It recently occurred to me that it would be interesting to see if the three-act structure worked with one of Shakespeare’s plays. After all, the structure has held up when looking at novels and movies of various different genres, but I have yet to use it to analyze anything by Shakespeare. To find out if… Read more »
If you’ve ever listened to my podcast, DIY MFA Radio, you know that at the end of each interview, I would ask the same question: “What’s your #1 tip for writers?” As I was thinking of what to write for today’s newsletter, I asked myself that same question, and I came up with not one,… Read more »
“Subplots are like the adjectives of your main story/sentence. You can still understand the sentence without them, but it’s not as fascinating.” ~Charlie Holmberg I love this quote because I think it captures the nature of subplots to a T. The main plot is like a noun or verb in a sentence, it’s the part… Read more »
Today, we embark on another three-act analysis, this time of one of the most iconic American novels of the 20th century: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1925 and set in the early 1920s, this story captures the sparkle and energy of the roaring twenties and gives us a window into the… Read more »
Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics. Iteration is the process where you repeat something, making small, incremental changes. We’re so used to seeing iteration in the world around us, that we barely even notice it. For example, tech companies use iteration all the time. They produce software and release a… Read more »
We’re back with another story structure analysis. This time, we’re doing a three-act analysis of The Princess Bride, which happens to be another one of my all-time favorite movies. This film is not to be confused with the book by the same title. The book is entirely different and, frankly, I find this to be… Read more »
“Where do you get ideas?” Every writer has been asked that question at some point in their career. Sometimes it seems like new story ideas appear as if by magic. Other times it can feel like pulling teeth. So, how do we as writers get new story ideas? Let me give you a window into… Read more »
One of the techniques I talk about most often is the Angst Jar. This is a tool I use to help myself get through creative failure and persevere, even when writing becomes difficult (which, inevitably, it does). The Angst Jar is designed to give you an outlet for creative pain, allowing you to channel it… Read more »
The Star Wars franchise is one of my favorites of all time, and while Rogue One and The Empire Strikes Back are at the top of my list, I have a special place in my heart for Episode IV: A New Hope. We’ve done a bunch of 3-act analyses over the past few months, and… Read more »
I’ve been thinking a lot about all the writing resources that are out there on the web—both free and not free. This got me wondering: “How do we manage it all? How do we tell what’s good from what’s not? And how do we know our time and money will be well spent?” In other… Read more »
