Adding the Magic to your Story

Is writing your story harder than you thought it would be? Welcome to a very large club. Sure it’s hard.  But maybe it’s you.  Maybe you need to look at your process differently. Be honest — are you basing your writing, are you staking your dream, on your experience as a reader?  Do you really believe that […]

Addressing A Few Misconceptions, Misnomers and Items of Miscellaneous Mischief

Three-Act Structure vs. Four-Part Structure In response to a recent post about writing in different genres – my point being that emphasis, rather than license, is the only real separation between them – I heard from one reader asking if… westerns require the four-part structure, like the other genres require it, or if they can […]

Something For the Literary Voyeur

Before going there… … remember that television commercial I was raving about a few weeks ago?  The “Does Your Man Smell Like Me” concept?  Well… it just won an Emmy Award as the best television commercial of the year.  And; now… A Peek At Another Writer’s Story Analysis One of the things I do in my […]

Two More Killer Visual Story Development Tools

Thanks to Rachel Savage, our resident genius process graphicsmeister. Well, she’s done it again.  Rachel – she of the recently-applauded circus tent story structure graphic – has designed two extensions of that potent visual storytelling analogy (“the major story milestones are like poles supporting the weight of a massive tent, beneath which exists the universe […]

The Mystery and the Romance of Structure

One of the most frequently asked and therefore legit questions on this venue concerns the applicability of the principles of story structure to genre fiction, especially mysteries and romances. If you’re writing a screenplay, the answer is simple: nothing is different among the genres.  You have three acts to work with (equivalent to the novelist’s […]

Eat, Pray, Write

In the 14 months since the launch of this blog, many readers have discovered the presence and the power of a pervasive, omnipresent storytelling model.  A structural standard and commercial expectation.  I prefer to think of them as a set of literary physics that – like gravity in athletics, rhythm in music and communications in […]

The Big Daddy of Story Structure Visual Prompts

In one of my posts I referred to the major milestones within a story as tent poles, supporting the weight of the canvas of your story.  Sort of like a circus tent.  The show is inside, but something has to keep the whole thing from crashing down on itself. That analogy made its way into […]

A Simple Story Development Tool 4 U

Here’s Your Beat Sheet Template There are many ways to create a “beat sheet.”  On a computer.  On a sheet of typing paper.  On the back of an envelope.  3 by 5 cards.  A string of yellow sticky notes. If you aren’t familiar with the term, a “beat sheet” is a bulleted listing of the […]

A Few Bad Writing Habits

A guest post by humor blogger Chris Scott from DeadCaterpillar.com. Quick intro from your Storyfix host: There’s nothing funny about bad writing habits.  Or bad writing.  What follows here is neither, though it is funny. Especially if you miss some of it the first time.  I know I did.  If that’s you, too, it’s time relax.  […]