Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:

• How character, plot, and world are all connected.
• Using the iceberg technique as your write.
• Creating a setting that can take on a life of its own.

Plus, our #1 reading recommendation on how to weave your story’s world.

Link to Episode 469

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 469: Craft Jam: Weave Your Story’s World appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Donnaldson and Lori discuss:

• The impact of secrets on multiple generations.
• Starting a project with an image and painting it into prose.
• Directing a reader’s imagination through clues and cues.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Donnaldson Brown

Donnaldson ‘s debut novel, Because I Loved You, is due out in April 2023 with She Writes Press. An attorney and former screenwriter, she worked with Robert Redford’s film development company for several years. Her spoken word pieces have been featured in The Deep Listening Institute’s Writers in Performance and Women & Identity Festivals, and in the Made in the Berkshires Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She’s been awarded several residencies.

A longtime resident of both Brooklyn, New York and western Massachusetts, Ms. Brown grew up riding horses on a family ranch in East Texas as well as in her native Connecticut. She is a facilitator and trainer with The Equus Effect, offering somatic-based experiential learning with horses for veterans, first responders and others struggling with PTSD, and is also certified to teach meditation and several forms of yoga. 

She is a proud mother, and loves to sing, cycle, and hike with her dogs. 

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Because I Loved You

At sixteen, Leni O’Hare Dreams of escaping her family’s rundown East Texas farm to become an artist, but that means leaving behind both her grey mare, Foggy, and her beloved older brother, Foy. When she rescues and returns Caleb McGrath’s horse from a storm out on the chaparral, this second son of the largest rancher in the area catches her heart with his gentle nature and his own big dreams. Together they begin to imagine and plan a future beyond the limiting confines of their small town. But Leni’s hopes soon run as dry as the land itself, driven by a family tragedy for the O’Hare’s and a secret that Leni stores deep in her heart. Hastily, Leni makes a decision that she believes will protect Caleb’s future. Her ill-conceived and painful choice transforms not only their lives but impacts the next two generations.

In this epic love story and rich family saga, Donnaldson Brown takes readers from the East Texas chaparral in 1972, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, to New York City’s vibrant downtown art scene in the mid-1980’s, to the (pre-pandemic) present day, and from dreams lost to dreams rediscovered. Brown weaves together a powerful story of abiding love—romantic love, parental love, and the kind of love that sets a person free to choose one’s own path and maybe, hopefully, return.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 458

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 458: Intuitive Writing: Capture Your Character’s Energy and Paint with Your Words – Interview with Donnaldson Brown appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for March is Voice and Narration, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Patricia Leavy and Lori discuss:

• The neuroscience behind reader engagement.
• How her sociology background influences the way she develops characters.
• Exploring the beauty of writing by muscle memory as opposed to convention.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Patricia Leavy

Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than forty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than forty book honors. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.”

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Hollyland

What happens when a seemingly ordinary woman with a passion for the arts falls in love with a Hollywood star known for his bachelor status and quick temper with the paparazzi? Something extraordinary.

Dee Schwartz is a writer and arts researcher. Ryder Field is a famous actor descended from Hollywood royalty. On the night they meet outside a bar, their connection is palpable. Ryder’s mother—legendary actress Rebecca Field, half of Hollywood’s golden couple when she died—was kidnapped and murdered by a crazed fan in a shocking event that forever tarnished Tinseltown. Dee’s mother, too, died when she was young. Bonded by this loss, the two embark on a love story that explores their search for magic—or “gold dust”—in their lives. Everything changes, however, when Dee mysteriously disappears after an awards ceremony. Is history repeating itself? Can there truly be a happily ever after in Hollywood?

Set against the backdrop of contemporary Los Angeles, Hollyland is a poignant novel that moves fluidly between romance, humor, suspense, and joy.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 455

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 455: The Magic and Science of Writing – Interview with Patricia Leavy appeared first on DIY MFA.

A villain is, by definition, an evil or immoral character intent on harming others. In literature, these characters portray evil and immoral behavior while also providing readers with an antagonistic force or bad guy – a figure against whom to root.

They are often presented as self-serving or selfish, especially when it matters the most. Their own survival ultimately trumps everything else and can typically be a reason why they fail in the pursuit of their goal, while the hero succeeds in being willing to sacrifice everything for the same goal.

