Comment: Aye Larry I was reading your article on three dimensional characters and I wanted to know from you is a character or story bad if they don’t have the second dimension, backstory fully fleshed out? Like if the you don’t know everything about the characters childhood are they not a good character? Do characters with minimal backstory or less backstory, are they thus bad characters? For example the man with no name in the Clint Eastwood trilogy has no backstory, does this make him a bad character or simply 2 dimensional? I noticed one of the movies you liked is edge of darkness and while I don’t remember the movie very well I don’t remember Mel Gibson’s character getting more backstory than oh he’s got a daughter and is a cop and such. Basically my question is how much backstory do you need for a fully three dimensional character and if a character isn’t fleshed out entirely in their backstory does that make the story or character bad? I guess another good example would be the dark knight, you get a pretty good example of Bruce’s backstory but jokers backstory is completely left to speculation, so does that make the joker not a three dimensional character or could you assume he’s a three dimensional character because he does have a a past and acts like a real person but you just don’t know what it is? Sorry for extensive questioning, have ocd and this question has been bothering me for a while.
Your note to us about this newest book was supposedly in specific response to complaints that your past how-to books regurgitate the same info/structure/process. And yet, looking at your table of contents mentioning quartiles, pinch points, etc. it’s obvious you are in a bubble that can’t break out of truly addressing said ongoing complaint. In sum, you’ve yet again just danced around the same complaint instead of truly addressing it. For shame.
You must disapprove of a LOT of things, to have your email named for it. As for your comment… first of all, certain core principles reside at the center of any writing book. Nobody is going to wake up and say to themselves, “Hey, I think I’ll dream up some new core principles today.” It’s like a book on health, the components are diet, exercise, medical and life choices. Any book about health is about those things, and there are infinite nuances and variations on those themes. Millions of books have been written, and those authors are hardly in a bubble and definitely not dancing around the core issues. Same with writing books. I assure you, my second and third writing books deliver powerful new insights into the basics of storytelling. And this new book is COMPLETELY new, yet it must, by definition, apply to the core principles, which are always true, they’re always there.
“For shame” right back at you, dude. What a naive, insulting and clueless word to use. There’s nothing remotely shameful about writing a book that seeks to help people. The only shame here is that it’s apparently above your head, it’s you living in a bubble of ignorance. 70 specific criteria… you’ve never seen that, nobody has. Real writers recognize this.
We are a progressive web solutions company. We create stunning websites & put them on 1st page of Google to drive relevant traffic at very affordable price. Let us know if you would be interested in getting detailed proposal. We can also schedule a call & will be pleased to explain about our services in detail. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks!
Hey Larry, I recently hear about you and your book from Nikol Rogers. I looked up your book Story Engineering on both Amazon and Apple Books. I prefer to read iBooks format but I noticed a huge price difference. $2.99 on the Zon but $9.99 on Apple Books. Is this a correct difference or can you make the Apple Books listing the same price?? Thanks.
Hi,
I would be happy contributing an original guest post for storyfix.com
Will a good post about parenting in an age of digital entertainment work for you? or perhaps about a different topic?
Greetings Larry,
This question is in regard to the proper application of the Three-Act Structure model to the outline of an epic novel that will be divided into two parts with a thirty year time gap between the parts.
The question is should each part have its own complete Three-Act Structure, or should each part have only one Plot-Point with the Mid-Point being the end of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Larry, I am a first time writer using your 4-box structure for a SF/F novel. I like your recommendation of treating Box 1/The Setup as a story of it’s own. Can you post/blog about that in a bit more detail? Does the Box 1/Set-up structure contain all the parts, especially character arc, or do I treat it like a short story?
Is it possible for you to send me Story Engineering for free? I am going through a hard time and my writer friends recommend this book, I also see that in lots of groups this book is mentioned as well as Jenifer Blanchard’s group.
I have struggled with story structure for awhile now but your article on the different parts of story structure finally filled in the missing pieces. I used your labels, along with others used by other teaches and authors to create a spreadsheet that attempted to match them all up into their proper alignment. I would like to include the spreadsheet on my website and will be willing to link back to your website, or any other URLs you wish. I can supply a copy of the spreadsheet if you desire to review it before granting permission.
It only reference your labels and give you credit for that section, but I do not mention any of your work or quote any of your material.
First, allow me to thank you for STORY FIX. This is my first book and I am writing a a middle grade novel – genre: fantasy, fairy tale.
My problem is the prologue, the backstory. I cannot make clear on paper why I use certain elements. I know this is vague, but when I receive feedback, it’s clear that I understand scenea ,but my ability to spoonfeed a reader without giving all the details is difficult for me. help.
I am Angelina Silva. I done my masters in education.
I have written many interesting articles in my institute.
Now I want to write something and publish for world to read it.
