It’s not a huge problem, so if you’ve already gathered your torches and pitchforks, you can put them away again. My problem with cliffhangers is that most people don’t know how to define cliffhanger, and so they end up cutting off a book mid-scene, with no plot arc at all. Guess what. That’s not aContinue reading “The Problem with Cliffhangers”
Tag Archives: plot
Last Shot at Plot (Get Ready, Get Set…)
Having already covered Plot Formulae back at the end of September, I’m hoping that those of you without a complete outline at this point have at least some ideas about how to get there. But this is the final stretch, the point where we all are scrabbling at the walls to try and claw outContinue reading “Last Shot at Plot (Get Ready, Get Set…)”
Countdown to NaNoWriMo!
We’ve reached October, and we can all count the days until November and National Novel Writing Month roll around! (I searched for an appropriately excited-scared gif for this blog post, but I just couldn’t find one thrilled enough.) So! How goes your planning for NaNoWriMo? Hopefully you’ve decided on a premise from however many ideasContinue reading “Countdown to NaNoWriMo!”
Pretty Please, Pick a Plot!
By which I mean, write down your plot outline before you start writing. “But I’m a panster! I don’t outline!” Tell you a secret? So am I. Doesn’t matter. The reason you should outline is because November is a hectic month for pretty much everyone – I have a theory that’s precisely why we doContinue reading “Pretty Please, Pick a Plot!”
Ideas and Conceptualization
So far this month I’ve discussed fiction genres and narration with an eye toward helping those planning on writing during National Novel Writing Month. It can be handy to start big and work inward, so the tasks so far have only been general. This week we start getting serious. This is a big entry, so take it in stages! I’ve given suggestions for starting to brainstorm on characters, setting, and plot, but I’ll be getting into them in more detail in coming weeks, so if you don’t have everything you may need yet, that’s okay. We’ll get there. The goal this week is to start distilling ideas you have into a more focused concept.
Marie Efromson 