Storywonk Audio Series
Hello, Wonks! I’m currently in the midst of preparing for a new session of Storywonk classes, writing the first in what will hopefully be a string of wildly successful Lucy March novels, and trying to get a bunch of new audio modules for the Storywonk Podcast up. I’m planning two series at the moment, and I need your help.
The first is the Newbie series, for people who are new to me, to writing, and are wondering what the hell I mean when I say POV. I’m looking for confusing vocabulary (such as ms, WIP/MIP, POV, etcetera) and confusing concepts (currently on my list: Discovery, Structure, Positive Goal, etcetera.) These will be short, simple pieces, explaining the basics so that when someone says, “You need a positive goal,” it’s not completely out of left field. Please comment here with anything that used to throw you, or is currently throwing you.
The second is a Structure series. The thing about structure is that you need one, but you can choose from loads. As long as they do two things – escalate your conflict and keep your story building toward something – they’re good. So far, there’s classic Aristotle who started the whole damn thing, I’ve got a basic structure based on it, Crusie has a basic structure based on it, there’s the Hero’s Journey (Vogler) and… others. Gimme the others. Does McKee have one? Been forever since I read that book. What are your favorites? What have you used? What do you want to try? Comment here, with links if it can be found online, and I’ll include them.
You can look for these to go up in the next few weeks. You can subscribe via iTunes, or hit the Entries RSS in the sidebar here and be notified when I post them here.
And, let me just say, from the bottom of my desperate writer’s heart – THANK YOU. And may you be blessed with a wondrous and fantastical new year.
I completed 58,000 Nano words and am now in midst of revision. I know what POV is and know the difference between first, second and third, but have no idea what ms, MIP, WIP you referenced above.
I would like to know more about what writers mean when they refer to third person deep or close.
I also am having trouble understanding pacing and tone/voice/style. I am not sure that I could define pacing or style, and am having trouble identifying those elements in my writing.
I can’t call myself a newbie anymore, but I still don’t quite grasp “positive goal”.
What used to be hurt my brain:
1. The purpose of a turning point and what it consists of.
2. Conflict–I seriously thought it meant everyone argued, in every scene.
3. Piggy backing on the above–external and internal conflict.
4. Not sure if this would be short, but when people talk about The Hero’s Journey how can you show the Ordinary World, but start where the story starts too.
I’ll probably have more, but that’s all I’ve got right now.
I’m a little stuck on Positive Goal as well. I’ll be interested to hear what you have to say about the subject.
I think I’ve got the rest. But, since I’m self taught, I could very well be wrong.
Hi, a few things that I got confused on.
understanding the way to figure out who is your hero/ine. I used to think it was the good guy but then I started writing stories that had lots of good guys and would be stuck on understanding which was the hero.
I agree with the comments on conflict – I too thought people had to fight in each scene
And finally understanding what a scene is composed of. When i grasped that concept it changed the way I plotted and thought about my story
For structure I’ve used Aristotle (okay that’s the 3 act one right?) and the hero’s journey together. I explore the story at the beginning by creating a 3 act synopsis and then build the hero’s journey in as it fits in the detailed plot.
Doing this helps me understand through the first step if there’s enough story and then through the second step organizes my story into some kind of coherence.
One interesting thing about the hero’s journey I heard at a workshop is that you don’t need to do all twelve of the hero’s journey steps, you use what you need.
hope this helps
I struggle with understanding beats. I read something recently that helped me understand what they are (at least I think so for the moment), but I still can’t spot them in my own writing.
My question is about the “Promise”. Every writer makes a promise to their readers as they write… How do you properly identify and work with that promise so that you’re adding it to your story correctly/
Inciting incident.
Thank you, everyone! This is really good stuff. I will try to include as much of it as I can in the upcoming podcast episodes. Definitely, inciting incidents and beats will need their own module each! But I’ll get them on the list, and will try to get them up as quickly as I can.
These are all questions that I’ve asked myself before, so I’m excited to learn something new. I can’t wait!
For structure I’ve used Aristotle (okay that’s the 3 act one right?) and the hero’s journey together. I explore the story at the beginning by creating a 3 act synopsis and then build the hero’s journey in as it fits in the detailed plot.
Doing this helps me understand through the first step if there’s enough story and then through the second step organizes my story into some kind of coherence.
One interesting thing about the hero’s journey I heard at a workshop is that you don’t need to do all twelve of the hero’s journey steps, you use what you need.
hope this helps