone; most writers also work other jobs, go to school, raise kids, juggling all the distractions and demands of life. And with so many things vying for our attention, play time is usually the first to drop from our demanding schedules. So naturally, as writers, we tell ourselves the only way to focus is to lock away any and all ���unnecessary��� distractions���our TV, our video games, even other books. With looming deadlines and the ever-hungry desire to achieve publication, what choice do we have? As the old adage goes, there is no art without suffering. 

After all, if you���re not focusing on your book, pouring your entire being into it like everyone else seems to be doing, then can you truly call yourself a writer? 

That was the approach I took when I first began writing my debut novel, I Hope You Get This Message. I refused to give myself days off, and for months, stopped playing video games���my favorite way to relax when I���m stressed. It didn���t matter that the kinds of video games I enjoy have epic, sweeping story lines that formed my love of story in the first place; I convinced myself I had to write fast, and I had to write well, with no room for compromise. Unsurprisingly, I quickly lost steam, and had to doggy-paddle my way through the soggy middle. My mental health took a turn for the worse, and eventually, my inability to write became so terrible that I began to doubt my ability to write anything, much less something of substance. 

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When I was at the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2016, our instructor, Jeanne Cavelos, explained the concept of a creative well that lives within each of us–the collective pool of media and experience from which we draw inspiration. But like any well, it can and often will run dry if you let it. Similarly, if you keep drawing from the same kinds of media over and over, if you refuse to diversify the material you absorb, then the work you produce will likewise fail to grow in new, interesting ways. For the first time in my life, I was given permission to read, to watch a show, or even play video games, instead of write. I was told that it was okay to play, to explore the spaces beyond the empty pages���and that in fact, sometimes, it���s vital to do so. 

I found my love of writing again when I allowed myself to step away from it. I used the occasional inability to focus to my advantage by critically engaging with the media I consumed, using the time away from my book as an opportunity to bring something new back to my writing. 

For example, if I���m not enjoying a movie, I home in on exactly why: Is it the stilted dialogue? Does the movie fail to develop tension���how? Am I not understanding how a character is struggling to achieve their goal? Like a crow, when I venture away from home, I���m always on the lookout for shiny objects to incorporate into my nest when I return. 

With this in mind, I gratefully leapt back into playing video games. But instead of a time-wasting distraction, I found inspiration. Games encourage exploration of environment to creatively reveal world-building. How could I use that, I wondered, in my own writing? I began to think about ways to think of worldbuilding on a micro level in I Hope You Get This Message, and in doing so, found deeper ways the characters could engage with the world around them, which in turn made them feel more real. Emboldened with these new ways to think about writing, I created an entire codex for my book, with most of it not even coming on the page but still deepening and enriching the process. 

By allowing myself to play, writing became less about explaining a story���a daunting process���and more about the fun challenge of designing a story, the way a game���s narrative designer would. As I wrote, I had to convince myself and my future readers that I was telling the story in the only and inevitable way it could be told, even though every story has opportunities for the narrative to branch and break (a concept that a majority of role-playing games pride themselves on). It seems silly now, looking back on it: of course writing wouldn���t be fun if I���d forgotten how to have fun. 

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The beauty is that video games are just one way to refill the creative well. Using the basic critical thinking framework of questioning why a story���any kind of story���works or doesn���t work for you applies to pretty much every form of media. And if you practice engaging with media that way, breaking down every story bit by bit, you begin to do so on a subconscious level; you won���t even realize you���re still, technically, working. 

So if you don���t have a writing instructor to give you permission, then allow me to assure you that there is no shame in taking a break. If you have a video game that���s collecting dust on your shelf, pick it up with the intention of refilling that ol��� creative well. Your writing will thank you for it. 

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Farah Naz Rishi is a Pakistani-American Muslim writer and voice actor, but in another life, she���s worked stints as a lawyer, a video game journalist, and an editorial assistant. She received her B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, and her love of weaving stories from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she���s not writing, she���s probably hanging out with video game characters. You can find her at home in Philadelphia, or on Twitter at @far_ah_way.

Just like Farah, students at Odyssey Writing Workshop commonly experience light-years of epiphany that influence their work for years to come. Odyssey is now accepting applications for its annual six-week residential workshop for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. This year’s workshop takes place June 1 – July 10 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Scholarship opportunities are available.

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