Conflict, Tension, Suspense and / or Curiosity

You introduced a broad view of the setting of your story in Prompt #2. In response to the first six prompts you created conflict, tension, suspense and / or curiosity in action scene(s) that involve an antagonist and a romance character, no backstory, and shows what the protagonist does when blocked from her short term goal. A bit of mystery draws the reader to want to know what's up. Without revealing answers and keeping the action moving forward now you can ground the story on a deeper and more intimate level in Prompt #7 without slowing down the story or losing the interest of your reader.

Today, I write.

The survey results from Twitter and Facebook are in. The confidence exudes from the many writers who love to write unabashedly and proudly, quietly and fiercely fills me with hope. The admission by other writers that they feel all three about writing feels real and raw and often tortured. 

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a more loving relationship with your writing. If you falter, wondering what comes next or what to write next in your story, follow the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing for that spot in a story with a plot.

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Creating Relationship in Stories

Two common queries when a story starts out too slowly and drags.

"When is something going to happen?"
"When do we get to the good part?"

Something happens and the good part are when the protagonist reacts or acts in relationship to another. Prompt #4 begins the protagonist's relationship with conflict. Prompt #5 begins the romance plot. Something happens and the good part start in the story.

Today, I write.

I'm taking a survey on Twitter and Facebook  (my apologies for not opening the comments section here, too. I get too much spam and don't have the time to monitor the responses).

Fiction Writers Survey
Do you:
1) love
2) like
3) hate to write? (not the rest of a writers life editing, submitting, etc. Simply your relationship with your writing)

Knowing what to write where in a story with a plot allows for a lively relationship with your writing. If you falter, wondering what comes next or what to write next in your story, follow the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing for that spot in a story with a plot.

Today, I write.

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

The Joy of Writing a First Draft

My hope in providing you the prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing is that you'll have an incentive everyday to write forward without going back. Following one prompt at a time is meant to eliminate the need to run back to the beginning rather than face a blank page and instead to fill that page with words.

The joy of writing a first draft is that you don't have to worry if your scenes are too long or not long enough, if the character is likable, the action compelling. For now, your task is to show up everyday and generate words on the page. This is the generative stage when you're most closely linked to the muse unlike subsequent drafts when the critic and editor come into play. Have fun with this first draft.

You may find that the first 4 prompts all contribute to one scene or perhaps have stimulated your imagination to write three separate scenes. Don't judge what you've done as right or wrong. Don't judge your writing as superficial or cliched. For now, simply write.

Today, I write.

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

The Power of Antagonists

In Prompt #3 of The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing, you're asked to develop a new character, one that will serve as an antagonist to your protagonist in your novel, memoir, screenplay.

Keep in mind, however, not all stories rely on a person(s) to serve as an antagonist(s). This point is driven home in the memoir Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Nearly every single person Cheryl comes in contact along the Pacific Crest Trail is supportive and friendly and helpful and mostly kind (with the dramatic exception of the 2 hunters she is confronted by). The antagonists Cheryl has to deal with and overcome are the weather and conditions along the trail, her too-small boots, lack of money, overloaded backpack, bears and raccoons, and her own fear as she journey's towards healing. These antagonists of nature and society, her beliefs and circumstances deepen and expand the readers' understanding of the protagonist as she is challenged and forced to deal with her own personal demons. Even without antagonists in the form of other characters, the author is able to infuse the story with excitement, tension, conflict, suspense and curiosity with the use of these other sorts of antagonists.

Or, using another favorite memoir of mine (please do not get the wrong idea that these ideas apply only to memoirs because I am using two memoir examples. they work for all novels and screenplays, too), Shreve Stockton is thwarted by a coyote in the Daily Coyote.

Use whatever you can to trip up the protagonist on her way toward her goal and make them count.

