Writing Resources 01

[Kiri]

I just bought a software called Liquid Story Binder after it was highly recommended from a Sims Writing forum I've joined.

It's looking very useful so far, although I don't think I'll be giving up my handy-dandy notebook and spreadsheets anytime soon.

[Kiri]

Prompts for making stories longer:

This is actually from a workshop I did on novel writing. It was supposed to be a plan of how to structure a whole novel. It was illuminating, restrictive and freeing all at the same time.

My suggestion would be to use what looks useful, and forget about the rest.

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Before Filling in Your Scenes ask yourself:

1) What is the dramatic question that runs through the Story Step? The first scene of the step should raise a question. The last scene should resolve the question or move it in a different direction. This is the spine of the scene breakdown.

2) What is the character arc or growth over the course of the scene breakdown? That is, how has your character changed emotionally over the course of the scenes? What is your main character like in Scene 1 and how have they changed by the final scene?

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Part 1: The Prison
Step 1: The Prison, to the Prison Intensifies
Step 2: The Prison Intensifies to the Prison Opens
Step 3: Prison opens to Refusal of Call
Step 4: Refusal to inciting Incident

Part 2: Inciting Incident
Step 1: Inciting Incident to New Action
Step 2: New Action to Introduction of Desire
Step 3: Revelation of Risk to Introduction of Opponent
Step 4: Coming up with a Plan

Part 3: Plan
Step 1: Plan goes wrong
Step 2: Complication 1
Step 3: Complication 2
Step 4: Serious Pressure

Part 4: Complications
Step 1: New Revelation to Next Complication
Step 2: Obsessive Drive to Attack by Ally
Step 3: New Revelation to Final Complication
Step 4: Split Desire

Part 5: Midpoint
Step 1: Pressure Builds 1
Step 2: Pressure Builds 2
Step 3: Revelation about Risk to Severe Complication
Step 4: Desperate

Part 6: Surrender
Step 1: Go to Worst Nightmare
Step 2: All is Lost
Step 3: The Wasteland
Step 4: Revelation

Part 7: Battle
Step 1: Surrender to Battle
Step 2: Battle Begins
Step 3: Battle - Conflict Escalates
Step 4: Final Conflict

Part 8: Resolution
Step 1: Final Revelation
Step 2: New Equilibrium

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Notes: Battles, Conflicts, Prisons etc, are not necessarily physical - they can be any sort of emotional, spiritual, physical, ornithological, etc () that you can think of.

I found when I was doing this, back 9 years ago - that my storyline didn't fit this structure, but there was much in the structure which helped me to add to the story, and make a little more sense of it.

[Kiri]

More from the Workshop:

1) WEAKNESS
What is your character's weakness at the start? What is their character flaw at the start of the story? It should link logically to the self-revelation.

2) GHOST
What is your character's ghost? What is haunting them from the past?
(Please fill in below in twenty-five words or less)

3) PREDICAMENT
What is your character’s predicament/prison at the start? This is usually a symptom of their weakness.

4) DESIRE
What is your character's desire? What do they want? Be concrete and specific.

5) OPPONENTS
Who are the opponents? How do they challenge your main character's weakness? Be concrete and specific. List up to four.

6) PLAN
What is your character's plan? Make it fun. Make it attack your main character's weakness.

7) COMPLICATIONS
How does your main character's plan go wrong and get them into trouble?

8) MORAL DILEMMA
What is your character's fundamental moral dilemma? What values are in conflict within them?

9) SPLIT DESIRE
What is your character's Split Desire? What tough choice do they have to make that is an external representation of their Moral Dilemma?

10) REVELATION
What is your character's Self-Revelation? (How they see themselves clearly for the first time and have a revelation about how they need to live in the world.)