Runners train for months or years or marathons. Most professional dancers begin their training before the age of 6 and show up to the studio every day for hours. So, (I’m talking to myself here), it’s time to get quit messing around and get serious about scene craft because the scene is the story.
I’ve started a SubStack dedicated to scene work and analysis.
Read MoreTo catch you up, I’m taking the StoryGrid live scene writing course and I’m posting my practice scenes, because why not? For this one, I’ll post the original scene first, followed by the revised scene. The revisions are based on the notes from my coach, and I think the result is very solid.
Read MoreIt took me about an hour to get comfortable, but once I settled in, I pitched every person who passed my table, which was a lot of people. How could you possibly pitch everyone you might (sensibly ask). Well, my pitch was to shout out tropes that show up in the Kirasu Rising series.
Read MoreThe chief reason I am taking this course is because I want to write better, faster. I’ve written plenty of meandering first drafts where I’m finding the story and learning the characters, plot, world all at the same time and the second draft is a total rewrite and it takes two years to get a book out. That’s where I live. But… I have so many ideas for stories and new series and wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t take two years to write a damn book! Yes, the answer is yes, it would be great.
Read MoreEasy job, she’d said. The pay just happened to be what he needed to get off this swamp infested rat trap of a planet. Just pick up the package and deliver it. And, oh yeah, don’t let the package bite you. That should have been a clue.
Read MoreYou’ve heard you need to buckle down and get the first draft written, but do you believe it? If you find yourself editing previous scenes before writing the next scene, you are likely stopping yourself from just getting it written (i.e., completing the first draft). If you stop yourself from writing a scene because you think it might not be the right scene for the finished product but don’t know what other scene is better, you are definitely stopping yourself from finishing the first draft (and this is what I did in spades).
Read MoreHave 15 minutes? Start the scene. I also always leave a few lines about what should come next, so I don’t have to start with a blank page when I next pick it up.
Read MoreFrom the very beginning, Without A World had a name; it was called A Place Between. All of my drafts are labeled APB. That title made sense because Miranda, the main character, is caught between two worlds, and for a portion of the book, is suspended between them both.
Read MoreWe learn fairly quickly in act 1 that Beda and Miranda are, in fact, not from Earth and could have had a better life if they had not come here. But Without A World does not answer this basic question about why Beda came to Earth and why she only brought one child, Miranda with her.
Read MoreThey say the first sentence should tell the whole story. No pressure, right?
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