Tips and Techniques

Here's a link to an article on unleashing our imaginations at http://www.hollywoodlitsales.com/cf/journal/dspJournal.cfm?intID=3150

Advice by James Patrick Kelly on trimming wastage from one's masterpiece.

It's not for the timid.

Brave souls can go to http://www.sfwa.org/writing/murder.htm

This post is inspired by Dave K's comment to my post on Heinlein's Rules in "The Rest" section.

Many people's people's idea of rewriting is simply "wordsmithing," which is changing word choices.

A screenwriting mentor taught that keys to rewriting success are:
1. The purpose is to IMPROVE you story, not PROTECT it.
Continue to be CREATIVE as you rewrite and your story
will be amazing in the end.

2. Editors love writers who EXCEED their EXPECTATIONS.

A rewrite process I learned recently is:

A. Basic Story Editing
Make sure your STORY works.

B. Questioning
Questioning is about IMPROVING, not ATTACKING.

C. Separating
Separating is about GETTING CLARITY on important parts of your story.

D. Cutting
Cutting is about CLEARING AWAY UNNECESSARY DETAILS so the story can shine.

E. Applying Writing Skills
Advanced writing skills ELEVATE and INCREASE OPTIONS.

F. Brainstorming vs. Flow (Great for 1st Draft)
Generating a large QUANTITY OF IDEAS to discover a few HIGH QUALITY IDEAS.

G. Wordsmithing
DECORATING your story.

Why won't writers cut bad scenes? They did WORDSMITHING before they completed the OTHER IMPORTANT WRITING PROCESSES.

This is an overview of the process. The methodology is something to be learned and reinforced through constant practice.

Boris

Okay, recipe for the seven point plot:

1. A character

2. In a setting

3. With a problem

4. Character must TRY to solve problem

5. Must FAIL (and the result is THINGS GET WORSE)

6. Climax--the conclusion of the try/fail cycles. The tsunami of all the smaller squalls. Character either fails miserably (tragedy) or succeeds wonderfully (comedy).

7. Validation. This is the line in old fairy tales "And they all lived happily (or miserably) ever after." One of the best examples of a validation scene is in STAR WARS where Han and Luke get medals pinned to their chests at the end of the movie for saving the Federation. Life goes on, and hopefully the character is wiser for the experience.

AJ Budrys says you need to run three try/fails before the climax. He also has a lot more to say on the subject, and has a great book called WRITING TO THE POINT.

A link to three variations is at http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/10092-the-seven-point-plot-skel…

A tip for increasing your story writing artistry at http://www2.beyondstructure.com/article_plots.php

Advice on how to right dialogue that socks you in the gut at http://www2.beyondstructure.com/article_layered_dialogue.php

Bits and pieces to be learned at the Beyond Structure Workshop at http://www2.beyondstructure.com/article_sampletechniques.php

A list of the most common grammar mistakes overworked editors see in rejected stories at http://mzbworks.home.att.net/grammar.htm 

An elegant breakdown on the elements of a short story at http://mzbworks.home.att.net/what.htm

STRUCTURE TWISTS

by David Freeman

Structure Twists mean surprising the reader with the way some basic plot structures are used.

Let’s look at a few plot twists in the context of a hypothetical, contemporary war story.

A Revelation Changes Everything

You and your squad have been making it across hostile terrain toward the enemy’s stronghold. You’ve been getting orders from your higher-ups over a radio carried by one of you men.

And then comes the revelation: You learn that your radio is bugged. Your enemy knows where you are and everything you’ve been planning.

Innocent People Are in the Way

The enemy has put his compound in the middle of a densely populated area. If you shell it, you’ll kill many innocent people.

A Key Piece of Equipment Breaks Down

You’re making a final assault on the enemy’s fortified compound. The rocket-grenade launcher, your main and only sure way of destroying the ramparts, breaks.

A Character Changes Sides

Continuing the preceding story… You turn around, and there’s the enemy’s right-hand man. Blam!

As he dies, he confesses he had deserted the enemy and was changing sides. He tells you there’s a lightly guarded, secret back entrance to the compound. He’s about to tell you exactly where it is, but he dies.

You Fall into a Trap

You find that entrance and storm it – but your enemy’s men are inside, waiting. It was all a trap.

A Hostage is Taken

No sooner are you inside the walls of the enemy fortress when your best buddy is captured. Do you go to rescue him, or do you go after your enemy?

Forced to Carry Out Another’s Agenda

The enemy’s henchman has got you in his sniper scope, and you’re in an open area with no place to duck for cover. The way you discover you’re doomed is that he’s tapped into an ear microphone you’ve been using as part of a communications system, and he taunts you.

The henchman says he’ll kill both you and your buddy (the one taken hostage earlier, who’s still their prisoner) unless you tell your men to leave – that you’ll take it alone from here.

So, to save your and your buddy’s life, you dismiss your very confused men. You’ve been forced to carry out another’s agenda.

Mini-Goals

A Mini-Goal is a goal you need to accomplish first before proceeding to the main goal.

Let’s say that there’s an enemy soldier up in a guard tower, picking off your men. Before you charge the enemy’s HQ, you’ve got to take out that soldier one way or another. This becomes a mini-goal.

Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire

The solution to one problem gets you into an even worse problem. For example:

* The enemy has a futuristic catapult that it was using to bombard you when you were outside the walls. You break inside, but can’t get to the center of the compound because it’s too heavily guarded. You get an idea: Have your men catapult you. You’ll use your parachute as a break to slow down your descent. It seems like a great solution – but when you do this –

* You land in the wrong place – right in the middle of a munitions storage area. Enemy troops are swarming you. The solution is to use your flame thrower to start a cascade of explosions –

* You start the explosions, which destroy the troops, but they ignite a fire that rapidly spreads your way. You run out of the munitions area – into some worse problem.[/list]

And so on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Man Cannot Live by Twists Alone

Some apprentice writers think that plot twists are themselves enough to make a story interesting.

But a story that has no emotional content is rarely interesting, no matter how many twists are involved. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was filled with action and twists, but at times seemed strangely empty and slow, even when the pacing was at its peak. The lack of emotional content meant that, even amidst the heavy action and jeopardy, it was sometimes hard to care about the twists or the danger.