CHAPTER THREE from BLOG HELP FOR WRITERS: HEADINGS
1 What you need to prepare to write
2 Books to read and why/bibliography
3- Headings
4 –Fill-in-the-blanks
5-What to do after you fill out the time line
6. Blogs - Blogs posted to make you think about writing and tips and help about writing your own novel
Cover
Intro:
The completed book 'BLOG HELP FOR WRITERS' IS A VERY FAST, YOU WANNA WRITE-LET'S GO! APPROACH - WASTING NO TIME. A helpful and informative procedure where you read for twenty minutes and then I get you to daydream or brainstorm for a bit and write down a few ideas that come to mind. Don’t worry you can change it. Then in chapter four of BLOG Help For Writers you fill-in-the-blanks tying in your story ideas to the story structure requirements given. You are instructed to fill out your story on the timeline, write important scenes, add-in important scenes and voila, a finished rough cut in days if not hours.
Chapter Three called Headings through early testing has proved to be a very quick study guide and along with the rest of the book called Blog Help For Writers can fast track you into doing your own book in a matter of days. Chapter Three called Headings, a rough draft of my study notes has plenty of enough material to get you started and off to the races. If you want to write a book this info is crucial and minimal. Twenty minutes of reading. This info with the few things I ask you to think about will prepare you for Chapter Four, the fill-in-the-blanks write your story in days if not hours strategy. There are some examples for explanation purposes that are taken from book One The Inheritance Letter and Book Two Robbie's Incarceration (which is not even finished yet) but are not totally necessary to get the drift of what I say. This How-To-Write Book, Blog Help For Writers -How To Write A Book In Days If Not Hours, is a book coming out that can get you a fast draft down and then either you re-write, polish, re-write, then email me and I hopefully will have that list of publisher caveats you need to read first before going to a publisher. This I will send free just for emailing me and for showing your support. We can exchange emails and do author functions together if we both are at the same function or if there is time. The other option is to start your story over using more of your own thoughts and ideas and now that you know how to write a book, you can take more time to flesh out your masterpiece. Email me if you want encouragement. Nothing serious just an email or two.
Blog for: Blog Help For Writers
Chapter one: my setup, desk, what you need, what is on my bulletin board, pics
Chapter two : books to read and why?
Chapter Three: Headings August 23, 2014
(Free giveaway on book launch day at Chapters and The Tamarac)August 23, 2014..
Chapter Three: HEADINGS
Through marketing my book I realized lots of people have a desire to write a book. I can help. I can fast track their process. No one explains it all or so efficiently. I have already blogged the first few chapters of my future book ‘Blog Help for Writers @ www.robbiesadventures.com/bloghelpforwriters.com Just basic setup and a few books to read while visiting the book store or ordering from the library so to not have costs.
In this chapter called Headings, I discuss everything you need to know in a few minutes reading. Then in the next chapter you fill-in-the-blanks and in a few hours your done. Then it is just spit and polish or now that you have discovered the gift of writing you can do a different more elaborated story.
The full Book when Available, ‘Blog Help For Writers’ will have a few examples from Book One ‘The Inheritance Letter’ and Book Two Robbie’s Incarceration from the robbiesadventures.com series to assist in instruction.
Book one, The Inheritance Letter is now available in Chapters and online at www.robbiesadventures.com and book two will be ready hopefully by the end of 2015. The Blog Help for Writers when I finish does not have an immediate deadline thus allowing more people to view and use my writing guides free.
---
For Book Related requests and comments reply to: robbiesadventures@gmail.com (Ask me anything)
These are the posts I placed onto my blog column, Blog Help For Writers.
Follow along and write a book in days if not hours
Get Started: These are the things I think about and the Headings I filled out before I wrote Book One + Two
1. What type of story do you want to write? If it is a first fun fiction type of book where you would like to fill in the blanks and go and be done in a few days then creatively fill out the headings below and your story will be half written and you will be prepared to do the fun and creative part of finishing, to fill out the scenes, (scene requirements), organizing the order of them, fill in the scene content, (dialogue and action) and following a story structure as outlined in Chapter Four, a Fill-in-the-blanks to story conclusion.
2. For a memoir, unless you are a celebrity and can garner a large following it might be more prudent to do differently. I have swayed a few to think of writing a fiction story that was similar or could be tied into a true life event and highlight the story at certain spots or to add an end note talking of a true event. ...this might be more work but more saleable.
3. Also use of this list of Headings is an awesome list of things for new and veteran fiction writers to remember to include when setting up to write or especially when doing your re-write. Re-write for some congruity, cohesion, or clarity or maybe you missed and found in the scene requirements list or the timeline list something that excites you to write in a whole new chapter on a story point idea that fits your story structure journey. Or maybe my list of different types of scenes spurs some creativity.
Think about these questions: (Daydream or some people call it Brainstorming).
What does your protagonist want?
To keep things to ordinary. The way he lives his life. Do a good job. Have a beer on Friday, deep down desires of family life, For her? |Find career, freedom, status and independence, unknowingly underneath to find love + security. Let’s let her have the character change at the end and realize love is all that is important as a universal theme. Is your ideas unique or interesting enough? Add some conflict and find out.
Think about these topics and try to answer what is needed for your story. This will get the creative juices flowing. Make a few notes and proceed.
Now the Lists, I call it Headings because nobody likes Lists really. This is an example of listless speech. Do not use, lol. Sometimes you think something is good writing and it isn’t. Always get notes and story ideas down fast with pen and paper from your pocket and then never accept your first draft. You can always improve on 90% of your jot downs.
