In my last two blogs I covered two of my favourite tools that I use for writing novels. Scrivener -- my go to software for researching, planning, writing and book formatting software. Scrivener has virtually everything you need to plan, produce and publish your novel. It's a very powerful application, but it takes time to …
Tag: Novel writing
Structure and character arc
Some writers don't like the idea of story structure and reject it on the grounds that any such approach would be too rigid for them. Structures like the Hero's Journey, the Three-Act structure, and the Sequence Method may appeal to some writers, but not all. But even if you don't like to write in a …
The big idea, concept or premise
To be successful, any new story has to be built around an idea, or concept that makes it new and exciting. A school for wizards is an idea or concept, but it's not a story premise. A story premise needs both a character (for example, Harry Potter) and a central conflict or problem that drives …
Story Design — Characterisation
Some very successful writers claim to produce stories without any apparent planning or preparation. Story design must be built into their DNA. Others, which I suggest is the vast majority of writers like me, struggle to find the stories within them through a variety of different processes. Some write by the seat of their pants …
Story Design – Twenty Key Questions
As a new writer one of the most difficult decisions to make is about what to write about. There is plenty of advice from experienced writers out there who say just sit in the chair and write. And that if you don't write, you can't become a writer. But that doesn't help the newbie author …
Story structure — the big moments of Act One
Story telling, whether you are a novelist or screenwriter, requires an understanding of story dynamics and structure. For some writers, this is ingrained into their DNA: they don't need fancy ideas and concepts for something that comes natural to them. All they need is a story, which starts with a problem that comes into a …
Continue reading Story structure — the big moments of Act One
JMJ Williamson 