Plus, some Storyfix.com updates on coaching and a few new ebooks.
Submitting your work for evaluation and coaching can feel like a daunting experience. Sometimes things don’t work as well as you thought, or hoped, and the feedback feels more like backpeddling than the forward-energizing catalyst that it really is.
And then there are those times when the feedback is nothing short of affirmation and tips on how to make “good” into “great.”
That’s what today’s case study is all about. Read this one to see what a solid concept looks like, and how it empowers the subsequent concept that leverages it.
That’s the Big Ticket you’re after. Your story may be wonderful, but when it’s built on a mountain of gold instead of the mundane sand of what we’re already doing day in and day out, you have a real shot at taking it to higher ground.
Read it here: A Case Study in Whole.
Feel free to add your thoughts and feedback so this writer can get there even quicker.
If you’d like your concept/premise put under this same microscope, and if you’ve got the 49 bucks it takes, click HERE.
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Storyfix.com Updates
Kirkus Reviews – two of my novels have just been reviewed by Kirkus. Check them out here:
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New Story Coaching Level – I’ve just launched new level of story analysis, tucked (sequentially and strategically) between the Quick-Hit Concept Analysis, and the Full Story Plan Analysis… focusing on the dramatic arc of your story.
The Dramatic Arc Analysis is a Questionnaire-driven process that allows you to isolate your core dramatic story, position your protagonist within it, and assess the story physics of it relative to reader response. It’s only $95 ($75 if you’ve already done a Quick-Hit Concept Analysis for that story). Click HERE (scroll down when you do) for more.
Also, I’ve expanded (added options) to my Full Manuscript Evaluation service, which has been available for $1800.
That service remains (it includes integrated feedback on each scene, and often mid-scene commentary as necessary, as well as a full summary evaluation and my comments on your Full Story Plan Questionnaire, which is included. Trust me, you won’t find this level of value elsewhere.
But if you don’t have $1800 to spend…
The NEW LEVEL of the Full Manuscript Plan is available for only $1200. This is a full read-and-evaluation service leading to a comprehensive coaching document, in which the effectiveness of the storytelling is broken down and analyzed, with strategies for upgrade.
In essence, the lower-cost program is a solution for writers who don’t need (and don’t want to pay for) copy/line editing and scene-specific feedback, but are seeking a comprehensive evaluation of how the novel works, or not.
It’s like a book review on steroids, optimized for the author him/herself, with coaching on how to solve problems and reach for higher ground.
Contact me for more and/or how to get started.
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Several new Storyfix eBooks are now available on Amazon.com, from 99 cents to $2.99. These tutorials are expansions and updates on earlier Storyfix posts that you may have missed, or wish to revisit. They include:
Three Men and a Manuscript – a forum on storytelling craft with three writing teacher/mentor/guru types — James Scott Bell, Randy Ingermanson, and me –with a focus on what’s working in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace. ($2.99 on Amazon.com.)
The Six Great Epiphanies of Successful Authors – helps you zero-in on what highly successful authors are doing, and how… things that the rest of us often struggle to discover and implement in our own process. (Only 99 cents on Amazon.com.)
Stuck in the Middle – a tutorial on how and why manuscripts tend to stray – or run into a brick wall – after the setup qaurtile and before the resolution scenes, both of which are easier to visualize and execute. This tutorial was originally an article in Writers Digest Magazine. (Only 99 cents on Amazon.com.)
The Lie: Toxic Untruths Being Fed to Aspiring Writers Today – The title says it all. A couple of reviewers aren’t happy (tempting to say here, with a Jack Nicholson tone, some writers can’t handle the truth…) , though one of them took the time to attempt to deliver the entire content of the book (which he acknowledges as accurate) in the review itself. Judge for yourself. True is true, but only one of us has the credibility to write about it, rather than simply rip it off. (On Amazon for only 99 cents.)
When Every Month is NaNoWriMo – an award-winning ebook on making your National Novel Writing Month more than an investment of time with an emphasis on quantity, by lending a context of story quality into the writing process itself. (On Amazon for $2.99.)
The Newbie 101 Guide to How to Really Write a Novel or Screenplay: A Manifesto on Process vs. Wandering in the Dark – not just for writers who like long titles… this book cuts through the crap of “how” to create a connection between process and effectiveness, without taking sides. See if you have the guts to face the truth about what it takes to nail your story. (On Amazon for 99 cents.)
