Notes on a creative writing life
These are some more tips from romantic travel writer Janice MacDonald’s on First Chapters.
Don’t sweat it initially, it will change.
When you’re ready to return to it, consider the following:
start as close to the end without leaving out important information
open with action
quickly establish: who, what, where, when and why
These are some additional tips on writing [...]
The essential elements of a marketable novel author Janice MacDonald teaches in her writing course are:
Hook
Sense of place
Interesting characters
Compelling dialogue (she’s English)
Strong storyline (one with a logical pattern)
Appropriate pacing
Distinctive voice
Particular point of view
Slowly revealed secret or answer (the presentation of information)
Ms. MacDonald refers to these as the “Furnishings.” She’s speaking of the traditional novel or [...]
John Truby’s screenwriting courses and software are a staple of screenwriting classes worldwide. His book,The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, presents his “Twenty-Two Building Blocks” plot structure is a classic. I purchased one of his first video writing courses mumblety-mumblety years ago when I was writing comedy and spent a [...]
The plan was to spend January completing the first draft of a memoir and then going back to work on the NaNoWriMo novel revisions. That was the plan.
I did, however, get to work tangentially on writing. A friend asked me to be a beta reader on the first draft of her first novel. She’s published [...]
While taking a workshop with author Janice MacDonald on developing a traditional fiction story plot (the kind with a beginning, middle and end), I decided to modify one of the templates that came with my Pages program into a set of worksheets. These worksheets can help you outline your fiction plot and determine the story [...]
I’ve seen dozens of variations on these (and I’ll be posting at least 3) through the years as I read writing books and went to classes and workshops to avoid facing the muddle that was my middle, but somehow Janice MacDonald’s version clicked. I then joined NaNoWriMo in 2007 followed by a friend asking me [...]
Just a quick note about what’s coming now that NaNoWriMo 2007 is almost finished. (Okay, so I haven’t quite finished my novel rough draft — 4 more chapters –but I broke the 50K and have a few paragraphs roughing the last 4 chapters.)
I’ve published the first of many resource and writer’s tools postings to come. [...]
Author Lisa Preston (http://www.lisapreston.com), spoke to The Writing Popular Fiction class of author Janice MacDonald in September, 2007. Lisa Preston does workshops. Check out her site for more information. This are some of her excellent recommendations for researching appropriate agents to query about your novel.
There are 4 requirements for a writer to get an agent [...]
Made it! It’s official. I got my 50,000 words (actually, 53,000+ words) at 11:35 p.m. tonight. Must now sleep.
The novel’s not quite done, but the end is in sight and I feel confident I’ll actually make it.
I’ll write more tomorrow.
It’s late and I’ve got tons of writing to do tomorrow to catch up on the NaNoWriMo schedule, but I had to take the time to celebrate — 27,890 words! I’m well into Chapter 9 and I know I’ll make Chapter 10 tomorrow. That’s the big plot point 2 in standard genre fiction story arcs [...]
