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48 Responses

  1. Dear Larry, I have been reading your book “Story Engineering”. I have found some very interesting food for thought in it. I am about 43000 words into my novel. I have developed my novel organically with the idea of writing the first draft, letting it rest and then doing the editing and finalization.

    I like the planned approach that you advocate. Where can I get more into on your beatsheet so that I can understand the terminology used in it?

    Regards
    Jackie Dover

  2. Larry, I’ve digested some of your articles on plot point, pinch point, mid-point, lull before SSP – but you got me on through-line. Thanks for the blank beat sheet form tool. I’m really looking forward to working with it. And thanks for your invitation to join Writers on the Brink. On the brink of what? Ciao Rita.

  3. I definitely enjoy learning more about the craft. I’ve been studying for years, and applying it all to my writing. I’ve seen improvements in my work along the way, and I’ve been able to help others by passing my knowledge along. I’ll thank you, in advance, for all the wonderful things I’m going to learn here.

    Sincerely,
    Al

  4. Okay Larry, stop reading this and get back to writing! (Just kidding!)

    Thansk for the beat sheet, I’ll see what I can do with it.

    Okay, so I am procrastinating about writing some stories welling up inside my overly active cranium. Got to get working on them!

  5. I have finally met (at least online) the one person who is experienced and willing to listen, vulnerable and strong enough to fuel passion and growth, experienced and yet patient. I didn’t think those dualities could exist in a believable character let alone a person. I here you stand, kindly handing out tools to other writers along with encouragement. And developing a community for writers to come and immediately feel at home and driven at the same time. You, Larry, are a very rare species and I thank you for being here for me and for every writer needing someone to turn to in the struggles of our passion. Thank you for the beat sheet, the community, and you. Yours truly and sincerely ( ;), Lee J Tyler

  6. I just finished reading your book When Every Month is NaNoWriMo. I wrote a book a few years ago during NaNaoWriMo that I want to publish (and have participated and “won” every year thereafter), but I did it the pantser way. I feel that the book I want to publish is pretty decent, but needs quite a bit of editing, so I am going back now with the help from your book and working through editing it by using a beat sheet in Excel format (I didn’t know I could download a free template from this site!). But the main thing is that I think this is going to fix the problems with that manuscript that I could not previoulsy identify. I had shelved it and kept procrastinating further work on it becuase I didn’t know where to start. I am now working on it and am pretty excited! I am no longer afraid of the dreaded word “outline” and see how this is a necessary way to write a book without getting totally lost along the way. I also have Story Engineering and plan to read it too. It’s a lot to keep in mind when writing (almost like I felt when learning to drive a straight-shift car years ago, or perhaps a better analogy would be juggling twelve balls at once) but the assistance with structure makes sense to me and I am sure will provide useful tools. Thanks for all the practical help.

  7. Hi Larry,I have a kindle, and have read in the last three years over 120 books on it,and I’m happy to say your book ,storyEnginering wasoneof them, I learned alot. My problem is appling the six core comps. to my book. Not because I don’t understand them, because I do, but I now want to start a new story, but this time I want to OUTLINE. I want to start fresh with something new and mabye get it right this time. Last time was a pantser, this time a planner, just hope I can figure out how to properly outline! If you have any hints as to format, I’d certainly appreciate it. jm

  8. Thank you Mr Brooks, for the beat sheet. I’ve read your story engineering book – it’s really great! Also, I’ve just finished Lisa Miller’s Story Structure Safari over at Margie Lawson’s LWA, which incorporates your great work. Soooo useful, even though I’m in the late stages of editing/reviewing my novel.
    Cheers
    Bron

  9. Thanks, Larry. Loved the beat sheet. Just what I needed. But I can’t seem to get to the newsletter part (“writers on the brink.”) of the subscription. I’ll keep trying.
    Tom

  10. Hi cousin! 🙂 long time, no see! Looks like you’re doing well and happy! the website is really nice!
    luv, Chris xxoo

  11. What a great Book! I enjoyed reading “Story Engineering.” It changed everything about my novel I was working on because I realized it lacked a real story. Thank you for providing such a detailed guide on writing stories! Now, my reviewers use comments like “Wow! Action!” “Wow what a crisp story! What happens next?”

    I’m currently removing ‘dead’ scenes from my novel and replacing them with scenes that move the story, build the action, add suspense. Oh, and thank you for the beat sheet, I was going to make my own.

    Dave Barber
    Albuquerque, NM
    31 March 2012

  12. I have a suggestion for the Storyfix site that will help it’s community grow. I have been looking at WordPress for my own site (I am hoping to soon be up!) and I came across a few plugins that allowed a blog to become a social media page. It allowed users to create their own accounts, linking them to their comments. Also allows for users to attach all their other social media accounts (messengers, facebook, twitter, etc) to this one, giving more interconnectivity to other sites.

    I am sure there are ways to even associate accounts to newsletters. I can see this as a natural extension for this site, perhaps creating a free peer critique group that you can chime in on that runs parallel to your newsletter.

    It is just a suggestion, but one I feel will improve this site. Hope I could help.

  13. Just wanted to say, I’ve been a lurker here for a month now. EXCELLENT content. I look forward to the newletters.

  14. Regarding questions of character, my protagonist is a 12 year old child, am I right in thinking that certain questions cannot be asked of her merely because she hasn’t lived long enough? Or is there another way to tackle those questions?