THIS IS A LIST OF MOST OF THE ITEMS I THINK ABOUT WHEN CREATING A STORY. To me this creativity is fun. When I have most of these details down (stuff I need and want in story) I can then think creatively again and write the story out in scene/segments and maneuver the scenes around a bit. I define details like beg, cause for story, (an inciting incident that disrupts everything), a middle where the hero constantly tries to succeed in his story goal of trying to restore his ordinary life and ending where he finally succeeds in saving the day and gets the girl and gets to party and kiss the girl. I hand fill out what I wish, and have a vague understanding of what I want for a lot of it. Try to stick to some of these guidelines on your first written masterpiece. You can always change it or start over with more of your own details and ideas. This is to fast track you so you have a fuller understanding of all the stuff you need to know. Hopefully I have summarized everything nicely for you.
Note: Third Person. The story tells what “he”, “she,” or “it” does. You could do a memoir section in first person. Also you must use first person in backstory. “I ...” etc. But use third person form for your story. He said, she said, and look from the objective viewpoint, outside of the characters. Best way is to find a book in first person and then one in third and you can quickly see the difference. Someone in a bookstore should be able to point it out for you.
You need to know who will be in your book, you can add people as you go.
CHARACTERS I fill out a few of the top names from below and add to this list when I can fit them into storyline. Some books might have just one character against the elements, (villain=elements). No strict rules except by following them the first time you can be guided. Use as many characters as you feel comfortable using and add some if you need them. The more characters the more associations, assistance and depth can be added to story. Some I purposely used and some characters were not showing what they were till the end of the story. This being said, if this is your first story then I suggest using minimal, a hero, villain, love interest and just a few more and giving characters a few roles to play for each type.
Types of Characters, how they should act and what you can use them for
HERO -should have a good outlook on life because of a good upbringing, makes universal decision + character change for good or to improve, the good saves the day,
You can make hero a villain in next project if you need to but for now let’s keep it simple.
VILLAIN an equally powerful foe, make bad and give traits, but his upbringing would be bad, and thus his outlook on life shaded and has villainous ideas of selfish interests, wealth and mischievous deeds
VILLAIN’S HELPERS -sometimes a bigger threat, eg. Bruce lee against the whole club
LOVE INTEREST -most stories the reader wonders, does the hero get the girl, usually they hate each other first then find something in common turning to sympathy, affection to love.
HERALD/MESSENGER -someone has to tell the hero bad news or give a warning
WISE ONE -someone has to know something for the hero to know which way to go or what to do to win, an answer to a riddle
ARMOURER: -a place where the hero can get knowledge or guns or something cool to do battle with, a sword a secret, a potion, tools
HERO’S SIDEKICK -did he change sides as is common? Every hero needs a sidekick, maybe the love interest is his sidekick?
SHAPE SHIFTER -changes sides, good to bad, cop and crook, witness but liar, usually on villain’s side
TEARFUL GOODBYE PERSON someone has to say goodbye before hero goes on journey
THRESHOLD GUARDIAN someone should bar the hero from going on his quest?
THE RIVAL –possibly the villain, ability to almost win love interest, certainly a threat to hero and universal message of love wins over xxxx.
THE TRICKSTER -someone can tell a lie, send things in the wrong direction, another obstacle
THE FOOL –can also give misdirection, humour, may have answers or key info needed, or a key
CHANGE SIDES TO BE VILLAINS HELPER –guy may know all hero knows, the guy that can bring down the hero or knows where he is and he decides for greed to join the villain giving the villain greater powers to destroy our hero. Remember to show greed never prospers by making this type of character pay dearly at the end for his betrayal.
Other characters
GOD WITH CLAY FEET: What? I could never figure this one out. This name means the one looked up so highly upon is found out to be fake with no real power, hero may fall in love with, then wake up when shows true colors: Haya
LOVERS: Due to popularity other lovers, lust and plight is a delight
THE CRONE-old, ugly, delightful, usually twisted and gnarled, maybe also fool or wiseone, comic relief or disgusting before beautiful heroine, usually supporting actors are made up to appear less fortunate, less good-looking and allow their hero to carry all the best lines and have the soft glamour lighting and authority.
WOMAN AS MOTHER: -motherly figure: could be tearful goodbye person, wise one
WIFE/ FEMME FATALE eg. Glen Close in Fatal Attraction
WOMAN AS BITCH -eg. Haya especially Book Two
WOMAN AS GODDESS: -eg. Lillian
WHORE/TEMPTRESS –eg. Eleanor
HERO AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LOVE INTEREST: casual meeting, sparks, hatred, use opposites attract strategy, no way a relationship, to a possible hint, to a rival getting in way, hero does wrong things like ignore her or do own thing, now no chance, villain and helpers and rival all punish hero, hero meets wise man gets info, meets armourer and gets a weapon and a key?, says goodbye to his mom or tearful goodbye person, goes on a venture and after many tries and approaches that have worse and worse results saves the love interest, girl, or what have you, learns something of quality on the way and celebrates after the villain is subdued. Let’s do it.
THE VILLAIN,RIVAL AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LOVE INTEREST, cunning, conniving, threatening to killing, maybe kidnapping, influence away from hero, and bad for universal message to ring true unless hero saves her.
Some characters can play multiple roles and not all are needed. You choose.
Full Character sketches should be done on the main characters and only one trait and a feature or two for the minor characters. Eg. minor: he had a limp, lisp in his speech and wore dark clothing is enough to associate and remember and keeps things uncluttered.
