by Crystal Caudill | Nov 2, 2016 | Book Reviews, Writing Craft
Have you struggled with flat characters? Difficult to plot stories? A lack of knowledge on how to correct these issues?
Oh my! I must admit I fall very solidly in this category. After the ACFW Conference, I realized just how much of a beginner I am. It feels like I have scrapped my story for the umpteenth time, but this time I have a solid plan.
One of the many benefits of attending the conference was connecting with Susan May Warren, a wonderful author and teacher. She has created this wonderful online community that is lesson based. It does require a membership, but the investment has been definitely worth the cost so far.
Due to the fact I do pay a membership, I have been hesitant to share what I have learned. I would not wish to break any copyright laws nor infringe on what Susie has spent so much time creating.
But lucky for you, one of the most helpful sets of lessons has recently been transcribed into a book that, even with access to the courses, I have added to my library of resources.
The Story Equation: How to Plot & Write a Brilliant Story From One Powerful Question by Susan May Warren
Susie’s wonderful method is based on developing your POV characters from the inside out. I will not steal her thunder, for the information is not mine to share, but I will say this has become my new favorite method to work my story.
It is organic and naturally encourages great depth. The plot, theme, and premise developed around my characters with surprising results. My story already feels stronger with the use of the Story Equation (SEQ).
I will not lie. As a beginner, I have spent many hours doing the courses, redoing them, and reading the book over and over again, working my characters as I did so. My characters are finally (mostly) solid and I am working on developing my major plot points.
The Kindle Edition of the book costs only $6.99. Let me tell you, this is an AMAZING price for an invaluable book. It is a quick and easy read, and easy to apply. If you can afford a monthly membership to her community, The Novel Academy, I would HIGHLY recommend that as well.
Below is the book blurb from Amazon. If you have any questions or experiences with the SEQ or Novel Academy, please comment below. I am so excited to share this resource with you!
“Discover The Story Equation!
One question can unlock your entire story! Are you struggling to build a riveting plot? Layered characters? How about fortify that saggy middle? Create that powerful ending?
You can build an entire book by asking one powerful question, and then plugging it into an “equation” that makes your plot and characters come to life. You’ll learn how to build the external and internal journey of your characters, create a theme, build story and scene tension, create the character change journey and even pitch and market your story. All with one amazing question.
Learn:
- The amazing trick to creating unforgettable, compelling characters that epic movies use!
- How to create riveting tension to keep the story driving from chapter to chapter
- The easy solution to plotting the middle of your novel
- The one element every story needs to keep a reader up all night
- How to craft an ending that makes your reader say to their friends, “Oh, you have to read this book!”
Using the powerful technique that has created over fifty RITA, Christy and Carol award-winning, best-selling novels, Susan May Warren will show novelists how to utilize The Story Equation to create the best story they’ve ever written.”
– Blurb from Amazon
by Crystal Caudill | Aug 17, 2016 | Writing Craft
In my search for the perfect story structure and plotting, I have read many books and continue to do so. However, so far, Michael Hauge’s 6 Stage Story Structure has been my favorite. I love his linear, clear-cut structure.
Mr. Hauge’s structure is centered around script writing and is very formulaic. Although the percentages are more a reference to script writing, they can be loosely used for novel writing.
Stage 1 – Setup or “Everyday Life” (0%-10%)
Outer Journey
- Introduce your hero in their everyday world
- Create identification with 2 or more of the following:
- sympathy
- put them in jeopardy
- make them likable
- make the hero funny
- make them powerful
Inner Journey
- The hero exists completely in their identity.
- Their identity may be centered on what they do, their religion, or how they want others to see them.
- Their identity is what protects their core essence. (People pleaser vs “I am fine the way I am.”)
Turning Point 1 – Presented with an Opportunity (10% marker)
Outer Journey
- Creates in the hero a desire to move into a new situation, something new
- This is not the desire for the true endpoint.
Inner Journey
- Hero gets a glimpse of what it would be like to live in their essence
- They refuse the call to change
Stage 2 – New Situation (10% – 25%)
Outer Journey
- The adjustment
- What are the new rules?
- How can I get along?
- Usually, hero believes it will be easy.
Inner Journey
- Hero gets a glimpse of what it would be like to live in their essence.
- Reject living in their essence.
Turning Point 2 – Change of Plans (25% marker)
Outer Journey
- The visible end goal is established.
- The character realizes, “No, I have to do this.”
Inner Journey
- A foot in who their initial identity is and a foot in who they really are – their essence.
- They struggle back and forth with who they are and what they were.
Stage 3 – Progress (25% – 50%)
Outer Journey
- The plan seems to be working.
- There must be conflict, but the obstacles are avoided, overcome, delayed, or by-passed.
