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!

Emotional Guide for Writers

Writing is emotional. 

You face obstacles that unleash angst, which leads to procrastination.

My intention in writing

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master is to shine a light on the spiritual journey writers undertake when writing a novel, memoir, and screenplay. 

Stand back from your story and your own life and acknowledge the bliss you encounter and find the courage to face the difficulties, difficulties that are a reflection of where you are on your own individual Universal Story. Knowing your own strengths and weakness gives you the courage to compensate for your weaknesses and the ability to rely on your strengths. 

Writing (life) isn't about what you should do and could do or need to do. 

Writing is about believing entirely in yourself and the support that surrounds you.

Get through it (the the middle of your novel, memoir, screenplay anyway possible) and get to the other side (the end).Then see what you have.

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master released by Adams Media October 2011 is 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!

The Universal Story

Thanks to the plot consultations I do with writers from all over the world, the plot workshops and retreats I’ve taught and the novels, memoirs and screenplays I've analyzed, I have come to believe that every scene in every book is part of a Universal Story that flows throughout our lives, both in our imaginations and in the reality that surrounds us.

Every story ever told participates in this universal pattern as words grow and expand into sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. What is left after the end of the story has the potential to transform not only the writer but all those who read the story as well.

I teach the Universal Story to writers through plot. Though difficult to accomplish successfully, plot is critical to stories. As I continue to teach and write and consult, I gain new insights into plot . . . and into writers’ lives.

You bring to your writing, your art, and your stories a piece of yourself. In return, the act of creating gives you the possibility of something even greater: true transformation.

The better your understanding of how to integrate the energy of the Universal Story into your story, you come to understand yourself better. You begin to see your writing in a different light. The ways you interact with your writing and with the world around you shifts.

Be forewarned, though. Writing a story can expand your everyday life; it can also destroy the person you are now. Commit to your own journey as your protagonist embarks on hers. Explore your true essence. Whether you emerge from the experience better or worse is your choice. But I believe the act of writing offers you the possibility of transformation.

Your imagination allows you to see worlds invisible to others. Imagine the Universal Story into reality and reclaim a miraculous and mysterious way of being.

More about the Universal Story is coming in The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master in October and is now available for pre-order. 

In the meantime, 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!

Establish 4 Energetic Plot Markers First

Writer labels herself as a "plotter" during our plot consultation. Whether you call yourself the same or write more by the "seat of your pants", strive to identify the following 4 Energetic Markers in your story as early in the process as possible:

• The End of the Beginning
  
• The Halfway Point
  
• The Crisis
  
• The Climax

Since the writer has revealed to me all the defining traits of a classically left-hemisphere dominate writer, such a task of analyzation brings up no resistance from her. However, she did need help defining the four scenes for both the protagonist and the love interest, too.

Once the scenes are in place on a simple Plot Planner (my apologies for the missing marker -- the Halfway Point, it's coming in the new book) -- she is better able to see the deeper meaning and energetic flow of her story.

I'm having a tough time knowing all this info and so much more is coming in the Plot Whisperer book but... not until October. (The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master is now available for pre-order!) Hate to make you wait. In the middle of final, tiny edits on the galleys and don't have time to go into this further now. In the meantime, I hope the videos help.

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!

Writer's Goals Summer Solstice Check-In

June 21st marks the beginning of summer and is the longest day of the year. After tomorrow, the days shorten until the longest night of the year on December 21st.

Where are you on your journey toward accomplishing the writing goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? 

How many pages, scenes or words are left to reach the end of this draft of your novel, memoir, screenplay? 

Divide that number by the 182 days left until the 21st of Dec. The final number represents the pages, scenes or words needed per day to reach your goal. 

Doable?

Revise it until it works. 

To celebrate the turning of the seasons and in honor of the Universal Story:

1) Recommit to your goals. 

2) Speak your goals out loud.

3) Mark the time needed to accomplish the page, scene or word count on your calendar. 

Everyday, focus only on what you intend to accomplish that day. Forget the big picture for now. Concentrate on getting the words on the page.

Do not assume the journey turns effortless because of your recommitment. Expect it to become way worse. Keep writing anyway.

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 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!

Thematic Significance for Writers

As corny as it sounds, I'm wild about thematic significance. I mean if the Universal Story longs to manifest, what better way than through a story's deeper themes?

There are writers who excel at writing character-driven stories and those who prefer action-driven stories. Also, though I've found rarer, are writers who lean toward theme-driven stories. 

Jodi Picoult in Change of Heart, shows the affects the dramatic action has on the characters' emotional development in order to bring to the fore themes about the life sentence, abuse, loss, redemption and love.

When the Killing's Done by T. S. Boyle is another thematic significance plot driven novel. 

Interestingly, both of the two theme-driven writers, use multiple viewpoint characters, each with their own chapters, with a clear first line for each switch in point-of-view and creates a minimum of confusion. When readers are immediately pulled into the next character’s mind and body, readers they have little reason to feel they will miss the character they just were connected to. And, each character has a very definite point of view about the issues at hand though the protagonist's change overtime to fulfill the role of the protagonist -- the character who changes the most in the story by the dramatic action

In the first quarter of When the Killing’s Done by T.C. Boyle, two characters alternate chapters told from their own points of view. The beginning chapters of the story are Alma’s introduction told through her grandmother’s story. The third chapter focuses on Alma herself and begins by firmly grounding the reader.

"Though Alma is trying her hardest to suppress it, the noise of the freeway is getting to her. She can’t think to slice the cherry tomatoes and dice the baby carrots, can’t clear her head, can barely hear Micah Stroud riding the tide of his emotions through the big speakers in the front room."

These two sentences immediately thrust the reader into the scene. They, showing who is doing what, how the action is emotionally affecting her, and a general idea where she is. and They also offering specific details that define herAlma: living near a noisy freeway, knowing how to cook, listening to music that rides the tide of the singer’s emotions, and a love ofloving music that is strong enough that she owns big speakers.

The next chapter switches to the male character’s point of view. 

"If there is one thing he hates, it’s a runny yolk."

That’s about all the reader needs to read in order to know the main character in this chapter. He’s opinionated and narrow-minded.

By including a reference to the stereo speakers in the female point of view ties these two major viewpoint characters together long before the reader is given any other clues of other connections, one of which Alma prefers stay a secret.

The speakers also foreshadow both character's propensity to want to broadcast, get on a soap box to proclaim their point of view about the right of eradicating invasive species to bring an island back to the balance of the past versus the right of animals to life.

Though the themes that drive you to write play out more subtly in your stories, still the search for the meaning beneath our actions and into a universal truth serves the Universal Story well.

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!

Plot Your Writer's Life

A client and friend is near completing the rough draft of her project. Rather than jump in and write the end, she moans about all the work still left to be done to finish and then in the rewriting (I'll include another one or two or three or more of those -- and rewriting), and then all that comes after that.

Early-on she decided when the book is finished, she wants to self-publish. Now that I am going the traditional route after having self-published my first book, she asked me my opinion.

I share with you here what I shared with her. The following is based on first-hand experience having:
1) self-published Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple, my first book, and on what I have observed of clients and friends who have gone that route

2) having been invited into the traditional realm and now, working with Adam's Media a traditional, east coast publisher who will release The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of the Universal Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (which is now available for pre-order!) this October and on what I have observed of clients and friends who have been published by a traditional publisher

Comparison:
Self-publishing: the book can be written and published in a day.
Traditional publishing: the process takes longer

Self-publishing: you make all the choices about content
Traditional publishing: you work in partnership with an editor who keeps in mind the publisher's style

Self-publishing: you make all the choices about the layout and the cover design
(This is only as far as I am in the process with Adam's Media so the rest of my points are based solely on what I have gleaned through friends and family and clients who have been published through the traditional route)
Traditional: a team approach where your choices are based on a contractual agreement and respect

Self-publishing: you make all the choices about printing and distribution
Traditional publishing: this is your time to begin writing your next book

Self-publishing: you send out review copies
Traditional publishing: this is your time to fully walk into you part of the promotional, marketing and pr for the book

Self-publishing: you incur all the costs up front
Traditional publishing: you pay no expenses

Self-publishing: you earn all the profits
Traditional publishing: you earn royalties based on a contractual agreement

For my client: The sudden idea to perhaps query agents instead of self-publishing her book as she has had planned all along is simply another form of procrastination and sure to yank her off course. 

I say, finish writing your book!

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!

Transformation and the Universal Story

From the hundreds of novels, memoirs and screenplays I have analyzed for plot workshops and plot retreats for more than twenty years and as I complete the final, final edit -- well, there is still the galleys to come, but still..., on the Plot Whisperer book (the cover is up on Amazon and the book available for pre-order!), I have come to appreciate that beneath every great story beats the Universal Story.

Creative writers hate to be reined in and limited by an imposed set of generally accepted plot standards on their stories, crying out that they will be come stifled and their stories cookie-cutter.

Might I suggest instead, to see that in writing with the Universal Story, your creativity and own unique voice has a place to light, to flow into, and you will more likely stay focused and achieve that long-term goal of yours to finish your story. 

For more tips about the Universal Story, 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!

What's Stopping You?

I am always fascinated when one writer curls up in a ball and gives up and, when faced with the exact same problem, another writer is empowered to persevere. 

Discovery that everything you've written sounds trite and infantile, frustration over how to get across what you are truly trying to say, a negative critique, a rejection from a query, poor reviews... we all experience a crisis, a dark night of the soul . Yet for some writers, these beliefs, limitations, judgments strip her of all her power whereas another writer listens and learns and moves on. 

You can spend all your time wallowing in your backstory -- that moment when you first lost your way and relinquished a bit or all of your own personal power to an antagonist(s), be it internal or external, or you can stay in your front story of putting one foot in front of the other or one word after another on the page toward completion of your goal and hold tight to your own power -- not in resentment and revenge but in the loving embrace that all antagonists are simply in your life to challenge you to grow and stretch.

Shrivel and die

Seize your power and move forward

You decide...

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

To watch the entire Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? go to my YouTube channel. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. Enjoy!