CHARACTER Bios include physiology, looks like, good looking, determined feel about him
Psychology: read peoples faces, gestures, mannerisms, speech: good with his hands, prefers outdoors, sings, kind, likes a simple life vs light fires, neglected as kid, aggressive + rude, (show hero vs villain’s different outlooks on life)
Sociology: Lives in cabin, loves country, yearns to be a family man, Love interest: career, not found anyone to like, Reference ages/events at different times in book might help steady timeline of events, driving forces, cause why acts the way he does, (prior experiences were positive for hero, negative for villain, disappointing for love interest), some descriptive details, give the hero a scar, a habit, a bold attitude, sex appeal, courage, a character arc that goes from neutral to helping others and the villain good overpowering qualities creating a stiff opposition, clever and resourceful, overconfident, does evil, evil outlook, elevates threat to murder, (raise the stakes), has an evil past and Selfish goals. Ask: Good enough villain? How make worse? Spend time developing a good villain and character traits.
Love interest: opposites at first, well orchestrated characters makes conflicts at many levels, sparks fly, A great pull like powerful magnets -pulling them together but kept apart by differences, (opposites attract theme,): family status, racial, internal, careerist, emotional traits: high spirited vs laid back, loves city/country, educated vs not finished school, never married, success oriented vs family type (thinks so at first, career oriented then character change –love/family most important- happens when they are about to separate or saved)
-add character facets as go along, This is where the collection of eavesdropping conversations you are always told to observe and jot down in writing class can come in as a useful resource. You can create a whole character from writing down what someone looks like, and all the things they say and gestures they do, maybe you might tell them what your doing and ask them some details like what job they do, where from? Mix and match your character traits appropriately from your collections and your imagination. Remember everything you do should be towards showing character, eg. The man constructed the back wood deck and fence in one day. He only had a bit of help and the job looks great. He is off doing the roof of the shed. –you do not have to say he is a good handyman, we know. Also are eg. someone talks of another character can reveal character. He is so stuffy looking with his head up so high. =conceit maybe
Or everything you do is toward your story goal to drive your story forward to eventually set up and conclude your ending. Close all your story threads or sub-plots you created. Today’s stories usually have more than one main character and multiple stories going at once and can be quite complicated.
Love interest must grow, from many dislikes to agreeing on a few topics to poor me, to consoling, to love. No rules are set in stone except when illustrating this romantic procedure.
Backstory: give the main characters a bit of life – sketch a book before a book , and add to it as you go. The hero’s dad was in the army and settled in northern Ontario and that is why the hero lives where he does. The love interest, usually the heroine acts the way she does because of backstory, something happened before your story started. If you have created enough back story you have lots of info to choose from to help you write. You will know your character so much better. This allows foresight and backward thinking so that you can create the circle of being for each character. When you know a bit about each character you can visualize and talk like the character and yes now I know, be in the characters viewpoint and then I am able to write about their exploits and emotional reactions so much easier.
By doing a back story and main character outlines the characters will come alive on the page, jump off the page right from the start, especially if you start well into your story. Conflict and subsequent emotions will be created immediately making things extremely helpful and allowing you to produce an emotional read.
Do you have some interesting back stories in your life that you can bring to the fore and make into vibrant scenes or parts of scenes. Things you remember and seem meaningful may be workable into scenes of real life drama, where your hero is subjected to horrible conflicts and obstacles you have created from past memories. Do you have any thoughts you cringe about when you think about them? Usually embarrassing moments where you have said or done something foolish? Sometimes the reason for writing is to express some of your deepest innermost desires or phobias. Bring your thoughts out, fast, rough cut, no correct grammar, no full sentences, just point form, usually no dialect or scene details –when it comes it comes, and the more you allow yourself to imagine and create the easier it becomes and the longer you can do it. Now every business letter or thing I write is done this way and then re-written with proper English so that now if anyone saw any of my early drafts they would know from the scribble a writer’s hand was at work.
Settings choices includes the time, brightness, (bright =, happy/ dark=gloomy), location, (on a comfy couch in their living room vs hanging out the door of a jet fighter), and context, (a romantic love scene anticipated for so long), with music, (with elegant, classical compositions in the background), vs a fast paced video game with metallica up loud and with serious outcomes to the losers. I think of setting as a means to create atmosphere/mood where the plot takes place. Eg marble counters, glass chandlers vs cracks in the walls, dirt across the floor gives you two distinct feelings about where you are. |No one reads settings, they skip them with a fast eye a lot of times. Not everyone, but I know I do. And do not be alarmed if you are reading and you find you must read that paragraph again to have it sink in. The more you read the less you need to do this. But the diversion of reading can be more than educational, deversional and amusing, it can also be a means to relax and cozy into a story that may mean you read a line two or three times as you drift into the story and take flight into the world of fictional adventure and drift off to..no, wake up. Let’s continue...
· Beg-mid-end with character arc change and celebrate after winning (emotional response) is really all there is too it
Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions. By balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep readers glued to the pages wondering how the story will end. Conflict makes the reader care about the characters.
Possible Conflicts: The protagonist against another individual, nature, technology, society, God, oneself .
Note: Create Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.
Keep the number + type of obstacles the protagonist faces increasing in intensity and occurance.
Reward/Pay at the End: Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap the rewards. Make it so.
Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far in advance.
Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (Add night sweats).
Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time. A universal message.
High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone they care about could lose something precious.
Build to a Crisis or Climax: The goal of a good storyteller. Bigger obstacles followed by worsening results until hero wins battle and the girl and proves the universal message to be true
Emotion:
Showing human emotional responses caused by extreme conflicts and showing critical life altering decision-making during maximum adversity which would be at cornerstones of our society’s very own extended principles –we like to witness, gather this knowledge. People like to see how others react to adverse events, storing the information in case they come across a similar circumstance so that they may have something to fall back on in order to decide on what reactions to take. Wow, I understood that. note: rewrite.
