Thirty minutes after sitting down, I wandered down that same hallway a different person, my cheeks stained with tears and my puffy eyes hidden behind sunglasses. The experience had been cathartic. I bought my own tarot deck, the classic and widely used Rider–Waite–Smith deck, and once I’d made it back home to NYC, I promptly got down to the business of learning what the heck tarot was and how I could use it. 

What Are Tarot Cards?

Like a standard card deck, a tarot deck is made up for four suits (cups, swords, pentacles, and wands), court cards (kings, queens, knights, and with an extra position for pages), and aces through tens. Unlike a standard card deck which contains 52 cards, a tarot deck consists of 78-cards. And it’s those final 22 cards, referred to as the Major Arcana, that make a tarot deck a tarot deck. 

Simply put, the Major Arcana tell a story in 22 chapters, starting with the Fool (our innocent protagonist), stumbling through a meet-cute (The Lovers), advancing through an inciting incident (The Wheel of Fortune), hitting rock bottom (The Tower), and finding closure (The World). 

How Are Tarot Cards Used?

Most people who have heard of tarot cards are aware that they’re typically used for divination. You might go to a fortune teller and have your cards read, or trust in your own intuition and read them for yourself. When you do a tarot reading, you or the medium will lay the cards down in a specific design. This is called a tarot spread. You can think of a spread as an outline or plot map. Each spot in the spread has its own purpose, and the way the cards fall will give meaning to that purpose. 

But for the skeptics out there, tarot cards can be for much more than divination. They can be used for reflection and mindfulness. For example, I draw a card every morning and journal about what it brings up for me, both at the beginning and end of the day. 

The more you use the cards, the more naturally their meanings will come to you…and the faster you’ll get at interpretation when you start using the cards for writing. 

How Can I Use Tarot Cards as a Writer?

Tarot cards are a great tool for writing for many reasons. They’ve helped me beat writer’s block, brainstorm new book ideas, get through a challenging chapter revision, add depth to characters, or even inspire full-length fantasy novels. 

I love that you can use tarot cards in a rapid-fire way to generate some creativity and inspiration (draw a card until it speaks to you!), or build out more complex spreads as a novel outline. 

Let’s take a more tactical look at how you might use tarot as a writing tool. 

First of all, it’s important to note that there are both positive and negative cards, which makes it possible to build a mix of highs and lows into a spread. I, for example, often have a hard time being “mean” to my characters. When I am not sure how to add tension into a scene, I might draw a tarot card and see what that sparks. If it features a rushing knight on horseback, maybe I need a change of pace or something to go to battle for. If it features a sad-looking person, maybe I need some big emotional moment. If I draw The Emperor, maybe an external institution is making life hard for my protagonist. 

The court cards (king, queen, knight, page) can also be great for coming up with ideas for side characters. For example, say you’re writing a RomCom and trying to give your main character’s best friend more dimensionality. You shuffle your court cards, draw one, and see what it inspires. Maybe you draw a king and decide your protagonist’s BFF is a buff dude she formerly dated. Think of the delicious tension that could create in your story! Or you draw a page, and the best friend brings a lovely sense of innocence and optimism that balances out your snarky character’s personality.

You can also use the tarot cards to design on-the-fly writing prompts. Draw one card and then give yourself 15 minutes to tell the story of that card. Or design mini-spreads and build a story from there. Here are a couple of two- or three-card examples you might adopt as a writing prompt: 

• Card 1 = Protagonist, Card 2 = Antagonist
• Card 1 = Goal, Card 2 = Challenge
• Card 1 = Inner World, Card 2 = Outer World
• Card 1 = Beginning, Card 2 = Middle, Card 3 = End
• Card 1 = Protagonist, Card 2 = Love Interest, Card 3 = Meet Cute

And lastly, you can design longer spreads if you’re looking to build the outline for a new novel. For example, you might turn The Hero’s Journey framework into a spread. You shuffle your deck, lay the cards down all in their proper order, and then, if you’re like me, you turn that into a spreadsheet. You type up what the cards are showing you into the basic outline for your new project and can refer to it as you begin your writing journey. 

This will likely take you some time, as any plotting device will. But don’t feel compelled to rely solely on your own tarot card interpretive abilities—especially if you’re new to tarot. 

Another bonus of using tarot cards? There is a massive amount of online resources about the cards, especially if you’re using the Rider–Waite–Smith deck! Google a card and a wealth of knowledge and interpretations will come up to inspire you further. You can even Google a card and a topic to get more specific (like “Three of Cups” and “Career” or “Ten of Swords” and “Love”). 

Happy writing! And remember, you are not bound to the way the cards fall. They’re simply a tactile tool to jumpstart creativity and help you think outside of the box. 

Tell us in the comments: Have you ever used tarot cards in your writing? How did it go?

Ashley Christiano is a fantasy writer, experienced tarot reader, and professional astrologer. As The Novel Mystic, she combines the power of astrology, tarot, and creative writing to empower women, educate the astro-curious, and inspire her own storytelling. You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter or Instagram to learn more or get your own reading.

The post Tarot Cards for Storytellers, Part 1: Beat Writer’s Block and Plot Your Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

If done without so much as a warning, writers can risk not just confusing their readers but also risk their wrath that could make them dump the novel altogether. A time skip should not confuse your readers by making them think they are reading two different stories at once. 