The Inner Life of Deadly Faux – now here’s something you’ve never seen before: the biography of a novel, written by its author, telling the story of its arduous journey to publication, living up to its award-winning prequel and the take-aways and life lessons (not to mention writing lessons) that remain. (114 pages of illumination, on Amazon for $2.99.)
“Gone Girl” – A Model of Modern Structure: A Storyfix.com tutorial – if you’ve read any of my many deconstructions of bestsellers on this site, you know you won’t want to miss this one. (On Amazon for just 99 cents.)
What You May Have Missed About “50 Shades of Grey”: A Manifesto on the Cause and Effect of this Story – if you dare. Or if you want to learn why this book exploded, despite what so many writers are saying about it. Don’t be fooled, you want some of what she’s having. (on Amazon for 99 cents.)
More affordable eBooks on the way, in addition to a continuing flow of free content for thinking writers. Stay tuned.
7 Responses
Where can I preorder the book? Great googlymooglies it sounds good.
I’d be cautious about explaining too much about the Book of Kells. Those of us who know and love it feel like insiders. Explaining it in a way that tries to enlist the love of outsiders hollows it out.
Consider an example: when a movie leaves geek details out, geeks get it and love it. Others may or may not. Explain the details too much and the geeks get bored and don’t love it. Others may.
So is the book’s audience those who already know and love Irish history, culture, and art, or is the goal to replicated Dan Brown? Either is fine, but it’d be a real tightrope to pull both ways.
I’d only put in details that are relevant to moving the plot along. Details in the book that reveal old cults that oppose each other may point the hero as to who is behind the latest theft. Details that reveal history that have no bearing in the plot–then it’s becoming personal interest as cool as it may be.
Consider the very successful first Matrix movie that to this day has never been equaled. Much of the movie (other than the special effects) was presenting the human psyche as a construction to be manipulated for another being’s gain, or for the very individual himself to become self empowered. Even this depth of psychology discussed was still relevant to the plot as in why the blind couldn’t see they were batteries for someone else, and why The One (Neo) could be different–only if he applied himself to the Esoteric world within his Self (the movie stresses that most are only interested in what’s outside their Self, working to purchase stuff and to use any distraction possible from Self contemplation).
First person stories should involve depth like the Matrix, but instead usually deal with boring opinions of the exoteric (what everyone else is doing, instead of how one is Being).
This is a solid case study and Larry sure targets in on what is most important. I want to know why this scholar cares more about the Kells than others. I want to know why thieves would only want a few pages and not the whole book. People who go to such lengths are usually not always completely motivated by money. They want something so much for some compelling-to-them reason. It will be key to nail solid goals, motivations and conflicts for your main characters. Best!
Larry, this example is a most excellent learning tool!
Many of us, myself included, learn best through an example applying the tool to the clay.
Much appreciated,
Kerry
“The book has been rebound into four volumes and many pages are currently missing. ”
If the above is true, then this story can be marketed as “based upon a true story”. That always catches people’s eyes. If possible, weave the previous theft as being a detriment in some way to your hero: if not that long ago, then have her take the blame (for the first theft) somehow, or lost her job or had some kind of loss to it–something that would develop compassion. Or if it’s far in the past, have a relative or someone your protagonist looks-looked up to that suffered the above.
Speaking of the pages that were originally missing (and consider the pages that are targeted), then what was on the pages that was so important to steal? The usual reason is due to a coveted love, but instead, how about disdain and hatred for what was on the page–or for who was the creator of (artwork?) that page, or maybe the hatred is for the organization that backed the writer represented?
For example, the famous Egyptian Sphinx was defaced, and thus a crime against history. But why was it defaced? Jealousy I believe is the public story, but the REAL story is that the face of the Sphinx was defaced so the race (of the face) and thus true heritage of so called “Egypt” itself–would be hidden. (The face was Caucasian and flies in the face of “official history”). Case in point is the DNA of the so called Egyptian Kings has been traced back to the West, as in ancient Ireland. This goes against the official historical farce that keeps people from the truth of their past, as in where they really came from, and from “whom”. The real question is who would benefit from hiding Earth’s real history, and what would be that benefit?
Things are not as they appear, and what is “popular” does not equate to “fact”. This is the real attraction of the DaVinci Code, as in the past is hiding a truth that powerful people don’t want you to know about. But we all love to hear about secrets…
Kerry
Kerry – your story about the sphinx is fascinating! I’d read that story, too!
Bravo! Sounds like a fantastic book. I, too, wish you HUGE success!