If you can give me chance to write a blog post for your website,
it will be helpful for me to accomplish my dream.
Hello,
I am Gregory Woods, a digital marketing manager. Your website made a good impression on me! So, it would be great if you consider posting my written article. If it’s possible, could you please inform me about the conditions of posting of my post with a dofollow link to my website. My website is about writing educational papers on many different subjects and has a lot of helpful advice for students.
In case you have any questions feel free to contact me by email.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Gregory Woods
Not that I want to encourage anyone to waste money on the movie Downsized, but it is the perfect example of what you get with a concept, but no premise, no story. No reason to care. They even missed the obvious reason there could have been a story to turn it into a PSA.
Dear Mr. Brooks,
I have a permission request I’d like to send you. Can you please email me at the address attached to this post, so I can send your my request directly?
Many thanks.
Amy
Congratulations! I’m writing to let you know that your site was chosen by the members of Booksie.com as one of the Top 100 Writing Sites in 2017. You can see your name on the Top 100 list here:
You can’t expect your website to increase your revenue with so many errors. Many business owners get puzzled as their website isn’t performing well, while others’ are flourishing. That’s unfortunate, but not your fortune!
Now, I will show you the number of broken links, pages that returned 4XX status code upon request, images with no ALT text, pages with no meta description tag, not having a unique meta description, having a too long title, etc., found in your Storyfix.com. Too many issues to worry about!
If this is something you are interested in, then allow me to send you a no obligation audit report.
I hope this message finds you well. I’m working on an important non-fiction book for which I’d like to draw lessons from the stories from my life experiences. I’m hoping you might have space in your service offerings to provide for guidance to pull off my masterpiece.
My story is critical to the message and yet there are a few concerns/challenges I face such as 1) making it too much about me and not enough about the reader; 2) telling the story in a way that creates reader empathy; 3) structuring the story in a way that unfolds creatively and effectively while maintaining a structure that makes sense and aligns with the goals for the message of the book.
I have read Story Engineering and have laid out an exciting and unique concept (unique to both non-fiction and fiction, actually), extensive map of first, second and third dimension character, outline, and have written a ton on many of the stories that are relevant to the message. Thus, I have a lot of material on paper.
Please let me know if this sounds like something that might pique your interest enough to discuss further. I look forward to your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Angela Baumbach
PS. I have sent the same message to Art. Perhaps this is a project you both might like to work on.
First heard you in Birmingham earlier this year. Read your books “Storyfix” and “101 Slightly Unpredictable…,” but “Story Engineering” has done it for me. Very cogent. Busy rewriting to attend the New York Pitch in December. Thanks for helping me understand what I have to do to be successful.
Hi,
I have writing Guest posting. Please allow me to publish.
Do you want to spend holiday time with family or friends? To spending the free time, everyone seeks an ideal destination or place where they can relax their mind and body. So it’s not an easy task to find the right place to spend free time, especially when you do not have any trustworthy information. But we will ensure you that the facility provided by hotel grand lake in Oklahoma will never disappoint you. It is one of the top leading hotels that will provide all types of services regarding luxury to our clients.
I would love to be a guest post contributor for your site. I have been an educator with Amridge University and love guiding students through their academic life.
I have gone through the guidelines, and, my post would be about 1000 words, non-promotional and interesting.
Here are a few ideas that crossed my mind while I was going through your website:
1. How poetry can strengthen your writing craft
2. Top piece of writing advice as an inspirational guide
I am open to any other topic that you may have in mind:).
I was recently introduced to your site and have become an avid reader as I feel your content is really great and I like the different topics and story’s you cover plus the style of writing within your site.
I am contacting you to let you know that I am currently writing for the same industry that your blog focuses on and this is something that I am extremely passionate about, so I was hoping that there may be an opportunity for me to write an article for storyfix.com.
Let me know if you are interested, I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love… as I am one.
Website:
Comment: Aye Larry I was reading your article on three dimensional characters and I wanted to know from you is a character or story bad if they don’t have the second dimension, backstory fully fleshed out? Like if the you don’t know everything about the characters childhood are they not a good character? Do characters with minimal backstory or less backstory, are they thus bad characters? For example the man with no name in the Clint Eastwood trilogy has no backstory, does this make him a bad character or simply 2 dimensional? I noticed one of the movies you liked is edge of darkness and while I don’t remember the movie very well I don’t remember Mel Gibson’s character getting more backstory than oh he’s got a daughter and is a cop and such. Basically my question is how much backstory do you need for a fully three dimensional character and if a character isn’t fleshed out entirely in their backstory does that make the story or character bad? I guess another good example would be the dark knight, you get a pretty good example of Bruce’s backstory but jokers backstory is completely left to speculation, so does that make the joker not a three dimensional character or could you assume he’s a three dimensional character because he does have a a past and acts like a real person but you just don’t know what it is? Sorry for extensive questioning, have ocd and this question has been bothering me for a while.
