Desert Rose Romance Writers of America Conference

The conference lived up to its name; the entire desert appeared in full bloom upon our arrival in Phoenix. Met up with my agent and dear friend, Jill Corcoran, and fun began. My name badge as The Plot Whisperer seemed to part the waters; everyone was more than kind and often downright respectful to me. No Plot Whisperer books in the bookstore. They sold out before I even arrived (note to self: ask for a guarantee that the number of books available for sale equal the number of writers anticipated at my workshops)

Everywhere I turned were posters of book covers with women of incredible beauty clutching men of incredible strength oozing incredible desire. I fell in love with two young women writers, with their beauty and their belief and their earnestness. In the blinding desert light, a writer I had connected with just a few times on Facebook, albeit in a powerful way, freed me of a deep sadness as easily as if she waved a magic wand over my head. The heat of the sun lingered into the night.

I quaked a bit under the weight of the expectation writers expressed for my "keynote" plot workshop on the final day. The heat of 200 anxious writers radiated up to me high on the stage, firing hotter and hotter as more and more light bulb moments danced over their heads...

Organizing Your Plot

Some writers desire help in brainstorming plot elements for their stories. Others are looking for a way out of the corner they've written themselves into. Some want to test the story choices they've made. Others simply want encouragement and a renewed belief that the time and effort she puts into her story is worth it, that her story is worth it, that she is worth it, that someday someone will read her words and be moved by her story.

The exercise of listing scenes and filling in a character emotional development profile and coming up with a thematic statement grounds her and organizes her thoughts and notes and story. Slowly, the tangled mess of threads floating every which way on the surface of still water begins to weave into a cohesive container for her story.

In the past several months, the stories I hear from women writers seem to me to be digging deeper than stories in the past and reaching for more complexity, dealing with grittier themes that build to more truthful endings from real and powerful female characters.

To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms in the above blog post:

1) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (The companion workbook is coming this summer and available for pre-order now ~~ The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories)

2) Watch the 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. 27-step tutorial on Youtube

3 Watch the Monday Morning Plot Book Group Series on YouTube. A directory the book examples and plot elements discussed is to the left of this post.

For additional tips and information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Benefits of a Plot Planner

With a sheet of banner paper unfurled in front of me, I begin asking questions of a writer with a very successful first book who needs help with her second. Her problem? Not uncommon ~ years and years of working on the first book, layer upon layer, input, changes, rewrites, drafts and drafts, enough to make a writer wonder:

"How did I do it? And how will I ever be able to do it again? Only faster this time?"

Ideas rolling around in her head begin to tumble out.

Characters emerge, flaws and all. Setting is established. Some of the middle of the middle "new world" ideas provide stimulus for scenes. Anatgonists appear. The Crisis comes into view. The Climax is a bit murkier but enough of a promise to get her started.

By the end of a couple of hours, the Plot Planner reveals a linear sequencing of scenes for the writer to write and, with luck, end the Beginning with a bang. Even enough to trot into the MIddle and perhaps to finish a rough, rough first draft, providing she does not fall prey to the monsterous going-back-to-the-beginning syndrome.

The Plot Planner provides form and structure enough to tame chaos and bring meaning to all the ideas rolling around in a writer's head. I'll be curious to learn how far she gets with what we were able to do in a couple of hours.

To learn step-by-step how to build a Plot Planner for your own novel, memoir, screenplay, refer to The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (Also available as a Kindle and Nook edition).

For an idea of what you'll find in the book:

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter One: Sitting Down to Write

Part I: The Outline of the Plot: Starting Is Half the Battle
Chapter Two: The Universal Story
Chapter Three: The Basics of Plotting
Chapter Four: Developing Themes

Part II: Create the Characters and Setting: Who’s Part of This World and Why?
Chapter Five: Who Inhabits the Plot?
Chapter Six: Who Opposes the Protagonist?
Chapter Seven: The Devil’s in the Details

Part II : The Journey
Chapter Eight: Opening the Door
Chapter Nine: The Middle of the Journey
Chapter Ten: Transformation
Chapter Eleven: The Climax
Chapter Twelve Denouement: The End and a New Beginning
Chapter Thirteen: Some Parting Advice
Chapter Fourteen: Some Final Thoughts

P.S. Send me a photo of the Plot Planner you create so I can share it with other writers. (To see a couple of working Plot Planners, go to my Twitter page.)