Writing to the End

A joy working with a writer who looks to the end of her story for clues as to what belongs in the beginning. 

Do you know the ending for your story?

How many books have you written from the beginning all the way to the end?

 

How many times have you written the beginning quarter of the book you are writing now versus how many times have you written the final quarter?

Would you call yourself someone who finishes what she begins? Someone who achieves her goals? 

If not, what or whom is stopping you?

When do you predict you will finish the story you are working on now?

For tips about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!

Writing the Crisis

The Crisis of a story hits about 3/4 of the way through the page or scene count and marks the highest intensity scene in the entire beginning and middle of the story. On the plot planner, this highest point signifies the dramatic action plot though keep in mind it is the lowest point in the story for the character emotional development plot.

The crisis can be thought of as the climax for the antagonist.

I've got two new videos on the youtube Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay. One talks about the scenes building up to the CRISIS and the next one discusses the CRISIS SCENE itself.

I am under a deadline for a new book that I have been patiently waiting to reveal while the negotiations for the contract are finalized. I am thrilled to be asked to write my passion and excited for the chance to tell you about it and am having a ball writing it but find that with that and everyone and their mother requesting plot consultations lately (which I feel honored about in that so many writers are willing to trust me to help them with their work), it is difficult to fit in everything daily. Therefore, I rely on the youtube series to lend you support in the interim until I again have time to write out an entire post.

Hope you will bear with me during this exciting time. This too shall pass and I will be back to writing posts, but until then, I hope you'll follow the series for support. I plan to include an index and brief description of each step here in the near future. We will see when that happens. Soon, very soon...

Great good luck with your writing goals for the year!

Click on green highlighted plot concepts for further explanations via video. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information.

Recommitment Scene

Another example of what I call the "magic of writing."  I just love it when this happens!

In going over scenes with a writer, I ask for the 1/2 way mark / recommitment scene and lo and behold, the scene she tells me about fits the recommitment parameters perfects. She did not consciously write it that way but she also did not get in the way of letting it come naturally. 

I find the less our egos interfere and the more clearly and cleanly we can act as a conduit for the muse, the more "magic" like this occurs.

Brings about a pleasing read for a reader and movie for an audience when these natural moments are let to shine.

Click on green highlighted plot concept(s) for further explanations via video. Each time a concept is referenced you are directed to new information.

Happy 2011

Thanks to each of you who followed along on the 3rd Annual International Plot Writing Month also known as PostNaNoPlotPerfection aka PlotWriMo for writers intent on crafting a story that is pleasing to the reader and perhaps on finding a bit of enlightenment along the way.

My hope is from following along all last month, you now have a new sense of your story and are energized to undertake a major rewrite, starting... today!

Good luck to you.

I continue into the New Year with the YouTube Plot Series: How Do I Plot A Novel, Memoir, Screenplay series, adding a new video with yet another element of creating a story every week. I address plot issues I see crop up in plot consultations I do with writers around the world. Hope to see you there.

We're running a contest, in conjunction with the plot series. For information on how to win a free overnight at an amazing bed and breakfast in Santa Cruz or a free plot consultation, go to Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour.

Here's to success with all the writing goals you've set for yourself this year.

Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour

Win a free one-hour plot consultation! 

Correctly identify all 32 Santa Cruz iconic landmarks used as the backdrop in the filming of the Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour

PRIZES

· Locals win an overnight stay at the Darling House in Santa Cruz on Valentine’s Day

· Out-of-towners win a 1-hour phone consultation with family expert Cathy Jo Cresss on sibling reconciliation and forgiveness and a 1-hour writer's plot phone consultation with plot expert to the stars Martha Alderson, aka the Plot Whisperer

More than 144 billion videos were viewed on YouTube last year. The number is expected to more than double this year.

My cohort on the Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour is Cathy Jo Cress, author of the just released Mom Loves You Best; Forgiving and Forging Sibling Relationships. She and I recently harnessed the power of YouTube, by launching our own individual channels that highlight local attractions on the Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour. 

In the Plot Series, How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?, I take writers through the process of plotting out a story. Cathy's videos show how sibling relationships affect our lives and how to fix them in her Mom Loves You Best series.

Together we have planned a 32-step series to be filmed at famed Santa Cruz landmarks.

We began our YouTube series by filming near the renowned surfing spot the HOOK in Pleasure Point. We moved to the Yacht Harbor where we filmed each other sharing tips in our individual areas of expertise.

32 unique, beautiful, literary and historic locations in Santa Cruz County, such as the Surfer Statue, Mystery Spot, Natural Bridges, in front of Town Clock, Tom Scribner statue on the mall in front of Bookshop SC, the whale Marine Lab and the one by SC Museum, UCSC viewpoint with the whole bay on view, Cement Boat view, SC Library with Alfred Hitchcock birds statue/sculpture to name a few, serve as backdrops for our productions from now until January 31, 2011.

Correctly identify all 32 locations and be eligible for a drawing for a free night at the Darling House on February 14, 2011

Visit either or both YouTube channels to spot the Santa Cruz landmark that serves as the backdrop for each video. A new video (or 2) comes out every week.

Plot Series, How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?

Mom Loves You Best.

 

I deeply appreciate any help you can offer in getting the word out about the Plot Series. Please feel free to pass along the link to your writing buddies interested in pre-plotting for NaNoWriMo or simply eager to start a new story. I'm out to impress a national publishing house interested in picking up my best-selling self-published Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple. Cathy is promoting the launch of her new book. 

The End is the Beginning

A plot consultation this week reveals to the writer that the scene sequence she believed was rising to the Crisis rather represents the Halfway Point... perfectly.

Undoubtedly she was disappointed to find she is only halfway through writing the 1st draft of her story rather than 3/4 finished. Still, she knew the story needed the additional page count and by the time we hung up she sounded enthusiastic and empowered to write her way to the Crisis.

Thanks to my background with working with children with learning disabilities (and my own), I appreciate the process of learning new material and find helpful explaining new concepts in as many different ways as I can think of at the time.

The idea of putting her main character in the sort of peril her story demands at the Crisis took to time to penetrate her consciousness on a practical level. She knew intellectually what the Crisis represents to a story. She even had an example in her head of the exact moment in a favorite book of hers. However, to actually bring the concept of the Crisis down to the actual moment-by-moment action necessary to bring the protagonist to her knees and die to her old personality took time.

The writer knows her Climax which I always view as helpful to a writer because the Climax informs all the other parts of the story.

With the Climax fixed in her mind and the scenes waiting to be written to the Crisis and her commitment to herself to a timeframe, she's off and writing...

For more on the Climax and what to keep in mind as your write your way there, view Steps 7 & Step 8 of the Plot Series: How do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay?

For information on the contest we're running with the series (I'm doing it with fellow writer -- 

Cathy Cress who has a terrific new book out: Mom Loves You Best; Forgiving and Forging New Sibling Relationships): go to Santa Cruz Traveling Mystery Tour.