To write a finely crafted novel you need to know beforehand the beginning, the incident to cause change, the journey preparation, journey and obstacles on the journey and calculating worsening of events until the hero must make a character change and stand up and win ending the story with just a few pages or words of rejoicing.. Ok this day and age people reverse a lot of traditional storytelling, adding twists, like make the hero a villain etc, but let’s keep it simple on the first run of things. So fill out as much as you can and keep adding as you write your new best-selling novel.
End story on :
You must know where and how story will end and be able to close your sub-plot threads so you do not leave readers irritated and hanging.
Open Ending. Readers determine the meaning. He looked off to the gray clouds in sky.
Resolved. Clear-cut outcome. Haya sat on the porch steps, baby’s mouth suckling milk with loud slurping sounds, it’s dark tuft of hair straight up like Moe’s. Moe stood behind her. Ivor pushed off from shore, the canoe full of his belongings and paddled off in hopes of catching the British Warship that would take him north, away from the wars and off to find Robbie on his new adventure. He would not leave his old friend Robbie to travel alone, to succumb to life’s hazardous ways without him.
add Robbie asked Ivor to come with him, said needed him when parted, book two
Parallel to Beginning. Similar to beginning situation or image eg. start with a letter end with a letter=bookends
Beg she awoke in the hospital to learn her 66 mustang was stolen.
End: she got in her shiny mustang and drove off, the repair bill marked unpaid, blowing away in the wind.
Dialogue. Character(s) converse. Possibly resolve a story thread, repeat a universal message, give hopeful message or Conflict to lead into next book if a series, Eg. “The winter is coming.” “Yes, and so is the French.”
People talk of the weather when the conversation gets boring and people want to end talking and move on. Check it out. Do little weather because that is a universal signal to disengage, unless a hurricane sends a tree trunk through the upper house floor and wisks away Alice to another place. Monologue. “Clearly a view left for another book.” The End.
Literal Descriptive Imaging. Part of setting resolves the plot. The wind was blowing in and squalls of snow blocked our view. Things are resolved and a snowstorm and lingering trouble for a series or a peaceful setting for a nice happy ending is best. Spiderman 2 was atearful goodbye ending. Do a peaceful, happy ending.
Symbolic Imaging. Details represent a meaning beyond the literal one of just ending the story threads and rejoicing. Also can be Foretelling...
eg. Winter was coming and the trees were already covered in snow and the French would arrive in spring. -A dreary outlook on their future for future, danger, conflict set up for book two. Nice.
-Make sure all story threads are closed, sub-plots and side shows and tell of character change, of reaching goals stated earlier and of the rejoice after securing a story goal that was repeated early on.
Note: Third person is observing the protagonist in a voice that is not the character's but the story's.
He thought of his wife and her hardships, he took the smoothbore from its sleeve and reversed the barrel in one swift motion, cocking the flintstock full back as he did so, eyeing white powder trickle out of the covered pan, giving him faith his weapon was ready and loaded. Robbie rested the barrel on a branch that was growing sideways, crossing at his eye level. Another rapist, kidnapper would die today and he would save Key, his wife from further abuse.
SCENE EVENTS (part A of a scene-fast paced): action with dialogue and scene description and some narration-pov character does something, a decided plan of action, causing conflict, obstacles in his way, something happens bad, rising in intensity these obstacles become life threatening or threatening a change in the way he can conduct his life, leading to disaster and worse trouble till he beats the bad guy, wins the plot item and the girl and proves the universal messages can ring true and give us confidence in the human race. Really?
Scene (part b of scene structure, sections can be put anywhere and only partially used, slow paced): Usually placed after action-dialogue sequence, a series playing out like, an emotional reaction, thinking, planning and resolve, leading to a decision which determines the next scene goal and action which is the start of next scene
Scene action and dialogue parts are fast paced and part b the thinking, rationing, making things clear, and set up next scene with a decision, slow it down, Try for a 60/40 ratio in your scene parts arrangement, reduce or eliminate sequels at action points using just action, dialogue and beats. And increase part b if the story reads too fast.
Chapter Four
Answer each Fill-In-The-Blank Questions for preparing to write your scenes
-flesh some of them out in greater detail -Clear concise answers
2 Books to read and why/bibliography
3- Headings
4 –Fill-in-the-blanks
5-What to do after you fill out the time line
6. Blogs - Blogs posted to make you think about writing and tips and help about writing your own novel
Cover
Intro:
The completed book 'BLOG HELP FOR WRITERS' IS A VERY FAST, YOU WANNA WRITE-LET'S GO! APPROACH - WASTING NO TIME. A helpful and informative procedure where you read for twenty minutes and then I get you to daydream or brainstorm for a bit and write down a few ideas that come to mind. Don’t worry you can change it. Then in chapter four of BLOG Help For Writers you fill-in-the-blanks tying in your story ideas to the story structure requirements given. You are instructed to fill out your story on the timeline, write important scenes, add-in important scenes and voila, a finished rough cut in days if not hours.
