A Call For Community
Last week we launched the new “Peer Review Page,” where writers at all levels can post their work, and anybody can read it and offer up their feedback.
Feedback is good. Especially when it comes from other writers.
It is truly a win-win deal. Because once you know story architecture — which is the objective here — you can’t “unsee” it. You recognize it on the page when you do see it (with an appreciation of how it makes the story work), and you miss it when you don’t.
Those very realizations cement your grasp of what will make your stories work.
And, it should be noted, despite our best intentions we don’t usually see story architecture on our pages the same way others do. So it’s good to get feedback.
Confirm or coach. It’s a gift both ways.
When we launched there were four wonderful pieces posted, and they have received some solid, illuminating feedback. They’re still here, but now they have company.
Since then other brave authors have followed suit, and now there is a much larger handful of submissions to choose from. What follows here is a linked menu, including a SYNOPSIS/LOGLINE to catch your eye.
I encourage you to read these pieces and offer your comments. That’s the engine of this opportunity, so please make a little time and read something you just might find amazing.
Because amazing is here in these listings.
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August 23, 2011
AUTHOR: Melinda Jones
TITLE: “Try To Say No”
GENRE: Adult contemporary fiction
SYNOPSIS/LOGLINE: She should say no. But she won’t.
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AUTHOR: Lois Hudson
TITLE: “The Tenth Month”
GENRE: Adult Contemporary/Speculative Edge
PREMISE/SYNOPSIS: What if God closed the womb to get the world’s attention because of our cavalier attitudes toward life?
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AUTHOR: Olga Oliver
TITLE: “Lizbeth’s Journey” (Mainstream, partial novel)
GENRE: Mainstream
SYNOPSIS: What if three secrets are unlocked and give Lizbeth Kelleye her real self.
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August 21, 2011
AUTHOR: Jennifer Vaughn
TITLE: “When the Demons Come” (WIP)
GENRE: Mainstream commercial fiction
SYNOPSIS/LOGLINE: Lyla Chandler is pregnant. But when the doctor tells her there’s something very unique about her pregnancy, it becomes the perfect way to escape a nightmare.
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August 20, 2011
AUTHOR: Jennifer Vaughn
TITLE: “Echo Valley”
GENRE: Adult contemporary mainstream fiction
SYNOPSIS/LOGINE: Single mother hairdresser Bo Carmichael becomes an unacceptable risk when she unwittingly catches a leading presidential candidate in a compromising position.
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August 19, 2011
AUTHOR: Luisa Perkins
TITLE: “The Desolate”
GENRE: YA/Fanatasy (novel partial)
SYNOPSIS/LOGLINE: Out-of-body experiences? Cool–until your life gets stolen while you’re gone.
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August 18, 2011
AUTHOR: Fiona Mackenzie
TITLE: “Watching Chinooks”
GENRE: Women’s short fiction
DESCRIPTION: a story told against a military setting
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August 15, 2011
AUTHOR: Martha Pound Miller
TITLE: “Virgin of the Desert”
GENRE: Fiction/novel partial/thriller
SYNOPSIS: When young Sparrow Thibault takes a swim in an Arizona canal, she is struck by lightning and begins hearing a voice in her head: “You are pregnant and will soon give birth to the next messiah.”
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AUTHOR: David Monroe
TITLE: “The Get Back Job” (partial)
GENRE: Modern crime noir
SYNOPSIS: Jocko Myles got outta-the-life of being a bounty hunter for the Mob. But when sex-slave traffickers’ start kidnapping girls – Jocko goes on the hunt again.
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AUTHOR: Jennifer Blanchard (www.procrastinatingwriters.com)
TITLE: “In the Pouring Rain” (short story)
GENRE: romance
SYNOPSIS: What if you discovered your new girlfriend’s mom is a woman you not only dated in the past, but are actually still in love with her?
AUTHOR QUESTIONS/ISSUES (how you can help): Do the flashbacks work or do they make it hard to follow the story? Is the plot believable?
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AUTHOR: Donna Lodge
TITLE: “Canary”
GENRE: Short story (fantasy/fiction)
SYNOPSIS: What if a dead coal-miner believes he can save his son from danger by warning him while he dreams?
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One Response
“Because once you know story architecture […] you can’t “unsee” it. ”
So very true. I haven’t read one single piece of fiction or watched even a kiddie movie since reading Story Engineering without the major structural aspects smacking me in the face! Thank you!