I am available to speak for clubs or conference!
My most requested topics are plotting, synopsis, and strong writing.
Contact me through this site by leaving a comment and your contact information and I will get back to you ASAP.
June 8, 2010 by lindag22
I am available to speak for clubs or conference!
My most requested topics are plotting, synopsis, and strong writing.
Contact me through this site by leaving a comment and your contact information and I will get back to you ASAP.
Looks like a great blog, Linda. One that I will certainly tune into frequently. As a pantser, I can sometimes write myself into a wall!
I use the Voegler approach as well–at least loosely–and find it a fantastic model, even for pantsers.
Hello, Sylvia! Thanks for chiming in! I’m glad you’ll be checking in from time to time.
I had the privilege of spending an entire day listening to Chris Vogler talk about his (then new) book. What an incredible experience that was! Until then, I’d been trying to use the three-act structure, but falling flat when plotting the middle of the book. Chris’s demonstrating how to put the Hero’s Journey into the three-act structure led to my first novel sale! I talked to him again years later at another conference and told him that his book and his talking about the book had shown me how to revise my novel–and sell it. You would’ve thought I’d given him the best gift ever! He’s a really nice person and was thrilled to be able to share what he learned from Joseph Campbell, who was his mentor.
Writing by the “seat of your pants” can be really exhilerating, but it can also lead you into blind alleys, as I’m sure you’ve experienced. Since I started using the Journey and the Structure, I don’t explore nearly as many of those alleys!
Thanks again! Talk to you again soon, I hope!
Linda
I have used Linda’s Plotting book. As a pantser, I can honestly say it helped me immensely and continues to help me with plotting my newest book.
Although I still remain a pantser, to a certain respect (the characters decide where they want to go, etc.), using Linda’s plotting book keeps me on track and focused–still leaving me space to be creative.
And as far as how much it’s helped me with writing my synopsis, well,……don’t get me started : ))
A light bulb has gone off and there is no turning back!
Love, love, love Fill in the Blank Plotting!
Cathi R.
Well, that’s a testimony I can’t refuse! I’ll go get my copy now! Thanks Cathi.
Thanks, Cathi! Your experience with combining your “pantsing” with the two structures is proof that using those structures (Hero’s Journey and Three-Act Structure) in no way curbs your imagination or flexibility while writing the story.
I’ll be interested to hear how you like PLOTTING, Sylvia, and whether it proves to be helpful to you, too!
Linda
Any time, Sylvia. I know you’ll use it over and over again! My cover is actually coming undone : )))))
Here’s an idea, Cathi. Take the book apart and put the pages in plastic sleeves in a ring-binder notebook. Makes it easier to keep the pages intact, and you can add punched legal sheets with notes that go with each part of the structure for your work-in-progress!
Great comment, Linda! When mine gets here I’ll do just that!
I have problem with moods. By moods I don’t mean the will to drive. I never (yet) running out of drive to write… what I can’t control is the mood WHEN I’m writing.
For instance I strarted a story about espionage… all cloak and dagger thing.. but in the middle of it… I suddenly would like to write about romance… and lost the dark espionage thing. Another time my mood turns into comedy while I’m writing a fantasy kinda story.
Does this make any sense ?
I got no problem with plots… but I can’t keep my writing style (genre of the story) because the mood change.
As editor (of Linda’s book and a number of others on writing), I recommend in general sticking to a genre or stylistic approach (what you’re calling your writing “mood”). You don’t have to, and a little bit of variety might be okay, but if you start to mix styles or genres, you’re taking a risk, and possibly harming the chances of that work being published.
As I wrote in a blog on my Writer’s Handbook blog:
Here’s the full link: http://writershandbook.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/lets-all-play-the-genre-game-pitching/
Hope that comment helps encourage you to rein in on that tendency. (If you feel you need to write in varied styles, consider creating separate works for each style; then you can pick the project that fit’s your mood when you sit down to write!)
Thanks, Phil. I couldn’t have said it better. But I’ll add this:
Where would your book be shelved in a bookstore? That’s an important question for an editor when deciding whether to buy a book or not. You won’t see a shelf for Science Fiction Mystery Romances in any bookstore. And an editor isn’t likely to buy such a ms. from a submitting author.
There was a time when time-travel romances were routinely rejected by romance editors because they didn’t fit any of their lines. The same was true for vampire romances, werewolf romances, science-fiction or fantasy romances. Those sub-genres (what you’re referring to as “mood” were introduced by highly-published romance authors who were able to convince their editors to try something new. A new author has virtually no chance to sell a mixed-genre book to an editor.
This is why plotting structure is so essential to a beginning writer. Choose one genre and stick to that genre throughout the book. By using the Hero’s Journey, you’ll be able to plan the entire story before you start writing. Then, if the “mood” changes and you get away from that basic structure, you can recognize it and get back to the original plot and be consistent with the genre.
Ditto what Phil said about writing different books with different genres. Stick to one genre at a time and you’ll greatly increase your chances of selling what you write!
Good luck!
Linda