Chapter Three called Headings through early testing has proved to be a very quick study guide and along with the rest of the book called Blog Help For Writers can fast track you into doing your own book in a matter of days. Chapter Three called Headings, a rough draft of my study notes has plenty of enough material to get you started and off to the races. If you want to write a book this info is crucial and minimal. Twenty minutes of reading. This info with the few things I ask you to think about will prepare you for Chapter Four, the fill-in-the-blanks write your story in days if not hours strategy. There are some examples for explanation purposes that are taken from book One The Inheritance Letter and Book Two Robbie's Incarceration (which is not even finished yet) but are not totally necessary to get the drift of what I say. This How-To-Write Book, Blog Help For Writers -How To Write A Book In Days If Not Hours, is a book coming out that can get you a fast draft down and then either you re-write, polish, re-write, then email me and I hopefully will have that list of publisher caveats you need to read first before going to a publisher. This I will send free just for emailing me and for showing your support. We can exchange emails and do author functions together if we both are at the same function or if there is time. The other option is to start your story over using more of your own thoughts and ideas and now that you know how to write a book, you can take more time to flesh out your masterpiece. Email me if you want encouragement. Nothing serious just an email or two.
Blog for: Blog Help For Writers
Chapter one: my setup, desk, what you need, what is on my bulletin board, pics
Chapter two : books to read and why?
Chapter Three: Headings August 23, 2014
(Free giveaway on book launch day at Chapters and The Tamarac)August 23, 2014..
Chapter Three: HEADINGS
Through marketing my book I realized lots of people have a desire to write a book. I can help. I can fast track their process. No one explains it all or so efficiently. I have already blogged the first few chapters of my future book ‘Blog Help for Writers @ www.robbiesadventures.com/bloghelpforwriters.com Just basic setup and a few books to read while visiting the book store or ordering from the library so to not have costs.
In this chapter called Headings, I discuss everything you need to know in a few minutes reading. Then in the next chapter you fill-in-the-blanks and in a few hours your done. Then it is just spit and polish or now that you have discovered the gift of writing you can do a different more elaborated story.
The full Book when Available, ‘Blog Help For Writers’ will have a few examples from Book One ‘The Inheritance Letter’ and Book Two Robbie’s Incarceration from the robbiesadventures.com series to assist in instruction.
Book one, The Inheritance Letter is now available in Chapters and online at www.robbiesadventures.com and book two will be ready hopefully by the end of 2015. The Blog Help for Writers when I finish does not have an immediate deadline thus allowing more people to view and use my writing guides free.
---
For Book Related requests and comments reply to: robbiesadventures@gmail.com (Ask me anything)
These are the posts I placed onto my blog column, Blog Help For Writers.
Follow along and write a book in days if not hours
Get Started: These are the things I think about and the Headings I filled out before I wrote Book One + Two
1. What type of story do you want to write? If it is a first fun fiction type of book where you would like to fill in the blanks and go and be done in a few days then creatively fill out the headings below and your story will be half written and you will be prepared to do the fun and creative part of finishing, to fill out the scenes, (scene requirements), organizing the order of them, fill in the scene content, (dialogue and action) and following a story structure as outlined in Chapter Four, a Fill-in-the-blanks to story conclusion.
2. For a memoir, unless you are a celebrity and can garner a large following it might be more prudent to do differently. I have swayed a few to think of writing a fiction story that was similar or could be tied into a true life event and highlight the story at certain spots or to add an end note talking of a true event. ...this might be more work but more saleable.
3. Also use of this list of Headings is an awesome list of things for new and veteran fiction writers to remember to include when setting up to write or especially when doing your re-write. Re-write for some congruity, cohesion, or clarity or maybe you missed and found in the scene requirements list or the timeline list something that excites you to write in a whole new chapter on a story point idea that fits your story structure journey. Or maybe my list of different types of scenes spurs some creativity.
Think about these questions: (Daydream or some people call it Brainstorming).
What does your protagonist want?
To keep things to ordinary. The way he lives his life. Do a good job. Have a beer on Friday, deep down desires of family life, For her? |Find career, freedom, status and independence, unknowingly underneath to find love + security. Let’s let her have the character change at the end and realize love is all that is important as a universal theme. Is your ideas unique or interesting enough? Add some conflict and find out.
- When the story begins, introduce your hero, love interest, love rivals and villain. Put these characters in their ordinary world and have what? _______ unexpected events happen to them? What consequences are going to result? ________
- ramp up the emotional energy of the story here, something must happen here, the hero must decide to journey, do something because of a major upset to his regular routine, meets a girl, loses job, must stop a space ship from landing or he/she must stop it from escaping, still, something that could realistically happen in your real world. Just establish your rules early on.
- What morally significant choice does your protagonist make at the climax of the story to give him a change of character (for the good)? Above I used the example independence changes to love, love over career or love over independence, or you can love again. Becoming brave , honouring up, love over money, friends over money, life over destroying ones’ self are all universal values.
- Drawing on real-life experiences such as winning the big game, bouncing back after illness, an injury, or finding love again are attractive story options. But simply describing powerful emotional experiences is not the same thing as engaging your reader’s emotions. An effective story generates feelings in the reader. Make the reader care by giving out personal details of the characters you want the readers to care about and then give hero etc. conflicts with poor results, then raise the stakes and make the conflicts worse and outcomes worse again at the end of each segment/scene. Your reader should care about your protagonist’s decisions.
Think about these topics and try to answer what is needed for your story. This will get the creative juices flowing. Make a few notes and proceed.
Now the Lists, I call it Headings because nobody likes Lists really. This is an example of listless speech. Do not use, lol. Sometimes you think something is good writing and it isn’t. Always get notes and story ideas down fast with pen and paper from your pocket and then never accept your first draft. You can always improve on 90% of your jot downs.
THIS IS A LIST OF MOST OF THE ITEMS I THINK ABOUT WHEN CREATING A STORY. To me this creativity is fun. When I have most of these details down (stuff I need and want in story) I can then think creatively again and write the story out in scene/segments and maneuver the scenes around a bit. I define details like beg, cause for story, (an inciting incident that disrupts everything), a middle where the hero constantly tries to succeed in his story goal of trying to restore his ordinary life and ending where he finally succeeds in saving the day and gets the girl and gets to party and kiss the girl. I hand fill out what I wish, and have a vague understanding of what I want for a lot of it. Try to stick to some of these guidelines on your first written masterpiece. You can always change it or start over with more of your own details and ideas. This is to fast track you so you have a fuller understanding of all the stuff you need to know. Hopefully I have summarized everything nicely for you.
