We are ruled by uncertainty. The need to know shapes our motives, what we ask for, desire, fear and seek to claim.
And so it is in writing that we encounter a somewhat safe haven.
The writer has a general idea of the destination of her or his story if not, how it shall end.
But this is an illusion too.
Uncertainty, Destination, and the Need to Know… Read More »
What creates setting, both physical and emotional?
And what goes into creating a setting that stimulates a reader to feel?
What is the challenge of creating a formative and transformative setting?
What needs to remain static and constant in a setting?
And what needs to cry out for change?
These questions point out the importance of setting and the challenge of meeting the needs that setting addresses in a story or novel.
John Truby, author of The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Masterful Storyteller, advises that the setting of a novel needs to include 2-3 separate and distinct places.
His belief debunks the idea that a good story needs to have a list of settings in order to sustain interest and hold the reader’s attention.
Of Setting, Change, Action, and Dilemmas… Read More »
Every story is like a court case wherein we, the author, like an attorney, tries a case of our protagonist.
Who is on trial?
Is your protagonist the defendant or the plaintiff seeking judgment and damages for a wrong committed upon her or him?
If she or his had been wronged then what was the crime and the injury inflicted?
Who committed the injustice?
What cries out for change?
Is this injustice still occurring at the outset of the novel?
If so what does the central character need to accomplish to stop the wrongful act?
The story we craft becomes our protagonist’s quest, their journey to achieve justice and survival, a tale of change and transformation.
Of Mars in Cancer, Courts of Change, and Travels… Read More »
The display the revelations that take place during the denouement and resolution, end, of a novel must take place in scene, not summary.
End of story revelations work much like the action taking place during the crisis and climax points where the immediacy of the characters’ actions impress upon readers the significance and meaning of the ordeal the central character/characters are undergoing, surviving and ultimately growing stronger by enduring.
Just as the crisis and climax point of a novel provide places of major transition and transformation, so to the revelations presented during denouement and at resolution offer one last stage of growth and change.
Of Symbols, Change and Arc of Growth and Transformation… Read More »
“Everything moves. Everything …motion is just a manifestation of going from one spot to another spot in space. When we are trying to understand motion all of the things that we measure from have to come from an inertial frame of reference. An inertial frame of reference is a reference frame that is moving at a constant speed and not changing direction.”
–Motion and Relativity, Dr. Charles Liu, Research Associate @ the Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History
The backbone of a story, particularly an entertaining and engaging one is motion, movement from one place in conscious and consensual reality to another.
Amplifying the reader’s engagement with the internal movement of the story, the emotional thread requires clarification of setting and displaying the subtle shifts that take place and occur in perception of setting reflective of one’s internal changes.
These changes are usually transmitted, or rather shown through the eyes and physical senses of the protagonist who is also the point-of-view character.
Motion, Identification and The Inertial Frame of Reference… Read More »
In chess, the Queen stands to the right of the King. Her major job is that of protecting the King. The dilemma of preventing the King’s capture rests upon the Queen’s head.
As such the Queen’s movements are central to winning the game of chess.
Establishing the major dilemma or problem in a story is essential to crafting fiction. The central problem inherently creates desire. And desire begets a series of actions that through cause-and-effect propel the narrative line–the plot.
Plot-driven stories answer the “What if?” question thereby directly conveying plot. Character-driven stories answer the questions, “Who? and Why now?”
From the personality of the of the central character rises an internal dilemma that determines behavior and reveals through a set of circumstances, often usual and common place, but no less bothersome and terrifying, a shift in way of behaving and perceiving the world.
This change or transformation emerges through a series of reactions and actions, again cause-and-effect set into motion by the protagonist’s personality, not so much the series of action themselves.
In this way the character-driven plot resembles that of the Queen’s aim and motive throughout chess. Perhaps this is why chess has been said to be the game of monarchs and aristocrats.
Of Queens, Personalities, Wishes and Desires… Read More »
I named my publishing company, NOJ Publications, after my husband, his named turned backwards.
I write about love, committed and constant, persevering and sustaining, which he has given me.
My stories and novels express what I know and have learned in relationship with my husband.
Love holds a most transforming power.
It dispenses hope beyond our wildest dreams.
Of Fear, La Petite Mort, and the Transforming Power of Love… Read More »