Here are 5 tips on how to ace that time skip:

1. The Game of Divisions 

To put it simply, there are two types of time skips: a small skip that is generally only a few minutes, hours, or days and a large skip, which occurs over weeks, months, or years.

Depending on how big of a gap there is going to be, the game of division comes into play. Small skips are where scenes or chapters change. It is a writer’s way of avoiding making their story sound like “a day in the character’s life” and keep it interesting.

With large skips, a novel can be divided into sections or the new installment in a series can be picked up after the skip. The large time skip is the hook that grabs readers by the neck as they tear through the pages to see what happened. This is why the game of divisions is important to pace that time skip well.

Example: If Character A is returning home after a harsh hike, a small skip is better after they get in the car and the next scene or chapter can open with them arriving home to find Character B trying to break in through their bedroom window.

However, If Character A has witnessed a life-altering event and now has to reminisce about that years later, a large skip with a new part in the novel or a new installment altogether might not be such a bad idea.

2. Orient the Right Way Right Away

Regardless of whether the time skip is small or large, the next few sentences are crucial. It is almost sinful to not orient the readers’ the right way and right away.

After all, the readers do not know how much time has passed since the last scene, chapter, section, or installment. It is the writer’s job to orient them to the time and place after the time skip. 

And if the point of view shifts, readers must be oriented to that as well. 

Not doing so will take your readers out from the story as they figure out the mystery when they are (and who is speaking). And unless your book is philosophizing time, it is not a good idea.

Example: Something as indirect as providing a few cues for new location and time or as direct as “later that day” works, depending on the style you are going for. 

3. See it Coming 

No one likes to be slapped in the face with a time skip they didn’t see coming. Sometimes it works for a cliffhanger. But the reader must not feel cheated or deprived of information that they were hoping to get out of a scene or a chapter. If done repeatedly, the reader might become weary and wary.

Rather than breaking off every scene or chapter, try to give some sort of heads up of an upcoming time skip by giving a good conclusion to the scene or chapter. It doesn’t always have to be direct; readers are smart enough to figure out the subtle hints, too. Just make sure there is one.

Example: It can be as easy as writing the last few sentences of the scene as “Suzy knew change was coming. She just didn’t anticipate it would be tearing her walls down all at once.”

4. Stress the Excitement 

If it is hard to figure out where to skip time, here is a simple rule: 

Stress the Excitement and Skip the Boredom. 

No one wants to follow a character who does bare minimum, just like no one wants to repeatedly see how wonderfully brilliant a character is at something for the tenth time in one novel. Showing either too much becomes dull and repetitive.

By keeping the time skip consistent and natural, the rhythm and flow of the story can work to bring all the excitement to the readers and avoid the dull parts. Remember, if it isn’t exciting, we can avoid it.

Example: If we already know Suzy is an exceptional assassin, there is no need to describe how she does her job a 4th time. Instead, the scene could end with her stepping out of the shadow behind her 4th victim, and the next scene could begin as she watches the detective find the misleading piece of evidence she left by her victim. 

5. Timelines: The BFFs of the Time Skip

Sometimes it is hard to keep track of every time skip. Especially if it spans for more than a few hours. To avoid making mistakes that could later come back to bite you as plotholes, employ the time skip’s BFF—timelines.

Timelines are an easy way to figure whether you skipped time or time skipped you. Just pick up a few pages, a pen of your choice, and scribble away the timeline of the plot you are working on. That way, any inconsistencies can be caught and fixed.

The passage of time is as important in a scene as is in the next installment of a series. Remember to guide your readers through a clear transition. Don’t be scared of experimenting. As long as it is clear with the rhythm and flow of the story, everyone would be on the same page!

Disha Walia is a one-part lifelong storyteller, one-part elf helper to those who have trouble putting their thoughts into words, and one-part Labrador pup stuck in a human body. With stepping stones of achievement in the world of non-fiction and fiction alike, Disha loves to spend even her free time daydreaming about what to write next. Connect with her on Instagram (@quillinary), Twitter (@quillinary), or connectwithquillinary@gmail.com.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Ace a Time Skip in Your Writing appeared first on DIY MFA.

The answers have a lot to do with harnessing and manipulating human curiosity: our need to know what happens next, how a difficult situation will “turn out.” Will the characters we love live to see another day, and, if so, how? Something in our brain cannot rest until we know all is right—or at least resolved—in the story world.

When I wrote my novel They Will Be Coming for Us, my intent was to keep the reader entertained every step of the way. This required several things: a sprinkling of humor, a dash or two of sex, and an overall sense of danger. I was elated when my first pre-publication reviewer wrote that my book “holds readers spellbound” (more on how to do this here).

A true page turner skips like a stone from one conflict to the next. In between, a bit of downtime occurs so both readers and characters can catch their breath. But quiet moments of reflection soon segue into motion. All will not be settled until the end of the book, when the loose ends tie together in an unexpected yet plausible finish.

Here are five ways to produce a page turner:

1. Conflict and Tension. 

Fear. Emotional pain. Physical pain. Annoyance. Irritation. Confrontation. Threats of any of the above—or worse, of death. These are the things that create pressure, anxiety. 

