How to Elevate Your Story Above the Eager Crowd

The “crowd” is pretty good, too.   And they want what you want.  

So you need to be better.

Greetings from Los Angeles, where I’m presenting at the Writers Digest Novel Writing Conference.  I did two sessions yesterday, and later today I’m doing a workshop entitled: “Your Story on Steroids.”

This is why I like working with Writers Digest.

Not just because they publish my writing books and put my articles in their magazine (or that they sent me to China last month), they’re just cool, hip, really smart people.  They allowed me to use this title, they got the analogy.

I’ve tried several times to get this title on the agenda at a handful of other conferences, who were scared off by the word “steroids.”

Ooo… scary.  Steroids.  Bad.

Sure, they’re illegal if you’re talking about anabolic medication.  But not in this context, the context of writing really strong, compelling stories.  In that context we need all the medicine we can get, and we need the science that makes it happen.

And it’s an analogy, folks… deal with it.  It — in this analogous context — won’t make you sick and it won’t make your testicles shrink to the size of chick peas, nor will you go to hell for getting the analogy.

Anyhow, in preparation for today I’ve created a killer Powerpoint slide deck that doesn’t mince words.  I’d like to share it with you, too.  The people here paid for the live presentation and discussion, but the content is universal, and I’d like you to have it.

Get it here: Story on Steroids.

There’s a new structure graphic here, too (slide #32), that simplifies the four part, 7-milestone story structure model, worthy of printing out.  For all your visual thinkers out there.

Because good doesn’t cut it these days.

Our stories have to be great to separate from the incoming stream of good stories, most of which will be rejected for precisely that: they are merely good, totally solid… but not great.

Publishers are looking for the next home run.  Not the next book to take up a slot on a bookstore shelf.

Let’s be great today.  Hope this helps.

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How to Elevate Your Story Above the Eager Crowd is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

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