An Easy Approach to Story Building : The Bedtime Story Model

A Holiday Gift to Writers, from Art Holcomb Novelists and screenwriters are like cousins twice removed. We only cross paths occasionally but, when we start swapping stories, it can be fascinating what each can learn from the other. (Larry note: it’s also fascinating how much they can resist each other.  Which is a shame, because […]

Story Structure: What “going with the flow” Really Means

From Plot Points to narrative quartiles.  This truth will set you free. Anyone who tells you to ignore the principles of story structure is: a) confusing process with outcome; b) telling you to “do it like I do it, because I am a genius,” and c) making the entire storytelling proposition orders of magnitude more […]

Story Structure for Dummies

A Ceiling-Cracking Epiphany for Newer and Unaware Writers An Explanation of the Inevitable for Frustrated Practitioners There was a time, a decade or so, when you couldn’t write a headline like that. Because it seems to say one of two things: if you don’t understand this then you’re a dummy… or… you know you’re not […]

Writing Successful Fiction: When What You Don’t Know Trumps What You Do Know

A tale of mishandled craft sinking the story ship. Quick story from the writing conference front. A few weeks ago I was doing a couple of workshops at a major writing conference, and as is often the case at these gatherings, the spare hours between sessions were spent meeting one-on-one with writers to go over […]