Villains can be motivated by greed or lust or pride, or self-preservation, or they could simply enjoy the act of hurting others. This is the simplest type of adversary because, technically speaking, they don’t need a motive to do what they do.

But giving them a reason for being who and what they are will add complexity to storylines, as they provide tension and difficulty for the heroes of stories, making them work harder for their goals.

Villains often have deep-seated motivations and reveal something about human nature, which makes them attractive for readers to analyze. Moreover, many villains have secrets and pasts that draw readers’s sympathy, adding complexity to the story.

In literature, villains create compelling stories through conflict and challenge traditional notions of morality, and this brings out strong emotions in readers.

What Are the Top 5 Types of Villains in Literature?

Though there are many villain archetypes, these are my top 5 picks:

The Trickster

The trickster villain, who relies on cleverness and manipulation, is one of literature’s top five types of villains.

Think of characters like the Joker, Loki, or the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland – they rely on deception and wicked cunning to get their way. 

The Trickster often makes a deal with the protagonist, appealing to their needs and desires, but the price for the agreement is always higher than the main character realizes. They’re an incredibly entertaining addition to books and movies, always finding ways to throw a monkey wrench into plans and add more excitement and drama.

They may seem infuriating initially, but eventually, their motives become clear – they are simply out to prove their brilliance and superiority over the hero. Most often driven by greed or jealousy, they typically want something from the main character that they would otherwise be unable to get on their own.

The Trickster is brilliant and fun but lacks a moral compass, and is thereby perfect for adding nuance and richness to the world of literature!

The Evil Overlord

For anyone familiar with the great works of literature throughout history, the iconic Evil Overlord has become a symbol in its own right for an antagonistic force that brings about destruction and chaos.

From J.R.R Tolkien’s Sauron to Count Dracula to Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars and the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, this type of ultimate enemy stands out for their power and sagacity in crushing all who oppose them!

The Evil Overlord is among the most despicable of villains – one might even say they are evil incarnate. Typically offered with little backstory, their motives are nothing short of total domination, and they perform acts of evil because they can. They have no redeeming qualities, they fully embrace their nature, and they are driven only by their own selfish and impure desires.

As such, it’s often their unchecked hubris that proves to be their undoing through an act of extreme courage by the hero.

Having said that, the allure of evil overlords in literature remains as captivating as ever. This intelligent and ruthless character type presents a formidable challenge with their immense power and wicked cunning, making them a challenging foe for the hero to defeat.

Indeed, when these powerful villains are finally vanquished, it’s always cause for joy and celebration by the characters within the story.

The Bully

From power-hungry tyrants to heartless manipulators, villains in literature come in all shapes and sizes.

One of the most common types is the Bully – whose physical or emotional abuse threatens and intimidates their victims.

This villain allows readers to explore themes such as justice and to experience courage and sympathy by seeing how very human characters endure incredible hardship and prevail.

This is a universal archetype, as most people have had real-life experience with a bully figure. Audiences can relate, with fairly little explanation needed for them to understand why this character poses a threat.

Rather than using complex high-tech devices or mastermind plots – these villains’s strength lies in the power of their imposing words and actions. They have an inherent need to display their dominance over the main character through strength and cruelty to prove their superiority and mask their shortcomings and fragile egos.

Some famous examples include Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Miss Trunchbull from Matilda.

The Corrupt Politician or Authority Figure

The Corrupt Politician or Authority Figure is a villainous character trope explored in many genres throughout literature.

From the wicked orphanage owner Miss Hannigan in Annie to the tyrannical Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty and Alonzo Harris in Training Day, these villains are often seen as morally bankrupt figures who may have started as decent people, but whose unchecked authority has corrupted them. They command an organization or institution with an iron fist and little remorse – seeking their own agenda while taking advantage of those they rule over.

As characters, they help build tension and drama, giving the protagonists clear-cut obstacles to overcome to achieve their desired goal while inspiring readers to explore tales of agency and justice.

The Equal

Not all villains are created equal, unless they are compared with the hero.

One of the top categories of villains is the Equal – often presented as the mirror image of the main character. They share the same skills, knowledge and/or savvy, but their ethics and morals are polar opposites.