Larry,
Your note to us about this newest book was supposedly in specific response to complaints that your past how-to books regurgitate the same info/structure/process. And yet, looking at your table of contents mentioning quartiles, pinch points, etc. it’s obvious you are in a bubble that can’t break out of truly addressing said ongoing complaint. In sum, you’ve yet again just danced around the same complaint instead of truly addressing it. For shame.
You must disapprove of a LOT of things, to have your email named for it. As for your comment… first of all, certain core principles reside at the center of any writing book. Nobody is going to wake up and say to themselves, “Hey, I think I’ll dream up some new core principles today.” It’s like a book on health, the components are diet, exercise, medical and life choices. Any book about health is about those things, and there are infinite nuances and variations on those themes. Millions of books have been written, and those authors are hardly in a bubble and definitely not dancing around the core issues. Same with writing books. I assure you, my second and third writing books deliver powerful new insights into the basics of storytelling. And this new book is COMPLETELY new, yet it must, by definition, apply to the core principles, which are always true, they’re always there.
“For shame” right back at you, dude. What a naive, insulting and clueless word to use. There’s nothing remotely shameful about writing a book that seeks to help people. The only shame here is that it’s apparently above your head, it’s you living in a bubble of ignorance. 70 specific criteria… you’ve never seen that, nobody has. Real writers recognize this.
Hi – I notice you only have one review on Amazon. I would be very happy to write you a review if you provide me with a reviewers copy.
Thanks for offering. I can provide a digital ARC. Let me know if you’d like to move forward.
Larry
storyfixer@gmail.com
Digital Marketing Solution & Website Re-designing
We are a progressive web solutions company. We create stunning websites & put them on 1st page of Google to drive relevant traffic at very affordable price. Let us know if you would be interested in getting detailed proposal. We can also schedule a call & will be pleased to explain about our services in detail. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks!
Did you get my message?
Hey Larry, I recently hear about you and your book from Nikol Rogers. I looked up your book Story Engineering on both Amazon and Apple Books. I prefer to read iBooks format but I noticed a huge price difference. $2.99 on the Zon but $9.99 on Apple Books. Is this a correct difference or can you make the Apple Books listing the same price?? Thanks.
Hi,
I would be happy contributing an original guest post for storyfix.com
Will a good post about parenting in an age of digital entertainment work for you? or perhaps about a different topic?
Best,
Rebecca
Full time mom & private blogger
Greetings Larry,
This question is in regard to the proper application of the Three-Act Structure model to the outline of an epic novel that will be divided into two parts with a thirty year time gap between the parts.
The question is should each part have its own complete Three-Act Structure, or should each part have only one Plot-Point with the Mid-Point being the end of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2?
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Larry, I am a first time writer using your 4-box structure for a SF/F novel. I like your recommendation of treating Box 1/The Setup as a story of it’s own. Can you post/blog about that in a bit more detail? Does the Box 1/Set-up structure contain all the parts, especially character arc, or do I treat it like a short story?
http://vcf1j7nop94ds8t7yuwb933tih8wcgox3t0uichzlarq4mf5bu.net vcf1j7nop94ds8t7yuwb933tih8wcgox3t0uichzlarq4mf5bu
cBZN3GSh8w
Is it possible for you to send me Story Engineering for free? I am going through a hard time and my writer friends recommend this book, I also see that in lots of groups this book is mentioned as well as Jenifer Blanchard’s group.
Seeking permission…
I have struggled with story structure for awhile now but your article on the different parts of story structure finally filled in the missing pieces. I used your labels, along with others used by other teaches and authors to create a spreadsheet that attempted to match them all up into their proper alignment. I would like to include the spreadsheet on my website and will be willing to link back to your website, or any other URLs you wish. I can supply a copy of the spreadsheet if you desire to review it before granting permission.
It only reference your labels and give you credit for that section, but I do not mention any of your work or quote any of your material.
First, allow me to thank you for STORY FIX. This is my first book and I am writing a a middle grade novel – genre: fantasy, fairy tale.
My problem is the prologue, the backstory. I cannot make clear on paper why I use certain elements. I know this is vague, but when I receive feedback, it’s clear that I understand scenea ,but my ability to spoonfeed a reader without giving all the details is difficult for me. help.
Hi,
I am Angelina Silva. I done my masters in education.
I have written many interesting articles in my institute.
Now I want to write something and publish for world to read it.
If you can give me chance to write a blog post for your website,
it will be helpful for me to accomplish my dream.
Hope to hear positive response from you.