Humans may avoid tension in their everyday lives, but it plays an important role in keeping readers engaged in the story world. Life for characters should rarely be copacetic. Even if two friends have a civil conversation, tension should be present in some form. Their conversation strains under the weight of that thing they don’t want to talk about or are afraid to ask. Or, they are talking about the thing that causes stress, and their words are heated. 

The unease of conflict must be present on the surface or below it in most every scene.

2. Make the reader worry. 

How? Create suspense. Once again, it can be subtle or it can be obvious. An ominous atmosphere, such as a twister (metaphorical or otherwise) appears in the near distance. It might be a dangerous situation that requires careful skill in order to survive. A silent man lurking in the corner, a scary dream or other portentous activity. Something could easily go wrong—make sure your readers fear that it will. 

Provide a hint of what could happen in a worst-case scenario. Then, later, when tensions are high, make the “bad” thing happen in some way, shape, or form.

3. Unpredictable Characters.

No one is all good or all bad, all nice or all mean, all prim and proper or rough around the edges. Some characters begin as the enemy and end up the savior. If you want to create twists and surprises, you need characters that can break out of whatever mold you’ve put them in, in a believable way. 

You need round characters, three-dimensional characters. Characters who may be steadfast about something, but then you reveal a tiny crack in that steadfastness, a hint of what may come. And readers will read on to see whether it does.

For example, in a scene you present a young woman who loathes the expensive coffee shop her best friend often drags her to. She refuses to order there. Before the scene ends, however, you show her sniffing the air in a way that suggests she wouldn’t mind having a delicious coffee (the hint). At the end of the story, the best friend pops in for her daily caffeine fix and finds this anti-coffee drinker alone at a table, sipping happily.

Granted, this is a minor twist, but you can imagine using the technique in a bigger, more significant way. Real people aren’t consistent, and you can use that to your advantage when creating twists and other surprises.

4. Snappy Dialogue. 

Nothing eases readers down the page faster than crisp dialogue. All dialogue should be lean, but the more intense the situation, the shorter, terser, and quicker it will be. Establish who is speaking at the get-go so you can lose the “he said/she said” and let the back-and-forth flow like a river down the page.

“Get your bag,” I say. “We’re leaving.”

“What? No.” Bella scowls.

“Laurent is coming. We can’t handle Laurent.”

“I promised I’d stay.”

“Text him from the car.”

“No.”

“Get. Your. Bag.”

Our eyes lock.

“He’ll kill us,” I say.

She runs to her room.

5. Short Sentences. 

The same effect can be created with short sentences, which quicken the pace of the action.

Jessica hovers in the doorway. If only she could reach the light. The floor creaks behind her. She startles back. “Adam!” she cries.

One might argue that every plot has the potential to be a page turner in its own way, whether action packed or quietly intense. The hint of what’s to come can act as a powerful push forward. We want to know, Will it happen? If so, what will be the result? Will the main character prevent the disaster? If she doesn’t, what kind of tragedy will occur? Even if only a personal tragedy. The need to know is the key.

Kim Catanzarite has been a freelance writer and editor for almost three decades, and she teaches copyediting for Writer’s Digest University. Her debut sci-fi thriller, They Will Be Coming for Us, published June 1, 2021. You can subscribe to her self-publishing blog, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Turn Your Plot into a Page Turner appeared first on DIY MFA.

Meg LaTorre is a sci-fi/fantasy author, YouTube darling, and founder of iWriterly. She is also the creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, and blogger for websites: Writer’s Digest, Savvy Authors, Writers Helping Writers, and so forth. Formerly, she worked at a literary agency, and she has a background in magazine publishing, medical and technical writing, as well as journalism. For more information about Meg, subscribe to her YouTube channel or follow her on social media. You’ll find all her links on the show notes page.

Today we’ll be talking about her latest book, The Cyborg Tinkerer.

In this episode Meg and I discuss:

• How having a rebellious nature allowed her to write the kind of Steampunk novel she wanted to read.
• What aesthetic elements of the novel help portray issues of “otherness” and discrimination which are integral parts of the narrative.
• Why she chose the indie publishing route and how other authors can learn from her experience.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.

About the Author

Meg LaTorre is a science fiction and fantasy author, YouTube darling and founder of iWriterly, creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, and blogger (Writer’s Digest, Savvy Authors, Writers Helping Writers, et al.). Formerly, she worked at a literary agency, and she has a background in magazine publishing, medical/technical writing, and journalism. 

To learn more about Meg, subscribe to her YouTube channel, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, sign up for her monthly newsletter, support iWriterly on Patreon, or visit www.iWriterly.com.

The Cyborg Tinkerer

In a deadly circus competition, even hearts are on the line. Gwendolyn Grimm intended to seduce men and women across the galaxy while working as a ship tinkerer on the finest vessels in the Crescent Star System. Alas, terminal illness is a buzzkill. When a life-saving opportunity struts into her life dressed in a pinstripe suit, she is made an offer she can’t refuse: become a cyborg and work as a tinkerer for Cirque du Borge, the once renowned cyborg circus.

The problem is, a new law has banned the creation of new cyborgs and becoming one means execution if caught. Thus, no one cares to see the wonders of man and machine anymore.

Ticket sales continue to fall as the circus announces a competition to determine which acts will perform for the emperor on his home planet—an opportunity with the potential to save the circus from bankruptcy. But the competition has deadly consequences. Losing acts have their cyborg implants forcibly removed, and those who survive the extraction are banished from the circus.

As the tinkerer, Gwendolyn is forced to perform the revolting task of removing the cyborg implants from the losing performers. When she falls for both the man running the competition and a woman competing in it, she must decide who to protect. But can she risk having to harvest the people she loves the most? The Cyborg Tinkerer, comes out November 17, 2020.

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 331

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play 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 331: Writing and Indie Publishing a Steampunk Novel – Interview with Meg LaTorre appeared first on DIY MFA.

I want to tell you a secret about my own experience with this exercise. When I first started, I had a grand plan of taking my daily data and creating a beautiful graph in Excel that would reveal the secret inner workings of my mind. What actually happened is that, about a month in, I realized I didn’t need the beautiful graph. While the data was important for giving my routine structure and to help my comparison from day to day, the most important thing I got out of it was the general awareness of myself.

As I progressed with this daily routine, I found it easier to apply it to my writing even though I was not tracking anything specific from day to day. Thanks to my daily habit I became aware enough that I finally noticed what my Writer’s Intuition was telling me: I was happier writing in the mornings, I need to have no distractions when I’m writing new words, and I love revision. I had always “known” these things, but now I could actively work toward writing in the situations and places that helped me be the most productive. That is when my Writer’s Intuition really took off because I could more easily separate problems with writing from problems with myself.

Let’s discuss how to use your Writer’s Intuition to help when you get stuck in your writing…

Figure out where the problem is.

Most often when I get stuck writing, I ask myself one simple question first: What is the exact problem keeping the story from moving forward? A lot of people know there’s a problem but aren’t able to narrow it down any further. “There is a problem” doesn’t really give you much direction. So read over the section, the page, or the story again and this time listen to what your Writer’s Intuition is trying to tell you. Try for a definition such as, “The character isn’t doing what I want here,” “There’s no way to get them out of this situation” or “This plot point doesn’t make any sense because of this other thing.”

At first you might have trouble defining the problem, but again, the more mistakes you make and the more times you get stuck, the better your Writer’s Intuition will get at telling you where the problem is. That being said, your brain knows when it can’t focus on writing, but it doesn’t always tell you in an easy-to-understand way. Sometimes you might get stuck on your story for a reason that has nothing to do with the story.

If I can’t come up with a specific problem with the story, then my Writer’s Intuition might be telling me the problem isn’t with the story. That means the stuck spot might actually be me. Maybe I’m worried about something at work, perhaps I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, or today could just be a self-care day due to my depression. If this is the case, then I take a step back from my story to take care of my own needs so I can come back when I’m at my best.

When you have identified the stuck spot in your story, even if you’re not 100% sure you have it right, it’s time to…

Dive into your toolbox

Sort through all the writing skills and exercises you have accrued over your writing time. I’m not going to go into any specifics here, since that’s not what this article is about, but think of the ways you have dealt with this problem in the past. If you haven’t dealt with this specific issue before, or if what you’ve tried isn’t working to fix the problem, then head to the Internet. Ask your writer friends if they have suggestions, search for the problem and see what kind of articles come up, or take a writing course based around the problem you’re having.

You will make mistakes. You might think you’re having trouble writing because you’re worried about your spouse’s job, but it’s really a plot problem. You think a character has a motivational issue, but it’s really that your well is empty and you need to recharge. Your Writer’s Intuition can just be wrong, because you can’t know everything. My advice to you is…get used to being wrong. It happens to everyone. But don’t let that discourage you from trying! Making mistakes is how humans learn; it’s how we hone our skills and develop our Writer’s Intuition. Plus, if everything went perfectly all the time, that would make for a pretty boring story.

And always remember to…

Trust your Writer’s Intuition

Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t think you have to solve a problem right away if it’s giving you trouble. If you can’t define the problem, or if you try a few things and it still hasn’t helped, then it’s fine to take a step back. Go take a walk, do the laundry, play with a pet, read a book. Your Writer’s Intuition will continue working on the problem subconsciously, because that’s just what it does.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that it always comes up with the perfect fix. Your Writer’s Intuition is a compilation of all of your experiences. If you’re continually pushing yourself to be a better writer, you’re going to run into problems you’ve never had before. Don’t let these stop you. Sometimes I have problems in my story that I simply don’t have the skill to fix yet. In that case, all you can do is keep going, and keep learning, and work on fixing it in the next draft. Your Writer’s Intuition will continue to expand and grow.

Laura Highcove has a degree in computer science, which is obviously why she is a fantasy writer. She is influenced by anime, video games, table-top gaming, programming, horses, and Norse mythology in no particular order. She currently lives in beautiful Blacksburg, Virginia with her computer, two cats, and husband. Her psychic abilities have not yet developed, but she remains hopeful. If you’d like to learn more about her, head over to her website and sign up for her newsletter (and get a free short story) here.

The post Using Your Writer’s Intuition Intentionally appeared first on DIY MFA.

When I plot a romance, I plan for not one, not two, but three main character arcs. The main characters–the lovers–are arcs one and two. And then there is the relationship. The relationship gets its own arc, as though it’s a third main character.

The hero’s journey plot structure almost works for the relationship arc — just replace “the quest” with “the relationship.”

1) Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute

Here’s where the lovers meet. Where the seeds of their relationship are sown. There’s both attraction and conflict. The groundwork for the potential to reach an HEA (happily-ever-after), along with enough conflict to last the length of a novel, is set.

2) Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship

One or both of the main characters are in denial about the attraction, or there’s some external reason in their way, so that this cannot possibly work out. Here the relationship is still very much at odds. We learn the reasons why the relationship won’t work, and the external plot reasons why they cannot be together. But also… there are hints that they can’t quite stop thinking about each other, and something big is going to happen between them. It’s usually a situation of “they doth protest too much.”

3) Acceptance of the Quest / Giving the relationship a chance

This is the “First Threshold” or the beginning of Act Two. For some reason, despite their attempts to stay apart, they’re forced to work together, often toward a common goal, sometimes as a reluctant agreement to date. There’s often some challenge that cannot be overcome without the other. They must accept some sort of relationship is developing, though they are still adamant HEA is not in the cards for them at all. There’s still conflict and resistance to permanence and no mentions of love, but they must face the truth: in order to continue on their journey, they will need to work together.

4) Trials and Temptations / Three Dates

This is the first relationship development section. Usually there’s a first date that happens here, and other challenges. I’ve heard Liz Pelletier of Entangled say there’s usually three dates in this section, if there are dates, which not every romance has per say. But the lovers are together for a period of time, interacting in a get-to-know-you scenario demonstrating relationship chemistry in at least three major scenes. Each scene both deepens their affinity but also reaffirms the reason they cannot be together. It’s a “three steps forward two steps back” pattern.

5) Midpoint Crisis / I-need-you-but-can’t-have-you

In many romances, this is where some major form of physical intimacy takes place. A first kiss, a first love making, a first uninhibited admittance of, “I really like having you in my life.” There’s an intense moment of believing or seeing a glimpse of how meaningful this relationship could become. But it’s quickly dashed to pieces, often by one or the other getting scared by the growing intimacy and some external plot force tearing them apart.

6) The Road Back / Pulling Back Together

Something most likely in the external plot forces them back together for some reason. They’re forced to work together, and the attraction is stronger than ever. The relationship development that had begun in the first half now deepens. Often their deepest fears are confessed, they’re left vulnerable and open to each other, and real intimacy builds.

7) The Fall

They fall for each other, hard. There’s usually another big moment of physical intimacy here, often lovemaking in a way that is meaningful. In romances where the couple has been engaging in casual sex, usually the love scene here is truly making love for the first time. They will separately admit they’ve fallen for the other, though not necessarily acknowledging it to each other. Sometimes one will declare themselves, but the other doesn’t reciprocate for some reason related to their internal flaw or wound.

8) Dark moment / The Break Up

They’re done. They’re over. The relationship is never going to happen. Their lives are in crisis. They try to go back to their ordinary world, and it’s a dismal fail. They’re irrevocably changed by the other person. They’re lost and miserable in their loneliness.

9) The Sacrifice

There’s a decision made by one or both of the lovers. Their clinging to the fear of the wound/flaw is overcome. There’s a letting go or sacrificing of the misbelief they’ve been carrying around this whole time, and giving up on the external plot reason for them not being together. The realization that whatever fear was stopping them is insignificant to their love for the other person.

10) Declaration

There’s a declaration of love, a communion of the relationship. This is where the magic of the HEA comes to completion. It’s usually at first met with some trepidation. This is their first big leap of faith and giving of their hearts to each other. The trust circle between them is complete.

11) Denouement / The HEA.

The romance reader has to have their denouement. They want a glimpse of the lovers in their new HEA world, to make sure that everything is going okay. There’s usually a scene including friends and family, gaining an acknowledgement of the new relationship from important people in their lives. There’s a renewed promise of forever.

That’s not everything. There’s so much more to it. But that’s the broad stroke of what I’m thinking about when I plot the romance relationship of my romance novels. There’s separate work that goes into each character’s internal arc, and then there’s the planning of the external plot as well.

I’m sure you do it differently. Feel free to share what works for you!

Robin Lovett is a romance writer for Entangled Publishing and St. Martin’s Press Swerve. She writes some sci-fi erotic and some dark romance thrillers–but always intense sexy books. She loves to chat on Twitter @LovettRomance and every Sunday evening you can find her with other romance writers at #RWChat. She is represented by Rachel Brooks of BookEnds Literary Agency.

The post The Structure of Romance appeared first on DIY MFA.

Stuart is someone who is as excited about connecting with writers and helping them reach their goals as I am. We’ll be talking about planning your novel and how to plot without a formula.

But first, a quick introduction. Stuart is the founder and principal of Book Architecture, a firm of independent editors based in Providence, New York, and Boston. He developed the Book Architecture Method over fifteen years of helping writers get from first draft to final draft. He’s also a super-smart guy whose work I really admire, and good friend.

His first book, Blueprint Your Bestseller: Organize and Revise Any Manuscript with the Book Architecture Method (Penguin/Perigee) was named one of the best books about writing in 2013 by The Writer magazine. Now his second book, Book Architecture: How to Plot and Outline Without Using a Formula, is being released in a few short weeks.

In this episode, Stuart and I talk about:

• Common struggles that writers face
• The three big elements that shape your draft: scene, series, and theme
• Geeking out over Harry Potter
• How to tackle your work as opposed to tinkering with it
• Non-formulaic plotting/outlining and the tools that can keep you organized
• The importance of finding a neutral audience
• How to work with beta readers

Plus: Stuart shares his #1 tip for writers.

Resources:

Here’s the link where you can grab your signed limited edition pre-release of Stuart’s new book, Book Architecture. Stuart is doing an awesome, special discount for DIY MFA readers, so use this link first.

If the limited editions are sold out, you can order a regular copy here.

Link to Episode 38

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The post Episode 38: Plot Without a Formula – Interview with Stuart Horwitz appeared first on DIY MFA.

Let’s start with the obvious: every book is different. And, also obvious: every writer is different. Slightly less obvious: the method of writing each book will be different. Most writers find a system. Sometimes, books blow up that system. At some point, the method that worked for your last book or your best friend or your favorite writer will fail you. Or you’ll discover a new method. Or you’ll realize you’ve let the character drag you kicking and screaming into a murderous subplot you did-not-see-coming! And no one but other writers understands how this can happen.

At this point, I’m often tempted to quote the Cheshire Cat: “We’re all mad here.”

It is in times like these that an outline can be useful. It’s a bridge from your inspiration to the words on the page. A reminder of where you want the story to go. A map.

But how do you go about making this map? And how could anyone possibly advise anyone else when every book is so darn different? Well, here are four methods for creating an outline; you might find one that works for you.

Outlining Method One: Acts

Do you not like being constrained by an outline? Need to let your story flow like a river, but don’t particularly want to end up drowning in some bog you did-not-see-coming? A simple broad outline might be the best way to go. It won’t get into details. You can discover all the nuances on your own. But it will help keep in mind where the character, the story and their writer are eventually planning to go.

Stories fall into three acts: the beginning (25%), the middle (50%) and the end (25%). Each one of these acts is precipitated by a major event in which the character makes a major decision. For example, take The Lion King. If you were to write a three-act outline for this movie, it would look like this:

1. Act One — Simba in the Pridelands
2. Break into Act Two — Simba denies his birthright and runs away.
3. Act Two — Simba in exile.
4. Break into Act Three — Simba decides to go home and reclaim his birthright
5. Act Three — Simba returns to the Pridelands to confront Scar

So, we have three sets of scenes, and two decisions. That’s it. The spine of a story. And if you want to discover the details, the minor characters and the setting along the way, that’s all you really need to get going.

Outlining Method Two: Time

This is an especially useful method if you have a very structural timeline, such as a school-year, a summer, or a season. If the timeline is short enough, you can even make this type of outline on an actual calendar. It’s a fun way to make your book and characters feel real!

One of the most famous examples of this type of outline comes from the ultimate school-year story: Harry Potter. Check out J.K. Rowling’s outline for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You’ll see in the far left column that she organized her outline by months

Outlining Method 3: Character

This is a useful way to outline both broad stories with multiple viewpoints, or stories that are not plot-driven. Rather than focusing on events, focus on each character, and outline three major points:

1. How the character begins — This is similar, in substance, to an outline of the first act. An introduction to your character. Where is he at the opening of the story? What does he want? Why? And what was his past?
2. How the character changes — This is the middle of his story. Something forces him to act, and he begins to change. What skills does he learn? What lessons? What mistakes does he make? Who does he meet?
3. How the character ends — The climax. The grand finale. The character should now be able to do something he was not able to do at the beginning. What is it? And how does he show it?

I find it useful to do just a basic outline like this for every single one of my characters. Continuing our Lion King example, consider Pumbaa.  He’s the sidekick to the sidekick that only shows up halfway through the movie. But he has an arc. At the beginning, he cowtows to Timon, letting him claim his ideas for his own. Even his name, in Swahili, means “to be foolish, silly, weak-minded, careless, negligent.” And yet Pumbaa is changed and inspired by Simba and Nala. He makes the decision to leave his carefree life and follow Simba to Pride Rock, and in the end leads a charge against the Hyenas. In fact, his arc is bookended by two charges: the first, a senseless “bowling for buzzards,” the second, a purposeful attack in defense of himself and his friends. Comedic relief? Yes. But also a character in his own right. 

Making a simple, three-point outline for your main character and the supporting ones will help shape your story. It’s an exercise you can do in an afternoon that might save you heaps of time in the long-run, and your story will be richer for it.

Outlining Method Four: Combine

No one outline method will work for everyone. But, just as there are billions of stories there are . . . well, maybe not billions, but at least hundreds of ways to combine the elements of those stories into an outline that works for you. In my next and final post, I’ll talk about a few different methods of actually writing these outlines down.

Bess Cozby writes epic stories in expansive worlds from her tiny apartment in New York City. By day, she’s an Editor at Tor Books, and Web Editor for DIY MFA. Her work is represented by Brooks Sherman of the Bent Agency. Tweet her at @besscozby, contact her at bess@diymfa.com, or visit her website at www.besscozby.com.

The post Four Methods for Outlining Your Book appeared first on DIY MFA.

The Same Rules of Drafting Still Apply

What are these rules? Well, there are no rules to good writing. Not really. But writers have found a few tried and true methods that I’d like to recommend.

1. Write every day — This is not feasible for everyone, but the closer you can get to writing every day, the better. It’s always harder to come back to a project and get in the groove of writing after a long break.
2. Set a challenging, but attainable goal — This will help keep you motivated. If you set unreasonable goals, you won’t reach them and might get discouraged. If you set too easy of goals, you won’t get anything done!
3. Get a buddy — Even if it’s not another writer, just having the motivation of emailing someone to say you made your daily word count will help keep you on task.
4. Reward yourself — This is the fun part! For the bigger milestones along the way, set up a way to celebrate! Even if it’s just getting a mocha instead of a coffee, or having a movie night with your best writing friends. Writing is a solitary experience, so having some fun steps along the way can help you be more energized and motivated when you sit back down to your desk.

All these are good things to keep in mind, whether you’re writing with an outline or not. In fact, these are all tried and true methods for getting just about anything accomplished, and the same would apply to revision, querying, or any other part of the writing process. But for drafting with an outline, there are two more things to keep in mind.

Use Your Outline to Make a Plan

Wait, what? Your outline is the plan, right? Right. But it’s a plan for your story — you also need a plan for youself. This is where the goal-setting from the previous point comes into play. When you are setting your goals for your draft, use your outline to make a schedule.

But plans change, right? Yes. Of course they do. And your planned thousand word debate scene might turn into a ten thousand word debate novella. But you created this outline. You know your story better than anyone. And you are the best–and only–judge of how long each of these scenes is going to take to write. Unfortunately, you will probably often be wrong. The point here is not to make a perfect plan, but to make a plan that allows for imperfections. Just writing down what you want to accomplish and when gets you on the road to accomplishing it.

An outline is invaluable because it sets up your expectations. Many writers fail to finish books because they didn’t realize how long it was going to take them, and the task becomes daunting. Productivity experts all agree–the best way to accomplish a big task is to break it into little tasks, while keeping the big task in mind.

So, you want to write a YA fantasy novel. You’ve researched it, and you know the average length of such a novel is 60-80,000 words. Your outline is pretty extensive and awesome, so say you budget 80,000 words. At 1,000 words a day, giving yourself leeway for bad writing days, holiday, and a few unexpected stumbles along the way, you can expect to have a draft in about three months. And you can write a schedule for yourself that accommodates that. An outline isn’t going to get you there, but it’s going to help guide you along the way.

Use Your Outline to Revise Your Plan

Here’s where the magic comes in. So, you’ve written a mystery. You’ve outlined it, and you know the ending. You know the murder is in chapter one. You know the love interest will die in chapter twenty two. And you know the protagonist will find the murderer in chapter thirty. But you’re writing chapter ten, and that love interest that was just supposed to be a side character keeps coming up with these witty things you weren’t expecting. She keeps talking. She won’t stop talking. And you’re starting to think she’s cleverer than she seems. She must have some motivation for just showing up at the murder scene in a red dress, just the protagonist’s type, with a backstory so perfectly form-fitted to fall in love with him that someone must have planned it.

Oh wait. You planned it. And now you’re realizing that this is all so convenient. Too convenient. And she’s too smart. And, actually, she’s the murderer. Except that’s too obvious, too. She’s not the murderer. She’s the murderer’s sister; her brother is psychotic, but still her brother, and she’s trying to get the protagonist off his trail while also trying to prevent him from killing again.

And all the sudden your book is so much more interesting.

And your outline is shot to hell.

Never fear! Remember how I said in my first post that plotters and pantsers can get along? This is where that happens. Take a look at this outline J.K. Rowling made for The Order of the Phoenix. 

People study this thing. J.K. Rowling is not only a hilarious tweeter, she writes fabulous plots. And in this outline of Chapter 13-24 of Order of the Phoenix, she outlines the basic plot of each chapter, and what is going on in each of the subplots. If you read it carefully, you’ll notice a certain person of great importance is missing — Sirius Black, Harry’s Godfather and a central character in Order of the Phoenix. In Rowling’s original version, Mr. Weasley and not Sirius met his end in Order of the Phoenix.

She still had an outline. And my guess is, when she realized that it was Sirius that was going to die and not Mr. Weasley, she had to revise things that came before. She also had to revise the outline she’d already written. If you have an outline and a basic knowledge of story structure, you can rework what you have to accommodate the changes you are sure to encounter in the  process of writing a first draft without throwing your book completely off course.

So, take your love-interest-is-now-the-murderer’s-sister scenario. Maybe she can no longer die in chapter twenty two. This doesn’t mean you have to re-write your book from scratch. You’ve got an outline. And instead of revising the whole thing–and maybe getting bogged down–you can revise the outline. This will give you a clear plan to move forward, and a clear idea of what you’ll need to revise. An outline won’t make the act of writing any easier, but it will make the process of drafting–and reaching your goals–a lot smoother.

In my next post, I’ll go over a couple ways to make outlines. Maybe you’ll find one that works for you!

Bess Cozby writes epic stories in expansive worlds from her tiny apartment in New York City. By day, she’s an Editor at Tor Books, and Web Editor for DIY MFA. Her work is represented by Brooks Sherman of the Bent Agency. Tweet her at @besscozby, contact her at bess@diymfa.com, or visit her website at www.besscozby.com.

The post Using an Outline on the Job appeared first on DIY MFA.

Lately, though, I’ve been asking myself another question: does it really matter?

Nothing is more frustrating to me than having a great idea you can’t execute. You just can’t get right. Maybe you’re on draft fifty of the first fifty pages. Or you’ve bogged down somewhere in the middle and can’t seem to get out of the midgemarshes. Or you’ve gotten through a full draft and won’t let anyone read it. You’re in the trenches. I’m in the trenches. It’s miserable in the trenches.

And I think I’ve found a way out.

If you’ve got a great idea–and I know you do–I don’t think you need talent. I don’t think you need voice. I don’t think you need experience. I don’t think you need characters.

I think you need a plot.

This sounds a bit crazy. Of course, a great plot does help make a book great, but it’s all about the characters, right? Wrong. Well, not wrong. It is about the characters. And the voice. And the world. And that one monologue at the end where you just kill it. It’s about the little moments that lead to the big moments. It’s about the perfect metaphor. A great book is great on many levels, and a great writer will weave all these elements–voice, character, pacing, world–together.

But none of this matters if you don’t have a plot (and you’re not Jack Kerouac).

I was a consummate pantser and have been forever converted to a plotter. Plotting your novel–even loosely–saves you heartache, angst and time. Here’s why:

1) No One Else Cares That Writing is Hard

The western cultural perception of art has drastically changed in the last few hundred years. In ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe and early America, artists were not considered special. Art, music and writing was a job. People went to school to study it the way people go to school to study medicine now. There were rules that had to be followed. And most artists worked for a wealthy patron, and they had to meet deadlines and write to the explicit taste of their patron.

Consider Beethoven. Brilliant. Famous. Unfortunately, going deaf. Much of what we know of him–his brooding personality, his aloofness–was part of a carefully cultivated persona intended to keep people from knowing he was going deaf in order to keep working. 

Consider Handel. A composer. The name of the game was opera, but it was Lent and you can’t perform operas during Lent. Handel still needed money. Thus, we get The Messiah.

Deflated yet? What about Hemingway? We all like to think of him drinking it up with ex-pats in Paris. We all know he did his fair share of drinking. He also did his fair share of journalism, in order to pay the bills.

One of my favorite quotes about writing comes from Stephen King. “Talent,” he said, “Is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

We can’t wait for inspiration, or for the elements of a story to simply come together. We have to work at it.

2) A Plot is a Necessary Evil

Don’t get me wrong — I love writing. It’s a joyful kind of work, even when it’s difficult. But it is still work. And just like you sit for a yearly review at the office, writers ought to review the way they write — and what might not be working.

I’ve been a lifelong pantser. I’ll start with a vague idea of a beginning and a vague idea of an ending, then just go. This is how I wrote my first book. I was fourteen. I considered Christopher Paolini my personal nemesis. And I would defeat him by being the youngest fantasy writer there ever was. I had an idea, and I ran with it, let the characters take me where they would. Two years later, I had a 300,000 word middle grade fantasy adventure.

Yes. You read that right. My  fantasy novel for twelve-year-olds was the length of Game of Thrones. 

And its story ends the same way — carnage. Rejection upon rejection upon humiliation that my nemesis was now on the New York Times bestseller list with a movie deal and I was sitting at home in Texas with seven hundred fifty pages of scrap paper.

The next time around, I tried an outline. I ended up with a tighter, leaner story that hit all the right points and meant nothing. I felt like I was performing CPR on it, just thumping against the paper to force it to have a heartbeat. But it didn’t. And I thought it never would. And I would never plot again. I put that manuscript, along with the first one (now cut into two books) in the drawer. 1,000 pages of proof that I was doing something wrong.

I just didn’t know what.

3) There is Another Way

I would like to try to think of some ridiculous celebrity-couple name-mashing of Plotter and Pantser, and here’s what I came up with — planter. It’s a combination of plotting and pantsing that gives a writer structure without taking the story’s heart.

Consider this, from Mr. George R.R. Martin:

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”

But it’s not as if the man didn’t plan at all. George RR Martin worked in films for years as a script doctor. He understands the necessity of structure. And it’s evident in his books which are almost perfectly paced, and yet never lose the heart of the story–the characters. In fact, it is only by way of his perfect plot that his characters are able to shine–and die–with such grandeur.

All you need to be a planter is an outline. Not a set-in-stone-puppies-will-die-if-you-deviate-from-it outline. Just an outline. A plan that encompasses more than “This is how the book will begin” or “this is who will die.” A plan that charts your book from beginning to end and sets it against a broader structure.

In my next article, I’m going to go over several different outlining methods, with examples from a few of the great writers. No writer is the same, but you might find something that works for you.

Bess Cozby writes epic stories in expansive worlds from her tiny apartment in New York City. By day, she’s an Editor at Tor Books, and Web Editor for DIY MFA. Her work is represented by Brooks Sherman of the Bent Agency. Tweet her at @besscozby, contact her at bess@diymfa.com, or visit her website at www.besscozby.com.

The post Plotter or Pantser? Can’t We All Just Get Along? appeared first on DIY MFA.