Note: Third Person. The story tells what “he”, “she,” or “it” does. You could do a memoir section in first person. Also you must use first person in backstory. “I ...” etc. But use third person form for your story. He said, she said, and look from the objective viewpoint, outside of the characters. Best way is to find a book in first person and then one in third and you can quickly see the difference. Someone in a bookstore should be able to point it out for you.
You need to know who will be in your book, you can add people as you go.
CHARACTERS I fill out a few of the top names from below and add to this list when I can fit them into storyline. Some books might have just one character against the elements, (villain=elements). No strict rules except by following them the first time you can be guided. Use as many characters as you feel comfortable using and add some if you need them. The more characters the more associations, assistance and depth can be added to story. Some I purposely used and some characters were not showing what they were till the end of the story. This being said, if this is your first story then I suggest using minimal, a hero, villain, love interest and just a few more and giving characters a few roles to play for each type.
Types of Characters, how they should act and what you can use them for
HERO -should have a good outlook on life because of a good upbringing, makes universal decision + character change for good or to improve, the good saves the day,
You can make hero a villain in next project if you need to but for now let’s keep it simple.
VILLAIN an equally powerful foe, make bad and give traits, but his upbringing would be bad, and thus his outlook on life shaded and has villainous ideas of selfish interests, wealth and mischievous deeds
VILLAIN’S HELPERS -sometimes a bigger threat, eg. Bruce lee against the whole club
LOVE INTEREST -most stories the reader wonders, does the hero get the girl, usually they hate each other first then find something in common turning to sympathy, affection to love.
HERALD/MESSENGER -someone has to tell the hero bad news or give a warning
WISE ONE -someone has to know something for the hero to know which way to go or what to do to win, an answer to a riddle
ARMOURER: -a place where the hero can get knowledge or guns or something cool to do battle with, a sword a secret, a potion, tools
HERO’S SIDEKICK -did he change sides as is common? Every hero needs a sidekick, maybe the love interest is his sidekick?
SHAPE SHIFTER -changes sides, good to bad, cop and crook, witness but liar, usually on villain’s side
TEARFUL GOODBYE PERSON someone has to say goodbye before hero goes on journey
THRESHOLD GUARDIAN someone should bar the hero from going on his quest?
THE RIVAL –possibly the villain, ability to almost win love interest, certainly a threat to hero and universal message of love wins over xxxx.
THE TRICKSTER -someone can tell a lie, send things in the wrong direction, another obstacle
THE FOOL –can also give misdirection, humour, may have answers or key info needed, or a key
CHANGE SIDES TO BE VILLAINS HELPER –guy may know all hero knows, the guy that can bring down the hero or knows where he is and he decides for greed to join the villain giving the villain greater powers to destroy our hero. Remember to show greed never prospers by making this type of character pay dearly at the end for his betrayal.
Other characters
GOD WITH CLAY FEET: What? I could never figure this one out. This name means the one looked up so highly upon is found out to be fake with no real power, hero may fall in love with, then wake up when shows true colors: Haya
LOVERS: Due to popularity other lovers, lust and plight is a delight
THE CRONE-old, ugly, delightful, usually twisted and gnarled, maybe also fool or wiseone, comic relief or disgusting before beautiful heroine, usually supporting actors are made up to appear less fortunate, less good-looking and allow their hero to carry all the best lines and have the soft glamour lighting and authority.
WOMAN AS MOTHER: -motherly figure: could be tearful goodbye person, wise one
WIFE/ FEMME FATALE eg. Glen Close in Fatal Attraction
WOMAN AS BITCH -eg. Haya especially Book Two
WOMAN AS GODDESS: -eg. Lillian
WHORE/TEMPTRESS –eg. Eleanor
HERO AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LOVE INTEREST: casual meeting, sparks, hatred, use opposites attract strategy, no way a relationship, to a possible hint, to a rival getting in way, hero does wrong things like ignore her or do own thing, now no chance, villain and helpers and rival all punish hero, hero meets wise man gets info, meets armourer and gets a weapon and a key?, says goodbye to his mom or tearful goodbye person, goes on a venture and after many tries and approaches that have worse and worse results saves the love interest, girl, or what have you, learns something of quality on the way and celebrates after the villain is subdued. Let’s do it.
THE VILLAIN,RIVAL AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LOVE INTEREST, cunning, conniving, threatening to killing, maybe kidnapping, influence away from hero, and bad for universal message to ring true unless hero saves her.
Some characters can play multiple roles and not all are needed. You choose.
Full Character sketches should be done on the main characters and only one trait and a feature or two for the minor characters. Eg. minor: he had a limp, lisp in his speech and wore dark clothing is enough to associate and remember and keeps things uncluttered.
CHARACTER Bios include physiology, looks like, good looking, determined feel about him
Psychology: read peoples faces, gestures, mannerisms, speech: good with his hands, prefers outdoors, sings, kind, likes a simple life vs light fires, neglected as kid, aggressive + rude, (show hero vs villain’s different outlooks on life)
Sociology: Lives in cabin, loves country, yearns to be a family man, Love interest: career, not found anyone to like, Reference ages/events at different times in book might help steady timeline of events, driving forces, cause why acts the way he does, (prior experiences were positive for hero, negative for villain, disappointing for love interest), some descriptive details, give the hero a scar, a habit, a bold attitude, sex appeal, courage, a character arc that goes from neutral to helping others and the villain good overpowering qualities creating a stiff opposition, clever and resourceful, overconfident, does evil, evil outlook, elevates threat to murder, (raise the stakes), has an evil past and Selfish goals. Ask: Good enough villain? How make worse? Spend time developing a good villain and character traits.
