Book Blurb

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master is for writers, readers and seekers, artists and creative people of all types.

Martha Alderson is known as the Plot Whisperer for the plot help she offers writers worldwide. The more writers she works with and the more novels, memoirs and screenplays she analyzes, the more convinced she is that every scene in every book and every moment in every life is part of a Universal Story that flows through our imaginations and in the reality that surrounds us.

The transformative energy in stories is available to everyone. After using Martha’s ideas, you begin to understand yourself better. You’ll see your writing and the work you do in a brighter light. The way you interact with your writing and with the world around you shifts.

Open up a new dimension of life you never before imagined.

Click to buy the book:

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

For more 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.

For more tips about how to use plot and the Universal Story in your novel, memoir or screenplay, read: The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
and visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook (we hope you "like" it)
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

A writer I work with grapples with a problem I often see. She loves her story SO much and thinks the plot is so cool that she is afraid she is going to ruin it by writing it. Her fear, at the least, slows down her progress toward her goal. At the most, her fear prevents her from reaching her goal.

Throughout a story and throughout your life, the energy of the Universal Story rises and falls.

Antagonists, because their role is to prevent or delay the protagonist (and you) from successfully reaching her goal, always cause the energy to rise.

Imagine a story (and your life) as a conflict between energies of light and dark. The energy shifts back and forth between the protagonist and the antagonists. The antagonists represent darkness as they strive to keep the protagonist as she currently exists. The protagonist represents the light in the struggle to evolve. Change is never easy, and a protagonist bound in the darkness of her backstory and locked in repetitive patterns dictated by her flaw will necessarily struggle. When the protagonist pushes toward her desire, she directs the energy. Internal and external forces (antagonists) push against her.

A protagonist who wants something enough to take action against all the antagonists within and without creates a story and a dramatic life.

Learn to see the antagonists as reflections of who you are now in your journey. Rather than despairing and feeling victimized, explore the meaning of the antagonists in your life. Such an exploration leads to transformation.

To read more:

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master released by Adams Media October 2011. Available now for pre-order!

For immediate tips about the Universal Story and writing a novel, memoir or screenplay, visitPlot 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!

2 Major Story Settings

Stories generally have at least two major settings.

A story is about a character transformed over time in a meaningful way by the dramatic action. In order to make this character transformation more dramatic, writers convey who the character is within the safety of a world that is familiar to her or at least not as threatening as the next world or setting she is thrust into. The reader meets the protagonist in her usual environment and defines the beginning quarter of the story.

The heart of the story begins the moment the protagonist leaves her ordinary world. Upon entering the middle of the story world, the protagonist is confronted with the second setting: a new and exotic world. The more unusual the new world is in its surroundings, mind-set, and demands upon the protagonist, the more unusual are her experiences, explorations, endurance, and quest for survival.

The exotic world itself creates tension, conflict, and suspense merely by its unfamiliarity to the protagonist; thus, it produces a sense of overarching tension. As well, in the new world, the old rules with which the protagonist is familiar and the beliefs she grew up with no longer apply.

As in real life, in stories when one door closes another opens. The protagonist enters a new world, be it a new physical place or a new psychological state. This new world offers the opportunity to evolve and be transformed.

Writers experience this exotic new world when they move from dabbling and talking about their story to actually writing everyday.

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

Order The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master NOW and receive it in time to pre-plot for NaNoWriMo in November!

Step Away from all the Words of Your Novel, Memoir, Screenplay

A writer says her story "tanks around page 25" and bores her even to try to rewrite.

I recommend she spend some time standing back from the words of her story and view the inner workings. In other words, analyze the structure before you worry too much about the details and even the words you write. 

A Plot Planner is a visual line that represents the invisible energy of the Universal Story. It enables you to assess the significance of your characters and the dramatic action of your story by seeing how all the scenes work together against the backdrop of the entire piece. Such a multilayered attentiveness to your story allows for a unique perspective into the deeper meaning of your story.

A plot planner gives a visual accounting of all the scenes in a story. It helps you compare scenes that heighten conflict and suspense to those quieter scenes that show the character in control. Each scene delivers more tension and conflict than the preceding scene and builds with intensity to the story’s climax. Standing back from all the words and viewing the story as a whole allows you to better determine the causality between scenes and the overall coherence of the story. With such an insight, you are able to turn scenes with emotionally rich characters who are experiencing conflict into the driving force behind an exceptional story.

The plot planner is a visual aid to help you write and finish your project in a way that pleases you and ultimately satisfies your readers, too.

Writers report that when they hit a rough patch and lose energy for their stories, merely a switch from writing to filling in a template stimulates their creative juices. Before writers know it, they are back to writing.

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master released by Adams Media October 2011. NOW available now for pre-order!

For immediate 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!