Over the past few months, I’ve shared some 3-Act analyses of various different movies, books, and stories. These analyses have included things like the book Pride and Prejudice, the movie Die Hard, and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” It can be useful to look at examples of the three-act structure in action, but… Read more »
For the last few months, we’ve been doing three-act analyses of various books and films. We examined Pride and Prejudice, the movie Die Hard, and Kate Chopin’s fabulous story “The Story of an Hour.” Today I thought I’d do an analysis of one of my favorite books: The Hunger Games. This book (along with Pride… Read more »
“Where do you get your ideas?” People are always curious how writers can come up with unique new stories, especially when those writers are producing books at a fast clip. This is especially true when writing genre fiction, where tropes and genre conventions are prevalent. How do you keep from repeating yourself? How do you… Read more »
Whether you’re brand new to writing or have been working at it for quite some time, you know how important it is to craft a compelling main character who propels the story forward. I’ve been working with writers for well over a decade and over that time I’ve seen again and again just how crucial… Read more »
Today I wanted to talk about a process I go through every winter season to set goals and break them down into manageable pieces. Every year, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I take some time out with my journal and iPad in hand, and I map out my coming year. Mapping Out… Read more »
We’re back with another 3-act structure analysis. Last time I did one of these, it was a deep dive into Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. But three-act structure doesn’t just apply to books written hundreds of years ago. To underscore that point, I thought I’d switch things up and do a three-act analysis of… Read more »
Have you ever played Myst? It’s an immersive adventure video game from 1993 and I was obsessed with it when I was in high school. It was a time long before you could easily Google for clues or hints, so it took me months to solve all the puzzles. I remember when I finally figured… Read more »
Today, I wanted to talk about an important—and often overlooked—area of the craft, and that is narration. I define narration as any part of the story that’s told by the narrator. This narrator can be a character in the story (as in first person) or they can be an entity outside the story looking in… Read more »
A lot of people think world-building only applies to fantasy, where you have elaborate maps of sprawling kingdoms. Or maybe they think it applies to sci-fi or historical fiction, where you have to bring to life all the intricacies of the story’s world. Whether you write something “world heavy,” or your story’s world is a… Read more »
Many writers have a love-hate relationship with the three-act structure. On one hand, it gives us a foundation for storytelling so we know exactly what pieces go where. On the other hand, it can feel a bit constraining, especially if we’re writing a character-driven story where there isn’t such a clear plot. To understand the… Read more »