Whereas the hero is ultimately presented as moral, brave and just, the Equal is often shown as immoral, cowardly, and deceptive. On paper, they have everything it takes to win the conflict, but their lack of compassion and unwillingness to sacrifice tends to be their undoing when it matters the most.

Unforgettable examples include General Zod in the Superman comics, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, and Renee Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Conclusion

There are dozens of different types of villains out there, each with their own quirks and motivations. As a writer, you get to find the most compelling villain type for your story. And as the saying goes, the hero is only as good as the villain.

After all, without a good villain or antagonistic force to drive the conflict, you can’t have a good story. So make yours memorable!

Do you have a favorite type of villain? Let us know in the comments below!

Neil Chase is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, actor, and storytelling consultant with extensive experience in a variety of genres, including action, sci-fi, drama, horror, and comedy. Neil has won over 90 international writing awards and is most proud of winning the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards Grand Prize.

Neil’s screenplays have been produced for film and TV, and he is the author of the award-winning horror-western novel Iron Dogs.

When not working, he’s drawing inspiration from his amazing family, thinking up new worlds and adventures, and helping aspiring authors find the best tools for writing and follow their dream of writing something truly amazing.

You can find him on his website:  https://www.neilchasefilm.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Linkedin.

The post #5onFri: Top 5 Types of Villains in Literature appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Thien-Kim Lam and Lori discuss:

• Balancing a love story with conflict.
• Sex education and sexuality as empowerment.
• Creating banter that isn’t forced.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Thien-Kim Lam

Thien-Kim Lam writes stories about Vietnamese characters who smash stereotypes and find their happy endings. A recovering Type-Asian, she guzzles cà phê sữa đá, makes art, and bakes her feelings to stay sane. Her books Happy Endings and Full Exposure are steamy romances that will make you hungry.Thien-Kim is also the founder of Bawdy Bookworms, a subscription box that pairs sexy romances with erotic toys. She’s been featured on Jezebel, NPR, BBC America, and Glamour. 

You can find her on her personal website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and here is the link to her book coaching site. She can also be found on Bawdy Bookworms’s Instagram.

Full Exposure

Boudoir photographer Josie Parks never ever takes a vacation. But when a client cancels a New Orleans shoot at the last minute, she decides to fly out from her Washington, D.C., studio anyway. Maybe the trip will reawaken her recently stagnant muse. After all, it’s Mardi Gras season…

Spencer Pham has come home after twelve soul-sucking years in corporate hell to pursue his passion: making a docu-film on his family’s history as the first Vietnamese Mardi Gras krewe. The last thing he expects is getting whacked in the head by a beautiful woman trying to snag some parade beads.

During a long night at urgent care, Spencer and Josie connect over their artistic pursuits. He offers to show her the real New Orleans, if she’ll help him with the camerawork for his film. Despite Josie’s type-A personality clashing with Spencer’s laissez-faire attitude, they seem to make a great team, and soon, the good times are rolling both on and off camera. But Josie has a life in D.C., and they both have big dreams they’re chasing. When this Big Easy fling starts feeling awfully serious, can they find a way to choose between personal and professional passion?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 450

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 450: Double Entendres, Meet Cutes, and Smart Sex: Writing Contemporary Romance – Interview with Thien-Kim Lam appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Courtney Maum and Lori discuss:

• The challenges of getting to the absolute truth in nonfiction.
• How her copy editing career affects her creative endeavors.
• Using frustration as her muse.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Courtney Maum

Author of five books, including the game changing publishing guide Before and After the Book Deal and the memoir, The Year of the Horses, (chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness), Courtney is a writer and book coach hellbent on preserving the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands. 

A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates prize and the host of the monthly “Beyond Fiction” conversation series at Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Courtney’s essays and articles on creativity have been widely published in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, and her short story This is Not Your Fault was recently turned into an Audible Original. 

A frequent interviewer of high-profile writers such as Anne Perry, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Edouard Louis, Courtney is also the founder of the learning collaborative, The Cabins. You can sign up for her publishing newsletter and enroll in her online writing classes at CourtneyMaum.com, or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Substack. She’s happy to be here.

The Year of the Horses

Sharp, heartfelt, and cathartic, The Year of the Horses captures a woman’s journey out of depression and the horses that guide her, physically and emotionally, on a new path forward.

At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle. For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the past she walked away from. She hasn’t been on or near a horse in over thirty years.

Although Maum does know what depression looks like, she finds herself refusing to admit, at this point in her life, that it could look like her: a woman with a privileged past, a mortgage, a husband, a healthy child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable, but she feels no right to claim it. And when both therapy and medication fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding as a way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a young girl. As she finds her way, once again, through the world of contemporary horseback riding―Courtney becomes reacquainted with herself not only as a rider but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and woman. Alternating timelines and braided with historical portraits of women and horses alongside history’s attempts to tame both parties, The Year of the Horses is an inspiring love letter to the power of animals―and humans―to heal the mind and the heart.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 449

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 449: Genre Hopping, Process, and Time Management: The Life of a Working Writer – Interview with Courtney Maum appeared first on DIY MFA.

1. Craft your premise
2. Learn about your characters and uncover the story’s theme
3. Discover the world
4. Define the main conflict and plot
5. Choose your narrative structure 

Before diving in, examine why you want to write this book. Why are you willing to invest your energy and possibly years of your life into this idea? Dig for those answers and keep them close, because going from an idea to drafting a novel is a long and often arduous process. Remembering why you began and what it means to you will help reignite your fire when the writing gets hard.

What is a story? A quick review:

A story is an emotional experience. It follows a character who wants something badly, is willing to run the gauntlet to get it, and learns lessons that either change them internally, or the world around them.

A story contains five major elements: Character, Conflict, Plot, Theme, and Setting.

Think of the story as a container. The walls of the container are your setting. Inside, you have a character with a problem (conflict), and they go through a series of events (plot) to solve it. The problem, how they solve it, and who they become in the process speaks to the story’s message (theme).

Step 1: Craft Your Premise: 

A premise is the nutshell statement of your story that defines the main character, their world, their wants and motivations, and the obstacles they will face in pursuing their goal. A good premise is the first layer of a strong story foundation, and you will expand on it as you progress through the remaining steps of taking your idea to drafting, so don’t worry if some components are missing when you begin.

Example: How to craft a premise using a modified version of Pixar’s Plot Sketch Formula. 

There once was a __________ (descriptive characteristic, + emotional state/worldview) ________________(main character,) who lived in ____________ (setting) and wanted _________ (character desire at beginning of story).

One day the character’s life unexpectedly changed because of ____________ (event = inciting incident).

This event created a problem for the character, and because of this, the character wanted to _________ (new desire). 

But the _____________ (antagonistic force/ core conflict) stands in their way.

Let’s use the movie Shrek to fill in the blanks.

A rude, self-isolating ogre once lived in a peaceful swamp and wanted to be left alone. One day, a talking donkey and a host of unwanted fairytale creatures invaded his home. The ogre wanted to eliminate his unwelcome guests and confronted the King to regain his land. But the King refused unless the ogre agreed to rescue a princess from a dragon. 

Step 2: Learn about your characters and extrapolate the theme:

Identify your main character’s arc of change.

Characters create the story through their actions. Therefore, understanding what motivates them to act is essential.

Story is about change, especially character change. Understanding how your character will change internally will help define what the story is about (theme) and guide you in taking that idea to drafting your ending. 

How to shape your main character’s arc:

Beginning of the Arc: At the beginning of the story, before the main character’s life is turned upside down by that unexpected event, ask these questions to determine your character’s personality, flaws, and false beliefs. 

• What do they want for themselves? Why do they want it? 
• What do they believe they can’t have? 
• What beliefs do they have about themselves?
• What beliefs do they have about the people, places, and situations around them? What is the origin of those beliefs? 
• What are they afraid of physically and emotionally? How do they protect themselves?

If you are uncertain of your character’s beginning emotional state but know where you want them to end up, you can work backward. 

End of the Arc: Now ask what your character wants and believes because of the story events and lessons learned. How has this character changed from their baseline?

At the end of Shrek’s story, he wants to be with Fiona, embraces friendship, and believes love is worth the risk of rejection. 

