Noted Author Series: Jennie Shortridge
(NOTE: see the post that follows this one for a pre-release special offer on Larry’s new ebook, Story Structure – Demystified.) And now, a special treat… This is the first of a series of posts from published authors I’ve invited to contribute to Storyfix, on the subject of “what I wish I knew about getting published […]
About NaNoWriMo – Three Ways to Thrive, One Sure Way to Suck
Beginning next week, if you hear what sounds like a flock of Hitchcockian birds descending on your neighborhood, that’s just the collective sound of thousands of keyboards on frantic overload. Because about 50,000 writers will be pounding away on a new novel, sweating blood to finish within 30 days as part of National Novel Writing Month. […]
3 Storytelling Exercises That Can Get You Published
Our stories are very much like lovers. We choose them as a reflection of ourselves and our needs. They’re seductive. Compelling and oddly rewarding. Warm. Dangerous. Sexy. Fulfilling. Fun. And, if we’ve chosen well, they’re deliciously challenging. They’re also a little needy and insecure. Sometimes unpredictable, even fickle. Often high maintenance. Occasionally jealous. Prone to […]
Watch and Learn: 10 Television Shows for Writers
(Quick side note: check out my guest post today on Copyblogger.com — “Why Content is No Longer King.”) Novelists are loath to admit they watch television. It’s like a chef admitting they enjoy a dripping hot Whopper every now and then. With extra cheese. And while there’s an abundance of unabashed crap on television these […]
Shades of Gray: A Somewhat Liberating Spin on Story Structure
If you’ve been challenged by the notion – or if you’re in complete denial – that effective stories can and should be broken down into sequential parts, that each of these parts has a unique contextual mission to fulfill, and that each segment is separated by a critical milestone that must accomplish certain storytelling feats… […]
It’s Free Tip Sunday!
You already know I’ve written an ebook called “101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters.” And you know it’s for sale right here, too. This is the fifth of those tips that I’ve posted. My hope is that you’ll like what you see, get your whistle wetted, and want to see the other 96 […]
Getting It Down on Paper: The Pantsers-Piano Analogy
I get hate mail. I really do. It’s from people who don’t accept – who don’t even want to hear about it – that there are standards and principles and rules when it comes to writing publishable fiction. That there is such as a thing as story architecture, which is the sum of structure and […]
Is There Seventh Core Competency?
In the creation and evangelizing of my story development model, the Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling, I like to tell people that there is nothing in the realm of writing fiction that doesn’t fall into one of these six buckets. Why? First of all, because it’s true. But also, when you deal in such […]
A Deeper Look at Character
I know this guy. Everybody in our circle of friends knows him. They go back years (not me, I’m the newbie in the group, which makes me analogous to the reader of a story… I just sit back and watch the pages unfold). Everybody, in context to this group dynamic, seems to like him. But […]
Next Best Analogy – Put Your Banker Hat On
‘Tis the season to be analogous, it seems. At least here on Storyfix. Two days ago I offered up a way to think about your story that may help bring it to a more fulfilled life – try thinking about it as a person, a human being, with all the complexities and contradictions and inherent […]