Inner Journey
- They are still straddling the fence of their essence and identity.
Turning Point 3 – The Point of No Return (50%)
Outer Journey
- When the hero is closer to the goal than the start,
and they have become so committed they burn their bridges, making it impossible to turn back.
- The hero’s life as he knew it is over.
Inner Journey
- Their identity is stripped away.
- They realize their essence and begin pursuing it.
Stage 4 – Complications and Higher Stakes (50% – 75%)
Outer Journey
- It is more difficult to accomplish the goal, but also more important to accomplish.
- They have more to lose.
Inner Journey
- They continue pursuing who they really are.
Turning Point 4 – The Major Setback (75%)
Outer Journey
- The reader has the sense that all is lost.
- The plan they had is out the window but they can’t turn back.
- They must make one last push or die while trying.
Inner journey
- The hero has fully committed to living in their essence but now the outside world starts coming in and frightening them.
- The hero retreats back into their identity. They run away from who they are.
Stage 5 -The Last Push (75% to ?)
Outer Journey
- Do it or die while trying.
- Everything is put on the line.
Inner Journey
- They realize they don’t like who they were anymore. They have had a taste of who they truly are and they have to go after it.
- They have to find their destiny, even if it means risking everything to get what they want.
Turning Point 5 – Climax (% Depends)
Outer Journey
- All the problems are resolved.
- The hero can fail, succeed, or change their mind.
- The length of the climax depends on how many problems you have to resolve.
Inner Journey
- The moment they fully realize who they are.
Stage 6 – The Aftermath
Outer Journey
- Responding the climax emotionally.
- The wedding, reconciliation, etc.
Inner Journey
- The hero is going to live their new life as they truly are.
Interested in examples and learning more about either Mr. Hauge’s structure or the hero’s journey? I highly recommend buying the audible recording of his and Chris Vogular’s presentations. It is worth every penny. I have listened to it half a dozen times already and plan on listening again as I drive to Nashville for the ACFW Conference next week.
Michael Hauge’s website also does a great job showing examples.
Tell me what you think about this plotting format? Does it make sense to you? Are there any movies or books you can identify with this plot structure?
by Crystal Caudill | Aug 12, 2016 | Writing Craft
Okay, so today isn’t really Wednesday. Between all the family craziness and trying to get ready for my first national writer’s conference, I forgot to post until Friday this week.
Desperate for a quick, easy topic I thought I would share about preparing for a writer’s conference in a question and answer format. Feel free to skim to the question you have and ask any I didn’t answer in the comment section. I will respond as best I can and add to my answers after I get back.
What do you do at a writer’s conference?
I attended the Kentucky Christian Writer’s Conference last year and have been registered for the American Christian Writer’s Conference since early spring. Both of these conferences offered writing workshops on publishing, writing craft, and managing life as a writer. There are also opportunities to meet with editors, agents, publishers, mentors, and other authors, both published and unpublished.
The ACFW Conference also has a Genre Dinner night where you get to dress up as one of your characters or the general period in which you write. This is a picture of the dress I ordered. After the conference, I will write a post that shares my experiences – including me actually dressed up.
What do you wear to a conference?
A writer’s conference is a professional gathering of other writers and professionals in the industry. Business casual is expected. You will be doing a lot of sitting and walking, so you want something comfortable.
For me, that means I am deciding between dress pants and my long skirts. I was going to wear some dresses, but all of them are knee length, and I am not exactly the most lady-like person when sitting. Makeup and jewelry are reserved for professional events like these for me.
Conference centers are notorious for subjecting a person to a wide range of temperatures. Dress in layers. I am bringing a couple cute sweaters and my blouses are all short sleeve.
What do you bring to a conference?
In general, you will want business cards, one-sheets, and a notebook and pen – or tablet/laptop if you prefer, but be aware outlets are limited and there are lots of people vying for them. Depending on what your goals are and who you are meeting, you may also need to bring chapter samples, book proposals, and/or synopses.
Some odds and ends I would not have thought of are thank you cards, to give those professionals you have met with; folders that will hold a business card, your one-sheet, and chapter samples; and a briefcase or professional bag instead of a backpack.
So those were my top three big questions and answers? What about you? Are there any questions you have about a writer’s conference? I will answer as best I can and then add to it after I get back in three weeks.
by Crystal Caudill | Jul 27, 2016 | Writing Craft
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Thor
Two great swoon-worthy heroes, and who doesn’t love a swoon-worthy hero? As a writer, I strive to make my heroes the type that makes you swoon despite their flaws.
After learning the devastating truth, that my hero was a girly-man, I sought out to learn how to better craft the male POV in my writing. This sent me on a hunt through dozens of articles written by men, women, published authors, and editors to discover what makes a realistic male POV.
