If you are like me, you are juggling several writing projects in various stages. I have many chores that I have in a to-do list as well. I use Microsoft’s My Day. I use it because I can access the…
From: Agent WinnieTo: Mr. WhiskersDate: 5 March 2023Subject: Mission Report Agent Zoe has been saying I’m not pulling my weight. I have been. I have been working all out on the archives. They are in such a mess. It goes…
Scenes are the building blocks of novels. That makes them important. You pantsers can ignore this blog. I’m talking about plotting a story out. I use a form that I created to do this work. The form has a name,…
This blog is about the dreaded writer’s block. We all suffer from it. Of course we don’t suffer all at the same time, but we do suffer from it. You’ll be writing and without warning. There. Are. No. More. Words.…
Timed writing has quite a few functions. It can generate ideas for stories, or for solving problems. Did you know it can help with your mental health? It can. You can use it to meditate. You set aside a little…
Act three is also called synthesis. It has three beats. This part fuses the first two acts. Things finally get fixed here. It starts about eighty percent of the way in the story. There is a breakthrough. The hero finally…
From: Agent ProbieTo: Mr. WhiskersDate: 5 February 2023Subject: Mission ReportI have to admit this place isn’t that bad. I’ve been trying to get information from the agents outside this new habitation, but I’ve been thwarted each time. I am going…
We are examining the beat sheet in detail. This is the second part of our dive into the second act. The second act is where we find the bulk of the story. We’re at the point of a plot twist.…
Welcome to the next part of our deep dive into the beat sheet. We’ve looked at the beats that make up the first act. Now it’s time for the second act. This is where things get real for the main…
The next beat is to state the theme. This needs to be subtle. Don’t have anyone in the story say it aloud, so to speak. Show it. Don’t tell the reader. No one in life says my life is about…