Love interest: opposites at first, well orchestrated characters makes conflicts at many levels, sparks fly, A great pull like powerful magnets -pulling them together but kept apart by differences, (opposites attract theme,): family status, racial, internal, careerist, emotional traits: high spirited vs laid back, loves city/country, educated vs not finished school, never married, success oriented vs family type (thinks so at first, career oriented then character change –love/family most important- happens when they are about to separate or saved)
-add character facets as go along, This is where the collection of eavesdropping conversations you are always told to observe and jot down in writing class can come in as a useful resource. You can create a whole character from writing down what someone looks like, and all the things they say and gestures they do, maybe you might tell them what your doing and ask them some details like what job they do, where from? Mix and match your character traits appropriately from your collections and your imagination. Remember everything you do should be towards showing character, eg. The man constructed the back wood deck and fence in one day. He only had a bit of help and the job looks great. He is off doing the roof of the shed. –you do not have to say he is a good handyman, we know. Also are eg. someone talks of another character can reveal character. He is so stuffy looking with his head up so high. =conceit maybe
Or everything you do is toward your story goal to drive your story forward to eventually set up and conclude your ending. Close all your story threads or sub-plots you created. Today’s stories usually have more than one main character and multiple stories going at once and can be quite complicated.
Love interest must grow, from many dislikes to agreeing on a few topics to poor me, to consoling, to love. No rules are set in stone except when illustrating this romantic procedure.
Backstory: give the main characters a bit of life – sketch a book before a book , and add to it as you go. The hero’s dad was in the army and settled in northern Ontario and that is why the hero lives where he does. The love interest, usually the heroine acts the way she does because of backstory, something happened before your story started. If you have created enough back story you have lots of info to choose from to help you write. You will know your character so much better. This allows foresight and backward thinking so that you can create the circle of being for each character. When you know a bit about each character you can visualize and talk like the character and yes now I know, be in the characters viewpoint and then I am able to write about their exploits and emotional reactions so much easier.
By doing a back story and main character outlines the characters will come alive on the page, jump off the page right from the start, especially if you start well into your story. Conflict and subsequent emotions will be created immediately making things extremely helpful and allowing you to produce an emotional read.
Do you have some interesting back stories in your life that you can bring to the fore and make into vibrant scenes or parts of scenes. Things you remember and seem meaningful may be workable into scenes of real life drama, where your hero is subjected to horrible conflicts and obstacles you have created from past memories. Do you have any thoughts you cringe about when you think about them? Usually embarrassing moments where you have said or done something foolish? Sometimes the reason for writing is to express some of your deepest innermost desires or phobias. Bring your thoughts out, fast, rough cut, no correct grammar, no full sentences, just point form, usually no dialect or scene details –when it comes it comes, and the more you allow yourself to imagine and create the easier it becomes and the longer you can do it. Now every business letter or thing I write is done this way and then re-written with proper English so that now if anyone saw any of my early drafts they would know from the scribble a writer’s hand was at work.
Settings choices includes the time, brightness, (bright =, happy/ dark=gloomy), location, (on a comfy couch in their living room vs hanging out the door of a jet fighter), and context, (a romantic love scene anticipated for so long), with music, (with elegant, classical compositions in the background), vs a fast paced video game with metallica up loud and with serious outcomes to the losers. I think of setting as a means to create atmosphere/mood where the plot takes place. Eg marble counters, glass chandlers vs cracks in the walls, dirt across the floor gives you two distinct feelings about where you are. |No one reads settings, they skip them with a fast eye a lot of times. Not everyone, but I know I do. And do not be alarmed if you are reading and you find you must read that paragraph again to have it sink in. The more you read the less you need to do this. But the diversion of reading can be more than educational, deversional and amusing, it can also be a means to relax and cozy into a story that may mean you read a line two or three times as you drift into the story and take flight into the world of fictional adventure and drift off to..no, wake up. Let’s continue...
- combine setting with characterization and plot. Have characters talk about it.
- Use two or more senses in your descriptions of setting. This will help make the right atmosphere or environment for the scene you want to show and can even be part of the scene itself or the villain’s helping obstacles, (a storm is the conflict possibly).
· Beg-mid-end with character arc change and celebrate after winning (emotional response) is really all there is too it
- Explosion or “Hook.” A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs the reader’s attention right away. Hero can not turn his back on problem. And if you provide details about the character first that resemble an average Joe like your reader with everyday similar problems, get home, get the kids, left phone at office, garbage didn’t get picked up and you subjugated him to life altering conflict and presented him as a fish out of water and you have presented enough believable facts to the reader, the reader will start caring a bit about the poor lad/lassie and start wondering what is going to happen to him/her.
- Conflict. A character versus the internal self or an external something or someone. Do not have internal conflict in conversation. Keep that to a minimal and in the thinking part of the scene.
- Exposition. Background information required for learning about the characters or plot. This should be given in narrative form in only brief dribs and drabs. If you get a nice action scene that is fast paced a little bit of dialogue which includes narrating,telling important info about the story, it may be sneaked in but keep it short to be believed.
