Your Next Deconstruction Challenge

If you’ve just arrived here via Copyblogger, welcome!  We’re all about going deep into the infrastructure and principles of effective storytelling, and we’d love to have you join us. Just saw Shutter Island, the Martin Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio based on the Dennis Lehane novel.  And I’m here to tell you, if you’re a […]

Writing… All Over the Place

Dogs and cats.  Yankee fans and Red Sox fans.  Conservatives and liberals.  Studio projects and independent films.  We live in a divided global culture that thrives on tension and occasionally throws a punch. Thank God we’re less concerned these days with race and sexual preference than we are with Team Edward versus Team Jacob. But […]

Storytelling to the Beat of a Different Drummer

Introducing My Very Favorite Creative Writing Tool Whether you’re a plotter or a plodder, a planner or a pantser, organized or organic … at the end of the writing day we are all faced with the very same daunting question: what do we write next? From that outrageously complex question springs other key questions and […]

For Your Consideration – Announcing the Release of “Whisper of the Seventh Thunder”

An Edgy, Secular Apocalyptic Thriller from USA Today Bestselling Author Larry Brooks… a.k.a, the Storyfixer. Any writer who tells you that the release of their latest novel isn’t cause for both excitement and self-doubt is lying through their clenched teeth.  It’s been six years since my last book, and while my storytelling chops are still […]

The Pantser’s Guide to Story Planning – Part Two

The Minimum First Tier Things an Organic Writer Needs to Know About a Story Before It Will Work The second installment of a two-part series. (Read Part One of this series here.) The Nine Things You Should Know Before You Begin Writing This reminds me of that old Steve Martin joke: How do you avoid […]

The Pantser’s Guide to Story Planning – Part One

The Minimum First Tier Things an Organic Writer Needs to Know About a Story Before It Will Work The first installment of a two-part series. Over the course of this debate about story planning versus organic, seat-of-the-pants story development, I’ve come to realize several things. Most notably, that we are all in the same boat, […]

The Thing About Sub-Plots

Certain storytelling questions keep popping up.  One of them, and a goodie, is this: does a sub-plot follow the same principles of linear structure as the main plotline?  In other words, does the sub-plot also – like your main plotline – unfold over four contextually different parts, each separated by a succinctly defined milestone story-point? […]

A Slightly Off-Color Joke for Anyone Who Has Published a Book, or Wants To

(Disclaimer: this is a moment of good-natured humor, though of a slightly — and only slightly — less than Sunday morning nature.  There is no sexualty, it’s a language thing, though only implied and alliterative.  If you don’t know what that means you’re already in the wrong place.  Storyfix is an equal opportunity offender.) If […]

Deconstructing Avatar – The Final Act

The stories we write are like life itself. I’m not referring to how they reflect life – which they absolutely should do – or how poignantly you’ve rendered a character and how powerful your themes may be. No, I’m talking now about structure and exposition.  About what happens.  The way we close out our lives […]

Deconstructing Avatar – The Second Half of Act II

A closer look at the third quartile of a two million dollar home run story. Since the last post a reader got in touch to share his opinion of Avatar, story-wise.  Not so good.  Which prompts me to clarify, and to seize the teachable moment. I’m not qualitatively endorsing the entertainment merits of Avatar.  That’s […]