Plotting
Hi flist! It's been a while, but I'm so excited about my latest discovery that I just had to post. As many of you are writers, you might find this as helpful a resource as I did.
I won a copy of Martha Alderson's Blockbuster Plots in a raffle at a writer's conference. The book sat on my shelf for several months. After all, I'm a plot-driven writer and plot is not usually a problem for me. Characterization is my challenge.
While stalled on a writing project, I pulled the book from the shelf and started reading. But this is not the sort of book you just read. It's full of exercises. So I pulled out the manuscript of my novel and did the exercises in her book and was just BLOWN AWAY.
In Blockbuster Plots, Martha talks about the three main components that make a great novel: character development, dramatic action, and thematic significance. Her scene tracker technique helped me analyze my scenes for each of these elements. It was like a light bulb switched on! I was able to identify strong scenes and articulate what worked and why. It also helped me to identify weaker scenes and know how to fix them.
In addition to the scene tracker, I filled out character profiles on my protagonist and villain. That was so helpful that I've decided that I need to create these sorts of profiles before I start writing my next novel.
Finally, I used the plot planner to graph out my plot. When I was done, I had a concise picture of the whole book. WOW!
I did these exercises with a completed manuscript, but I can see how this would be helpful in the planning stages and between drafts. I'm definitely going to use it on my next novel.
If you're interested, there's more information on Martha's website www.blockbusterplots.com.
I won a copy of Martha Alderson's Blockbuster Plots in a raffle at a writer's conference. The book sat on my shelf for several months. After all, I'm a plot-driven writer and plot is not usually a problem for me. Characterization is my challenge.
While stalled on a writing project, I pulled the book from the shelf and started reading. But this is not the sort of book you just read. It's full of exercises. So I pulled out the manuscript of my novel and did the exercises in her book and was just BLOWN AWAY.
In Blockbuster Plots, Martha talks about the three main components that make a great novel: character development, dramatic action, and thematic significance. Her scene tracker technique helped me analyze my scenes for each of these elements. It was like a light bulb switched on! I was able to identify strong scenes and articulate what worked and why. It also helped me to identify weaker scenes and know how to fix them.
In addition to the scene tracker, I filled out character profiles on my protagonist and villain. That was so helpful that I've decided that I need to create these sorts of profiles before I start writing my next novel.
Finally, I used the plot planner to graph out my plot. When I was done, I had a concise picture of the whole book. WOW!
I did these exercises with a completed manuscript, but I can see how this would be helpful in the planning stages and between drafts. I'm definitely going to use it on my next novel.
If you're interested, there's more information on Martha's website www.blockbusterplots.com.