- Obstacles: Problems that keep a character from reaching their stated story goal. These are rising in complexity or have rising level of bad results to the hero’s journey and coincide to the character’s level of emotion, eg. concerned, disgusted, panic and fear, or greed
- Transition: Image, symbol, dialogue, that joins paragraphs and scenes together. End a scene looking at heat register and open next scene with a similar item or the same item somewhere else.
- Flashback. Remembering something that happened before the story takes place.
- Climax. When they do the final confrontation, do or die.
- Closing:. Close story threads or do set-ups for next book if a series.
- Resolution. When the internal and external conflicts are resolved. Rejoicing and small story threads closed.
Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions. By balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep readers glued to the pages wondering how the story will end. Conflict makes the reader care about the characters.
Possible Conflicts: The protagonist against another individual, nature, technology, society, God, oneself .
Note: Create Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.
Keep the number + type of obstacles the protagonist faces increasing in intensity and occurance.
Reward/Pay at the End: Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap the rewards. Make it so.
Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far in advance.
Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (Add night sweats).
Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time. A universal message.
High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone they care about could lose something precious.
Build to a Crisis or Climax: The goal of a good storyteller. Bigger obstacles followed by worsening results until hero wins battle and the girl and proves the universal message to be true
Emotion:
Showing human emotional responses caused by extreme conflicts and showing critical life altering decision-making during maximum adversity which would be at cornerstones of our society’s very own extended principles –we like to witness, gather this knowledge. People like to see how others react to adverse events, storing the information in case they come across a similar circumstance so that they may have something to fall back on in order to decide on what reactions to take. Wow, I understood that. note: rewrite.
To write a finely crafted novel you need to know beforehand the beginning, the incident to cause change, the journey preparation, journey and obstacles on the journey and calculating worsening of events until the hero must make a character change and stand up and win ending the story with just a few pages or words of rejoicing.. Ok this day and age people reverse a lot of traditional storytelling, adding twists, like make the hero a villain etc, but let’s keep it simple on the first run of things. So fill out as much as you can and keep adding as you write your new best-selling novel.
End story on :
You must know where and how story will end and be able to close your sub-plot threads so you do not leave readers irritated and hanging.
Open Ending. Readers determine the meaning. He looked off to the gray clouds in sky.
Resolved. Clear-cut outcome. Haya sat on the porch steps, baby’s mouth suckling milk with loud slurping sounds, it’s dark tuft of hair straight up like Moe’s. Moe stood behind her. Ivor pushed off from shore, the canoe full of his belongings and paddled off in hopes of catching the British Warship that would take him north, away from the wars and off to find Robbie on his new adventure. He would not leave his old friend Robbie to travel alone, to succumb to life’s hazardous ways without him.
add Robbie asked Ivor to come with him, said needed him when parted, book two
Parallel to Beginning. Similar to beginning situation or image eg. start with a letter end with a letter=bookends
Beg she awoke in the hospital to learn her 66 mustang was stolen.
End: she got in her shiny mustang and drove off, the repair bill marked unpaid, blowing away in the wind.
Dialogue. Character(s) converse. Possibly resolve a story thread, repeat a universal message, give hopeful message or Conflict to lead into next book if a series, Eg. “The winter is coming.” “Yes, and so is the French.”
People talk of the weather when the conversation gets boring and people want to end talking and move on. Check it out. Do little weather because that is a universal signal to disengage, unless a hurricane sends a tree trunk through the upper house floor and wisks away Alice to another place. Monologue. “Clearly a view left for another book.” The End.
Literal Descriptive Imaging. Part of setting resolves the plot. The wind was blowing in and squalls of snow blocked our view. Things are resolved and a snowstorm and lingering trouble for a series or a peaceful setting for a nice happy ending is best. Spiderman 2 was atearful goodbye ending. Do a peaceful, happy ending.
Symbolic Imaging. Details represent a meaning beyond the literal one of just ending the story threads and rejoicing. Also can be Foretelling...
eg. Winter was coming and the trees were already covered in snow and the French would arrive in spring. -A dreary outlook on their future for future, danger, conflict set up for book two. Nice.
-Make sure all story threads are closed, sub-plots and side shows and tell of character change, of reaching goals stated earlier and of the rejoice after securing a story goal that was repeated early on.
Note: Third person is observing the protagonist in a voice that is not the character's but the story's.
He thought of his wife and her hardships, he took the smoothbore from its sleeve and reversed the barrel in one swift motion, cocking the flintstock full back as he did so, eyeing white powder trickle out of the covered pan, giving him faith his weapon was ready and loaded. Robbie rested the barrel on a branch that was growing sideways, crossing at his eye level. Another rapist, kidnapper would die today and he would save Key, his wife from further abuse.
SCENE EVENTS (part A of a scene-fast paced): action with dialogue and scene description and some narration-pov character does something, a decided plan of action, causing conflict, obstacles in his way, something happens bad, rising in intensity these obstacles become life threatening or threatening a change in the way he can conduct his life, leading to disaster and worse trouble till he beats the bad guy, wins the plot item and the girl and proves the universal messages can ring true and give us confidence in the human race. Really?
Scene (part b of scene structure, sections can be put anywhere and only partially used, slow paced): Usually placed after action-dialogue sequence, a series playing out like, an emotional reaction, thinking, planning and resolve, leading to a decision which determines the next scene goal and action which is the start of next scene
Scene action and dialogue parts are fast paced and part b the thinking, rationing, making things clear, and set up next scene with a decision, slow it down, Try for a 60/40 ratio in your scene parts arrangement, reduce or eliminate sequels at action points using just action, dialogue and beats. And increase part b if the story reads too fast.
Chapter Four
Answer each Fill-In-The-Blank Questions for preparing to write your scenes
-flesh some of them out in greater detail -Clear concise answers
