Some people have asked for links to all of my blog posts on story structure and narrative design. I’ve complied some of my favorite posts below. Happy structuring! Arch Plot Structure Handout – This is my classis arch plot structure chart that keeps getting passed around the internet. Here’s a link directly to it. How…
The fifth category in our exploration of designing principles is the use of parallel stories and myth. In my first post, I discussed The Godfather and how it used a designing principle with an underlying fairy tale structure. In fact, the hero’s journey (aka: mythic structure) is the exact same strategy, where the major plot beats of the…
My second category in my series on designing principle is using your setting and environment to as inspiration for your story’s design. It’s interesting that the predominant structure we talk about is a mountain, which is ultimately a metaphor for a certain kind of movement and escalating energy to a story. In my first post…
Yes, it’s true, I’ve had story structure on the brain. I’ve also recently joined pinterest (of which I immediately became addicted). But there’s a happy side effect of these two obsessions… this post! I love visual representations of novels and narrative structure, and pinterest gave me a place to collect all these fascinating, beautiful, funny,…
The SCBWI LA 2010 conference was a treasure trove of information! And the goldmine is coming, but it will take a few weeks to type everything up and post it all, so keep checking back for new articles and notes. But in the meantime here’s a taste. The Digital Revolution: We are in the middle…
This post is entitled “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Conference Junkie” or Ten Tips for Attending the SCBWI LA Conference (which I have a feeling a good number of you readers are going to be attending). So as a four-year veteran of the Sunny Side of SCBWI, I thought I’d offer the following…
At every conference I go to I hear the mantra read, read, read, read, read! Okay great guru’s of the publishing industry I shall heed your word! So I’ve been piling up on the library books, audio commute companions, and book store treasures in order to stay up on the market. And as a reader…
Summer’s coming, is your bikini body ready? It seems spring has sprung and that means the check-out stand at the grocery store is filled with magazine headlines endorsing ten minute work-outs and crash diets. And while I’m anti-gym and pro-cupcake, I found myself wondering if my philosophy of physical fitness might have some layover in…