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Had a Great Start -- Back on Track Tomorrow

Well, now I'm completely flummoxed. Having contracted the flu or some other evil kind of yuk that knocked me under for a few days, I am behind. Behind, not only with my writing but, of course, also with this day-by-day idea of following together with you the plot prompts in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing. So, what to do now? If I start up from where I left off at Prompt #2, I'm way behind any of you who were following and have continued on your own.

Oh well, we do what we can.

My plan is to start up again tomorrow with Prompt #3 and hope for the best.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

See you here tomorrow.

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Writing Forward without Going Back

Writing Prompt #2 in The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing allows you to return to what you wrote from Writing Prompt #1. I generally frown upon writers going back over what you've previously written because all too often writers get ensnared in that loop of going back to the beginning rather than forging forward and securing the plot and structure in place.

In this case and in appreciation of the nearly universal urge to read what you've written before moving on, you have this day to deepen the scene from Writing Prompt #1. You'll have further chances -- heck there are 120 prompts in the new book and that many scenes in a book could be a problem so you'll be given other opportunities to build on what you started the day before.

Tips for both PlotWriMo writers turned rewriters and PWPrompt writers how to write the beinnings scenes of your novel, memoir, screenplay, watch the Playlsit: Plot the Beginning

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

2013: Your Year to Write a Story with a Plot

In honor of my new book, The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing, I invite you to join me in writing a new story, one prompt at a time.

Today is all about beginnings.

"Beginnings form the foundations upon which everything else rests. Beginnings, through fragile, emody great heart and great hope."

Beginnings can also be scary, especially when you step out without much of a pre-plot plan about what you're writing.

Tips for both PlotWriMo writers turned rewriters and PWPrompt writers how to write first scene of your novel, memoir, screenplay, watch: Plot Tip: First Sentence / Paragraph of a Story

If you're following along and wish to comment or ask questions, please use Twitter and be sure to include @plotwhisperer and #pwprompt to catch my attention.

The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here everyday as together we write our stories from page one and through all the prompts to the very end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms used here and in the PW Book of Prompts:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

5th Annual Plot Writing Month ~~ Day Thirty-One

Today marks the final day of the 5th Annual International Plot Writing Month also known as PostNaNoPlotPerfection aka PlotWriMo for writers intent on crafting a story with a plot.

Tonight after all the festivities of saying goodbye to '12 and greeting '13 wind down and before you fall asleep, see yourself tomorrow writing. 

I'm beginning a new story tomorrow following one prompt at a time from The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing. We'll likely move through our stories at a similar pace. Continue to visit here for plot support, one scene at a time, one writing day at a time.

May all your dreams come true next year...

Available Now:
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here 1/1/13 and together we'll write our stories from page one and working our way through the prompts all the way to the end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms we use throughout December:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

5th Annual Plot Writing Month ~~ Day Thirty

5th Annual International Plot Writing Month and 2012 are nearly spent.

5 Steps to complete today:

1) If you don't have one already, create a space devoted to your writing.

2) Organize your space. Purge and cleanse the space of everything but your manuscript and notes. Organize extraneous notes in file folders by chapter or add to your Plot Planner.

3) Hang your Plot Planner for easy viewing. Keep extra sticky notes and a pen nearby.

4) Create your writing schedule for the new year. Take out the 2013 calendar you bought.

Think long and hard about your daily life and obligations, and your personal best and most productive times of the day. Decide how many days a week you are willing to devote to your writing. Add an extra day to that.

Now mark on your calendar the days and time you will devote to your writing.

By scheduling in your writing time, you'll be more apt to stick to the schedule. Plus, when friends or family or work request/demand your time, you'll more easily tell them the truth:
I have a pre-arranged appointment at that time. We'll have to come up with another time.

Without the pre-scheduled time, chances are much greater you'll put yourself and your writing last, which invariably means you'll not get to it.

Don't despair if you find honoring yourself and your writing time is difficult at first. With practice, you'll find yourself joyfully committed to your writing time. An added bonus is that when the muse finds you consistently showing up, creativity is more readily available to you. The habit itself creates miracles and mysteries.

