Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Paula Munier
Read between
October 23 - October 29, 2024
When it comes to theme, proverbs are a great resource. Think of the proverbs that might apply to your story.
“I write the ending first. Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.”
“The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.”
some classic volumes that will encourage you to write the story you were born to write.
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
If action is character, then we need to make our characters do something. This is where plot comes
(1) your agent is always right, and (2) plot pays.)
It’s all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through time and changes taking place, and that’s what we call ‘the plot.’”
Walking contradictions make the most compelling characters, because they are the most like real people.
When you develop your characters, start with your protagonist.
Psychologists like to say that there are six people in every couple’s bed: him, her, and both sets of parents.
They’ll do precisely the thing that they know is wrong, take a perverse delight in doing the wrong thing.”
“I suppose all fictional characters, especially in adventure or heroic fiction, at the end of the day, are our dreams about ourselves. And sometimes they can be really revealing.”
“Show the readers everything, tell them nothing.”
It’s all talk—and no walk. Nothing happens, or if it does, the reader hears about it secondhand,
A scene is defined by its continuous action. This is
There are three basic kinds of story questions: the leading question, the big story questions, and the little story questions.
The most riveting stories are those that mix big and little story questions throughout the narrative and are driven by the leading question.
The beginning of your story is the point at which everything is about to change.
The beginning is “Once upon a time there was protagonist X—and then Y happens, changing everything for X.”
The middle is where X must deal with all of the complications resulting from Y.
Y Squared is X’s worst nightmare—and to survive, X needs to become that best self, once and for all.
poignant love stories end this way. Think of Margaret
INCITING INCIDENT: This is the ACT ONE event that jump-starts the action of your story—and prompts the reader to ask Big Story Question 1.
It’s usually a cycle, a coming and a returning.”
a great mystery should take ‘the lid off life and let [you] look at the works.’”
(1) Make it something—or someone—hard to get, and (2) make it something—or someone—well suited to your genre.
figure out if that character is losing or gaining something—physically,
emotionally, spiritually—by the end of the scene.
The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
Try to alternate plus and minus scenes if and when you can. Note: This is a pacing trick that works. More on
There’s an old adage in publishing: The first page sells the book, the last page sells the next book.
The beginning is bloated and boring.
The middle sags. The end is rushed.
your USP, which should be on display in your opening pages,
Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing by Elmore Leonard.
Another red flag is starting with a character alone.
Aim for at least two to four subplots as you plan your story.
Emma’s persistent desire to play the matchmaker in Jane Austen’s Emma.
The harder you are on her, the better your story will be. Remember: What doesn’t kill your hero makes your story stronger.
I can’t imagine ever writing a novel without at least one murder.”
“How to Write with Style” by Kurt Vonnegut
Show us a face of your setting that we have not seen before. And make sure that it’s closely related to your theme, so much so that it can become a character in your story.
“Writers must describe the terrible. And one way to describe the terrible is to write comically, of course.”
you do have to milk the conflict. As we’ve seen, conflict is the engine of drama, and weaving conflict through your storyline helps you keep the reader’s attention.
“Now, what is it which makes a scene interesting? If you see a man coming through a doorway, it means nothing. If you see him coming through a window—that is at once interesting.”
two kinds of conflict, one of them always being inner conflict (the conflict between your hero and himself). The remaining types of conflict qualify as external conflict (the conflict between your hero and something outside himself).
“There’s a lot of conflict and darkness inside everybody’s family. We all pretend to outsiders
that it’s not so, but behind locked doors, there are usually high emotions running.”
it’s too easy to tell readers what’s happening rather than showing them.