A note on side characters and antagonists: 

Ask these questions of your main side characters, love interests, and antagonists. Consider how the relationships between your main character and other characters will evolve as the story progresses from idea to drafting your novel.  

Theme: 

The theme expresses what the story is about, the big takeaway for the reader. Many writers find the concept of theme obscure, but if we remember that the story is about change, we can simplify it. By defining the main characters’ arc of change, we can extrapolate the story’s central message, as with Shrek: love is worth the risk of rejection.

Step 3: Discover your character’s world.

The genre (the category of the book) you’re writing plays a great deal in how much worldbuilding you will need to do. Consider the world’s magical, technical, political, and socioeconomic factors, particularly if you write historical fiction, speculative, sci-fi, or fantasy. 

Read extensively in your genre. Focus on identifying how the world and setting add to the feel of the book. 

Questions to consider initially and build on: 

• Where does your character live? How do they feel about it? 
• When does the story take place? 
• How does the setting add to the tone of the book?
• How can elements of the setting cause problems for the main character or enhance the main conflict? 

Step 4: Define the main conflict and plot.

Conflict: Define the main conflict

Conflict creates change by forcing characters to act. After their life turns upside down, what big problem will the main character spend the rest of the book trying to fix? This represents the story’s core conflict, driven by the opposing or main antagonistic force. 

There are two types of conflict in a story: external and internal. Compelling stories need both.

External is the character struggling against an outside force, which can be another character, society, nature, technology, fate, or something otherworldly. 

Internal conflict is the character struggling against themselves. These are the character’s insecurities and moral dilemmas. 

The key is to create meaningful conflict in your story: craft external conflicts that put pressure on the character’s internal struggle; to do that, you must have done your character work. 

Plot: Map out the events in the story that manifest as a result of the main conflict.

As your character embarks on their adventure, you want them to face increasingly complex problems, which force them to make hard decisions to reach their goal. These problematic events are your plot, and each major plot event should progressively challenge the character internally and externally. 

For example, your character may need money to pay the ransom for their son, so they steal from their boss. But then the wolf shows up at the door to collect gambling debts, and they must choose their life or their child’s. 

You don’t need to know every single story event to start drafting. Still, if you pin down a few key moments where things get really tough for your character, it will give you a solid writing framework and force your character to make hard choices that advance the plot naturally. 

Key events to know before building on an idea to drafting: 

The first insult to the status quo of the character’s life (inciting incident): Creates the initial problem of the story that is linked to the plot. 

The first turning point: an event that results in the main character deciding to fully engage in the story’s plot to solve the conflict. 

The midpoint: the character suffers a false victory or defeat, and the stakes increase dramatically. 

Climax: How the character solves the main story conflict.

Resolution: The parting shot of the character’s life now that the conflict is solved, and they have embraced a new way of living (good or bad). 

Step 5: Choose your narrative structure

Decide who will narrate the story and how the information will unfold to the reader. Consider your story’s timeline and which POV and tense you will use, how many narrators you need, and how much they know about the story’s events. 

Don’t be afraid to test out different POVs and tenses. Find what fits your story, characters, and tone. 

Don’t be in a rush to write the story. Idea to drafting takes time.

Avoid false starts and frustrations by spending a little more time up front on the right things: premise, characters arc, world, conflict, plot, theme, and narrative structure. Following these steps will help you draft your novel with more context and confidence so you type those amazing final words: THE END. 

For more information on developing a story idea for a novel, download Stacy’s free e-book: First Draft Confidence: Workbook and Resource Guide.

Stacy Frazer is a formerly repressed creative soul turned speculative fiction writer, YA fantasy author, Author Accelerator certified book coach, and the founder of Write It Scared. Her mission is to help fiction writers let go of the self-doubt spiral and find clarity and confidence in their stories so they can finish their books. Stacy firmly believes that the only creative license required to write a novel is one’s lived experience and that you can learn all the tools to craft a book that makes you proud!
When not writing, reading, or working with writers, you can find Stacy hanging with her daughter or on the trail with her big goofy labrador, Gus Gus. To connect with Stacy, please visit her website: www.writeitscared.co. You can also email her at www.stacy@writeitscared.co or follow her on Instagram @WriteitScared.

The post #5onFri: From Idea to Drafting in Five Steps appeared first on DIY MFA.