Plot & Structure Exercise 25: Take Home This

Determine the take-home value of your novel. This can be done at any stage of your plotting. If you do it early, keep it in mind as you develop your scenes. but be careful . . . the message must come out naturally.   Mr Bell makes an important point […]

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Plot & Structure Exercise 8.6: The Music Video

“Music is the shortcut to the heart,” says Mr Bell. Thus, we should listen to something that lights our fuse, music of any style, then close our eyes and let our imagination run. Once we settle on something worth writing about, listen to the music to get you in the […]

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Plot & Structure Exercise 8.4: Boy Got Issues

So like, it’s crazy. Just this morning I was wondering something about my writing, about my life. Why do I stay away from issues? Why do I avoid conflict? What would it hurt to write characters who say something raw, bias, with zero sense, but with 100,000 degrees of emotion? […]

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Plot & Structure Exercise 15: Tighten the Rope

Isolate a tense scene in your novel, where the conflict is at its highest. Then stretch the tension even more. Use the techniques from the chapter. Then return to it in a few days. Does it need to be cut, or have you added to the reading experience?   This […]

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Plot & Structure Exercise 13: Till Death do us Plot

Today’s exercise is a matter of life or death. For the characters. That’s because Mr Bell recommends that the stakes be so high, so grand and important, that they will make or break a character to his fundamental being.   I remember last night’s episode of Sex and the City, […]

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Plot & Structure Exercise 12: Workshop Thyself

The next exercises in the chapter all revolve around the first. You essentially pick it apart. Kind of odd, if you ask me. Like scratching something off your back, and inspecting it. Well, here is it.   First, a look at story world. How well do you do it? Are […]

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