Recently, I finished the first draft of my third book. It takes time to distance yourself from a manuscript before you can objectively edit it, so I picked up a project that had been working on for some time. The idea behind the project is to create a high-level story blueprint to see if a …
Tag: Story structure
The Three-Act Structure
Novelists can learn a lot from scriptwriters who have developed a number of tools for story development. One such tool is the three-act structure. Screenwriters often use "Acts" - a concept more familiar to staged drama - to breakdown the structure of their movies into major parts. Of course there are no curtain calls in …
Endings
Dan Wells is famous for his seven point system for structuring stories. The approach is set out in a series of five videos that are still available on you-tube. Just search for 'Dan Wells'. The Well's system is not vastly different from a number of other systems based around a three-act structure, with major plot …
Fixing your Story
Everyone knows first drafts of a novel are always c**p. But how do you fix them? Unless you're Stephen King, the first draft will require more than just a little line editing and proof reading before it can be published. So before you polish a draft you need to ensure that the story is working …
Story boarding
In my previous blog, I put forward the view that a writer should know his/her story before he/she starts writing. Once a writer has a story concept, a character with a goal, a source of conflict, and stakes at risk then they have basic ingredients for a story. But as any chef knows, ingredients can …
Pacing and escalating tension
A few weeks ago, I went to see Star Wars The Force Awakens. What a movie! Of course, with all the hype about the movie there was always a risk that it wouldn't live up to fans expectation, or that it would not true be to the the original trilogy. But most of the critics …
Story and structure
Having just finished the final edit of my second book, I pondered over whether my workflow had improved from my first book. I have always believed in planning my stories, although for me planning and revision continues throughout the writing process. Part of story planning is story structure. In my view, a good story has to …
Unbelievable Endings
Movies and novels are two very different mediums of story telling. Some great novels don’t necessarily translate into great movies. And some great movies would not necessarily make a great novels. But despite the obvious differences in the medium, there is a lot a novelist can learn about storytelling from the analysing the story elements …
Planning a Novel
Writing a novel is no easy process, even if you have done it before. Recently, I completed the first draft of my second novel. It still needs a substantial edit, but that is best done in a month's time when I am sufficiently distanced from it to edit it objectively. In the meantime, I have started …
First Draft
Typing those magic words, ‘The End’, can be a satisfying moment for any first time writer. If you have got that far in your writing, then congratulations. You’ve made it further than most aspiring writers do. You haven’t given up. But then when you read the draft, reality kicks in. Let’s put it kindly: it …
JMJ Williamson 