  15. I am only half way through Story Engineering and I have already learned more than I ever did in all those writing workshops that cost me hundreds of dollars.
    Thank you Larry Brooks!

  16. Thanks so much for the beat sheet. I wrote my first NaNo novel by the seat of my pants. Ugh. I now have a huge editing job ahead of me. Your posts and the beat sheet are invaluable.

  17. I have three finished romance suspense novels and I am working on a new novel that is a speculative fiction/romance/suspense with a touch of fantasy.I’ll figure out what category it falls into when it is finished.So far I have been hesitant to submit a query for any of them at least until I finish the rewrites and editing. StoryFix has been a major influence in my writing since I first contacted Larry when I lived in a remote area of Alaska and he was generous enough to e mail me back.I live in the lower 48 now and I still read and save all the StoryFix articles.Thanks again Larry:)

  18. recently i live in small village near one of the big cities in Kazakhstan. My dial up connection is seldom and slow. so I printed as much of your articles as i can. Like i was in a cave full of gold and had not much time cos of some cause that cave were disapering.
    I study, learning hard. I think, you probably notice that english is not my native language, so i tell you in my mother tongue – Kop ryakhmyat Larry Aka – for your work, and gift to the world.

  19. Love the personal statement Larry. Didn’t know it was Billy Joel who said that?…

    I’ll tell you what I love most about storyfix, and well, you, it’s not (and you’re not) an over-stuffed, pretentious, bloviating jerk like some of the other writing bloggers out there. I love your real, I love your honest, and I love storyfix. It’s nice to hear a published author say they struggle, with anything. Anyone and everyone who’s tried to write knows it’s a struggle. It’s an uphill battle. Your encouragement has kept me sane, well, at least thinking I’m sane (even if it’s not true) on many occasions. THANK YOU. I plug you on my Facebook/twitter all the time, and I’m proud to do so.
    Keep the good stuff coming. 🙂

  20. i am a aspiring fantasy writer. i want to write a fantasy series and need a little help getting started. please any advice you can give me would be welcome. thanks

  21. thanks for the beat sheet tell me more about your community please i am a struggling writer trying to learn what steps i need to take, in order to get my books published. and make a living as a freelance writer. and I am not sure where to start so any help i could get would be appreciated.

  22. Sensi – I’m am prepared to vanquish soggy storylines, kick bland booty, slay the adverb monster… and once I have done those things, then I will be a man. Or at least I’ll be a guy who belongs to a community of writers working to improve their craft. Thanks for the opportunity.

  23. Hi Larry. Am a fan since yonks. Story Engineering’s my Bible. Passed it around at a Creative Writing Workshop here last week and our dear ‘Leader’ says it’s too ‘complicated’, but wants to get it (contradiction?!!). I think it’s well constructed, tho’ peppered with a plethora of ‘Larry’ idiosyncracies, but I benefited immensely and am eternally grateful to you!!!!!

    Many thanx for Beatsheet. You are so generous.

  24. @sanpeterson – you’re the first person to comment on that, and your kind words are encouraging. You don’t see this much, probably a bit of a risk, but one of my hallmarks is transparency and vulnerability, and I thought it was good to declare why I write with the intensity that I do. So thanks for noticing.
    L.

  25. Love the snappy Personal Statement that describes you so well and reflects your motivation and energy. Every writer should have a PS, and yours seems capable of inspiring us to write one.

  26. Thanks for the beat sheet, Mr. Brooks! Your website has been my go-to website for all my writing needs, and whenever I see an email of one of your posts in my inbox, I think “Yes! Here’s the motivation I need!”. I am excited to see this newsletter, as I am sure it will be filled with all though great tips, facts, inspiration and motivation I’ve come to find in all your posts!

    P.S. Love the new look for the website. Excellent design. Clean, fresh, easy to navigate…it’s beautiful!

  27. Items Ordered
    Price
    Warm Hugs for Writers [Kindle Edition]
    By: Larry Brooks
    Sold By: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

    $6.99

    Item(s) Subtotal: $6.99
    —-
    Total Before Tax: $6.99
    Tax Collected: $0.00
    —-
    Total for this Order: $6.99 Randy sent me!

  28. I always FELT a part of your “community” and now I am officially in… yeah! I don’t see a lot of difference with the new layout. I like it just as much as the old one. 🙂

    @Curtis – Yes Sir, you said it. Thank you for doing so and please keep it up. 🙂

  29. @Larry. Nice front. Tidy. The eye slides over the site comfortably. Like a good photograph nothing leads my eye out of the picture but always leads me back into it.

    @L. Zern. ” Tinfoil on the rabbit ears.” Well, there are at least two of us here. I took the foil off the ears and made a hat of it. Works great. And, you are right. “Sincerely.” We did use that a lot. Kinda went with “Yes, Ma’am, No, Ma’am, thank you and please.”

  30. What just happened? I’m not sure what I just signed up for, but I’m sure I’ll come to love it. That’s how most things happen for me, technologically speaking, because when I was a kid there was tinfoil on the rabbit ears. I do know one thing, until I read “Story Engineering” I was a lone woman wandering about in the wilderness of “seat of the pants land” constantly asking annoyed strangers, “There’s got to be a better way to do this. Right?” Sincerely, L. Zern (When I was a kid, we used the word sincerely–a lot.)

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