Last week I shared what I learned about male dialogue and conversations. Today I am wrapping up with bulleted lists on what I discovered about the male’s inner world.
The Inner Male
- Short snippets of inner monologue are best. One or two sentences is a good target.
- A man always thinks of himself in positive terms, even when he botches things terribly. He will phrase his defeat in terms that make it clear that he was put in an impossible situation or that he was off his game. (Of course, you can still have characters who struggle with self-image, but even then they can still have times of thinking like this.)
- A man would never describe himself as helpless. EVER. He may be down for a time while he waits for the next opportune moment, but he is not helpless.
- When a man sets his mind on a target, everything else vanishes from thought until the mission is accomplished.
- Men aren’t going to agonize over whether or not they should kiss the woman, they do it, then deal with the consequences afterward. Teenage guys might naturally agonize, though.
- Men are very visual. The way a woman dresses creates visual images a man’s brain that can linger for days, months, or even years.
- For every problem, there is a solution, but the consequences don’t matter as much as simply solving the issue to begin with. They may just try the direct, brute-force way first.
- Emotion, except for anger, is usually kept under wraps or repressed altogether.
- They think about responsibilities, deadlines, family, life, and sometimes there is literally nothing. (Is that seriously possible? I can’t even wrap my head around thinking nothing.)
- Most guys like to imagine they don’t have feelings. They use the ‘push it deep down’ approach 90% of the time and the remaining 10% of the time, it is bottled up until it eventually bursts.
- If you push a guy, he’ll get angry; if you break a guy, he’ll cry.
- Guys understand a woman’s emotions; they just don’t know what to do about it.
- Most guys only know eleven colors: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, black, brown, gray, white, and pink.
- Guys do NOT always think about sex. If they do, they are not the type of guy you want being your hero. Real men can and do think about other things.
What do you think? Are there any things that could be added to this list? Any things which should be removed? Leave your comments below and come back next week for my final installment with Male Behavior.
by Crystal Caudill | Jul 20, 2016 | Writing Craft
“So God created man in His own image;
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.”
– Genesis 1:27
And boy did he create the differently. Ever heard of the boo
k Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus? I personally have never read the book, but I can relate to the feeling that men seem to be from a different planet. (And I am sure there are probably at least a few men who feel the same about women.)
One of my favorite things about reading and writing romantic fiction is the perspective of the story from both sexes. Reading it is easy. Writing it? Not so much.
In fact, in my first draft of my work in progress, my critique partners gently revealed to me that my hero was a whiny, wimpy, girly-man (my words, not theirs). I may be married to a man, but I certainly couldn’t write or think like a man. Boy, was I thankful to discover that early into my writing!
So I set my manuscript aside and decided to dive into the world of male point of view. I looked at suggested articles and sought more out on my own. What I discovered, from both the male and female writers of these articles, was a pattern.
Men are pretty straightforward creatures with specific tendencies in their speech, inner thoughts, and behavior.
Over the next couple weeks, I will give a bulleted list of what I have learned. Keep in mind that these bullets are just patterns that I found. There are always exceptions.
Male Dialogue
- They rarely end sentences with questions or say things like “I’m not sure.”
- They do not use expressive adjectives (wonderful, gorgeous, etc. unless being sarcastic). Usually, “it’s okay” or “it looks good” are about what you get.
- They are rarely heard saying “May I? Could I? Should I?”
- They rarely use words like darling, honey, or sweetheart except during times of intimacy or moment of extreme stress.
- Make dialogue to the point.
Male Conversation
- Conversations are a means to relay information not build relationships.
- Conversations are typically on a non-important topic until everything dies away
- Guy conversations generally involve the least amount of words possible.
- Generally, guys only have two or three things in common with other – sports, work, music, games, food. Gossip is off the table.
- If two guys disagree on something, expect some flaring tensions and arguments.
- Talking with girls varies. Some are very shy, some of full of confidence and swagger. Some try to be amicable and get a laugh out of you whether you’re guy or a girl.
- If men are embarrassed they usually try to laugh it off.
- If men are hurt they get quiet and try not to get mad.
Men…
- Prefer direct action to talk.
- Are problem solvers. They rarely listen without giving advice.
- Rarely ask for advice.
- Rarely admit to being wrong and their apologies tend to be gruff and unpolished.
- Rarely respond to a direct command unless they are outranked.
- Say what they think. They don’t use euphemisms.
- Use very black-and-white talk – it is what it is; a spade is a spade.
- Don’t do small talk.
- Rarely punctuate speakers with agreeing noises.
- Mostly repress emotions except anger.
- Are a lot less likely to share their feelings. Feelings are private, which are none of your business.
What do you think? Is anything off base? Is there anything you would add? Share it in the comments below and then come back next week when I tackle male thought patterns and behaviors.