5) If you plan to write during family time, consider creating some sort of signal so family members know you're working and honor your uninterrupted time. Isabel Allende lights a candle and as long as the candle burns her family knows not to bother her. Hang a sign with "office hours" for that day. As long as the sign hangs, no one enter. The more seriously you take your writing time, the more seriously your family and friends honor your writing time, too.

Available Now:
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing gives you the inspiration and motivation you need to finish every one of your writing projects. This book guides you through each stage of the writing process, from constructing compelling characters to establishing an unforgettable ending. The book also helps you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts for how to write a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot. 

Join me here 1/1/13 and together we'll write our stories from page one and working our way through the prompts all the way to the end.

To familiarize yourself with the basic plot terms we use throughout December:
1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.
2) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories
4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

5th Annual International Plot Writing Month

Welcome to the 5th Annual International Plot Writing Month aka PostNaNoPlotPerfection and PlotWriMo.

Today begins a month-long opportunity to refine the plot arc of your novel, memoir, and screenplay.

If you participated in NaNoWriMo 2012, congratulations. You've done what many people talk and dream of doing -- you have written an entire story from beginning to end.

If you recently resurrected a writing project you let languish for years, congratulations for believing again in your dreams.

Now comes time to craft your novel, memoir, screenplay into a coherent piece worthy of publication.

Everyday this month, stand back from your words to see the bigger picture of your story through the Universal Story. Analyze what you've written and brainstorm for an effortless rewrite in January '13. (This also works for writers without a first draft. Whether you merely have an idea for a story, a few chapters or scenes, just tweak the assignments to make them work for wherever you are in the process.)

No writing required.

Following are a few caveats for our month together:

1) Do NOT show anyone what you've written so far. The first draft of any writing project is considered the generative phase. At the end of the generative phase, you often hold a manuscript full of holes and missteps, confusion and chaos. This is part of the process in that editing and/or an unbridled internal critic in the generative phase risks stifling the muse, which often results in stagnation.

Your first draft is a fragile thread of a dream. You know what you want to convey, well, maybe and sort of. Few writers can adequately communicate a complete vision in the first draft of a story, especially when writing by the seat of your pants. Allow others to read your writing now and you risk losing energy for your story and becoming overwhelmed by the task ahead of you.

2) Do NOT read what you've written. I know, I know. You're anxious to read your hard work. However, the longer you give yourself before actually reading your first draft, the better. If you read your manuscript now, you're still close enough to the work that you'll automatically fill in the gaps. Give yourself distance first. This allows you to read your work more objectively later.

3) Believe that the plot problems you may confront during December can be solved.

Let's get started!

By now, you know who the protagonist of your story is. Stories are about character transformation. Women often write stories with multiple characters, all of whom are changed in one degree or another by the dramatic action in the story. The character who is most transformed by the dramatic action in your story is your protagonist.

Fill out the following for your protagonist. (If you've filled out a character profile(s) previously, do not refer back to that version. Start fresh and then compare.) If you have written a story with multiple viewpoint characters or strong secondary characters fill out the following for those characters as well. If the major antagonist(s) in your story is a person, fill out the following for that character, too. (If you filled out this profile(s) at an earlier point in your writing, do it again now without referring to the earlier form(s))

CHARACTER EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROFILE

Character’s name:

Dramatic Action Plot
Overall story goal:
What stands in her way:
What does she stand to lose:

Character Emotional Development Plot
Flaw:
Strength:
Hates:
Loves:
Fears:
Dream:
Secret:

(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 plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay.)

Good luck! And remember, as tempting as it is, do NOT read your first draft. That will come later. For now, use what you know about your characters to fill out the form.

****Play along in the PlotWriMo Contest and win your choice of plot books in the Plot Whisperer series****

Coming Soon! 
The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing. Available for pre-order now. Ships 12/12.

To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms we'll be using throughout December:

1) Watch the plot playlists on the Plot Whisperer Youtube channel.

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

3) Fill out the exercises in The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories 

4) Visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers

Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter