These are all the posts that didn’t quite fit anywhere!
It’s been a while! I was on an adventure with the Mrs. A get-away. A vacay. Anyway . . . I missed completing these exercises. A part of me is so ready to start writing Awake & Asleep, but I really want to get through my semester of plot. That […]
Make a list of your favorite novels. Put down at least ten titles. Now look at the list. Is there a similarity to them? Are they heavy on plot and action, or do you prefer more character-driven books? Or is there a mix? . . . Take this into account […]
Security or variety? To plan or not to plan? These are the questions a writer must ask himself when setting out on this adventure. In the conversation are two styles when it comes to plot: write from the seat of your pants, or plot out the order of events in […]
Make a character arc table. The top row has the major challenges to your character’s inner life. The bottom row has how these challenges affect the lead as a result. I’m thinking this is a good way to get some waypoints plotted, just imagining how the lead will react […]
(Image from Reedsy’s Character Development Exercises post.) Write a short profile of your Lead character’s personality at the beginning of the plot. Describe his Beliefs, Values, Dominant Attitudes, Opinions. Now ask what will happen in the course of the plot to change or challenge these elements. Juan Saudade […]
Today we looked at what readers explicitly crave for: characters. Although not superior to plot, according to Mr Bell, and even to Mr Aristotle, characters in the modern age mean a lot to readers. I suppose this comes from how we need stories in order to live our own lives. […]
How are you supposed to write with real life blaring in your ear? You try. Already, today’s exercise seems random. In the chapter about complexity we are tasked with listening to a piece of lyric-free music, relaxing, and recording the images that pass through our mind. The only […]
Determine the take-home value of your novel. This can be done at any stage of your plotting. If you do it early, keep it in mind as you develop your scenes. but be careful . . . the message must come out naturally. Mr Bell makes an important point […]
“There are two kinds of people. Those who have a complicated mind. And those who have a complicating mind!” I’m not sure if I believe that. But it was always some sexy line to drop at a party. Myself, I could consider in the latter group. As much as […]
“Music is the shortcut to the heart,” says Mr Bell. Thus, we should listen to something that lights our fuse, music of any style, then close our eyes and let our imagination run. Once we settle on something worth writing about, listen to the music to get you in the […]
Let your imagination play you a movie. Sit down first thing in the morning, asking yourself, “What do I really want to write about?” Then list the first three things that come to mind. Issues, characters, situations. Pick the one that gets your juices flowing. And then close your eyes […]
Oh boy, oh boy. Today’s exercise on scene writing asks us to take a look at a chapter we have written. To analyze its Hook, Intensity, and Promptage. And then see now we can strengthen each ascpet. Because I don’t have a chapter of Awake & Asleep yet, I’m […]
Here Mr Bell asks us to practice visualizing an action scene via the Intensity Scale. Intensity generally moves up and down, so the writer’s job consists of turning the dial on his prose’s intensity. Here it is, imagine a graph where: X equals the scene’s progression. Y equals the […]
In this chapter we transition from the skeletal-structure of plot, to filling in the organs of a story: scenes. Scenes, claims Mr Bell, are the building blocks. (Sure, tell me more, mister!) They paint the plot. They immerse us into the story. And . . . he says a […]
In the last exercise, the task was to write out an entire ending. I didn’t feel it came out of me right. So I am extra excited about today’s exercise. Mr Bell asks us to come up with alternative endings. A list of ten. Then choose two or three of […]
What sort of ending to you have for your novel? Try writing the climactic scene. Wow, Mr Bell, seriously? This reminds me of how, allegedly, Nabokov wrote the ending of Lolita way early in his drafting process, because he wanted it clear in his mind as he approached it. […]
It sucks to end. At least for me. I love beginnings, exciting starts, ignitions. But to end? That is hard. Not only do I want to continue reading, the better the book the more I want to continue, but stopping to write hurts. Mr Bell puts it like this: […]
So like, it’s crazy. Just this morning I was wondering something about my writing, about my life. Why do I stay away from issues? Why do I avoid conflict? What would it hurt to write characters who say something raw, bias, with zero sense, but with 100,000 degrees of emotion? […]
Going back to the chapter on GENERATION IDEAS, we find solutions to the problem of a dry well. It reminds me of the techniques Julia Cameron talks about in her books, The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write. In them, she has loads of exercises to break through writer’s […]
This next one is a trip. Mr Bell asks us to pick a novel that didn’t work for us. Reread it. And as you do play the role of an editor, based on what you read in this chapter (about middles). Write a long letter to the author suggesting what […]