Regards,
A Silva
check my books on amazon and lulu store
Hi there looking to find a agent or get my book viral
Hello,
I am Gregory Woods, a digital marketing manager. Your website made a good impression on me! So, it would be great if you consider posting my written article. If it’s possible, could you please inform me about the conditions of posting of my post with a dofollow link to my website. My website is about writing educational papers on many different subjects and has a lot of helpful advice for students.
In case you have any questions feel free to contact me by email.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Gregory Woods
Not that I want to encourage anyone to waste money on the movie Downsized, but it is the perfect example of what you get with a concept, but no premise, no story. No reason to care. They even missed the obvious reason there could have been a story to turn it into a PSA.
Dear Mr. Brooks,
I have a permission request I’d like to send you. Can you please email me at the address attached to this post, so I can send your my request directly?
Many thanks.
Amy
Hey, I was reading this blog from the beginning, I get to the middle of 2009 and all of a sudden they’re gone! How can we see previous posts?
Hello Mr. Brooks,
Loved your workshop videos from some months back. Noticed a teaser of several upcoming videos being planned. Do you expect to release those soon?
Hi,
Congratulations! I’m writing to let you know that your site was chosen by the members of Booksie.com as one of the Top 100 Writing Sites in 2017. You can see your name on the Top 100 list here:
https://www.booksie.com/top-100-writing-sites
Booksie is visited by tens of thousands of writers and millions of readers.
Feel free to mention this to your readers, to link to the Top 100 Writing Sites page, and to display the Top 100 badge attached below.
Congratulations again on having a writing site that members of the writing community value.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Razvan from Booksie.com
Storyfix.com Errors
Dear Business owner of Storyfix.com,
You can’t expect your website to increase your revenue with so many errors. Many business owners get puzzled as their website isn’t performing well, while others’ are flourishing. That’s unfortunate, but not your fortune!
Now, I will show you the number of broken links, pages that returned 4XX status code upon request, images with no ALT text, pages with no meta description tag, not having a unique meta description, having a too long title, etc., found in your Storyfix.com. Too many issues to worry about!
If this is something you are interested in, then allow me to send you a no obligation audit report.
Best Regards,
Mary Rose
Marketing Consultant
Hi Larry,
I hope this message finds you well. I’m working on an important non-fiction book for which I’d like to draw lessons from the stories from my life experiences. I’m hoping you might have space in your service offerings to provide for guidance to pull off my masterpiece.
My story is critical to the message and yet there are a few concerns/challenges I face such as 1) making it too much about me and not enough about the reader; 2) telling the story in a way that creates reader empathy; 3) structuring the story in a way that unfolds creatively and effectively while maintaining a structure that makes sense and aligns with the goals for the message of the book.
I have read Story Engineering and have laid out an exciting and unique concept (unique to both non-fiction and fiction, actually), extensive map of first, second and third dimension character, outline, and have written a ton on many of the stories that are relevant to the message. Thus, I have a lot of material on paper.
Please let me know if this sounds like something that might pique your interest enough to discuss further. I look forward to your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Angela Baumbach
PS. I have sent the same message to Art. Perhaps this is a project you both might like to work on.
First heard you in Birmingham earlier this year. Read your books “Storyfix” and “101 Slightly Unpredictable…,” but “Story Engineering” has done it for me. Very cogent. Busy rewriting to attend the New York Pitch in December. Thanks for helping me understand what I have to do to be successful.
great article
What’s the revised ETA for the second series of virtual classroom videos that, months ago, were promised as “coming soon”?
Hi,
I have writing Guest posting. Please allow me to publish.
Do you want to spend holiday time with family or friends? To spending the free time, everyone seeks an ideal destination or place where they can relax their mind and body. So it’s not an easy task to find the right place to spend free time, especially when you do not have any trustworthy information. But we will ensure you that the facility provided by hotel grand lake in Oklahoma will never disappoint you. It is one of the top leading hotels that will provide all types of services regarding luxury to our clients.
Dear Editor,
I would love to be a guest post contributor for your site. I have been an educator with Amridge University and love guiding students through their academic life.
I have gone through the guidelines, and, my post would be about 1000 words, non-promotional and interesting.
Here are a few ideas that crossed my mind while I was going through your website:
1. How poetry can strengthen your writing craft
2. Top piece of writing advice as an inspirational guide
I am open to any other topic that you may have in mind:).
I look forward to hear from you.
Kind regards,
Sally
https://twitter.com/yolanda_sally
Hello
Hope you well,
I was recently introduced to your site and have become an avid reader as I feel your content is really great and I like the different topics and story’s you cover plus the style of writing within your site.
I am contacting you to let you know that I am currently writing for the same industry that your blog focuses on and this is something that I am extremely passionate about, so I was hoping that there may be an opportunity for me to write an article for storyfix.com.
Let me know if you are interested, I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love… as I am one.
Thanks
Looking forward to work with you