According to plot guru, Martha Alderson, plot can be viewed as either a noun or verb. She states: “Plot as noun encompasses every element of a story. Plot as verb allows conscious development of those elements.”
I invite you to visit her blog, and to follow her on Twitter. Her daily Tweets are gems of gold.
Of Plot, Nouns and Verbs… Read More »
I am always amazed how much screen time Bollywood movies donate to establishing and clarifying family relations of the film’s protagonist compared to the nil to absent mention of family connections in American movies.
The protagonist of an American made movie can be undergoing the direst and most despairing of circumstances and the screenplay makes no mention of mother, father, sister, or brother. Often very little time or explanation is given to the ex-spouse or ex-significant other, unless she or he is central to the plot.
Where Bollywood movies perhaps overdramatize the gifts and goodness of family, American theater emphasizes the need to break away and discover who one truly is.
…the writing life… | “Bollywood, The Hijinks of Thrillers, and Definition…” Read More »
Of Sword Fights, The Himalayas, And so on… And so on…
Posted by Anjuelle Floyd | Filed under Articles and Essays, anjuellefloyd.com
Have you ever watched a scene from a movie where two sword fighters are going at it?
And then they begin to move up the stairs, one sword fighter, moving in reverse up the incline of the steps, danger closing in, his back against the wall of conflict?
Remember how you felt? Your chest growing tighter, you engaged with what was happening rooting for one or the other swordsmen.
It goes the same with writing fiction. Read the rest of this entry…
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Tags: action, causal, cause-and-effect, conflict, dilemma, episodic, fiction, goal, Himalayas, Jeanette Winterson, novel, obstacles, plot, problem, question, rise and fall, roller coaster, sword fight, The Passion, writer
Of Sword Fights, The Himalayas, And so on… And so on… Read More »
Have you ever watched a scene from a movie where two sword fighters are going at it?
And then they begin to move up the stairs, one sword fighter, moving in reverse up the incline of the steps, danger closing in, his back against the wall of conflict?
Remember how you felt? Your chest growing tighter, you engaged with what was happening rooting for one or the other swordsmen.
It goes the same with writing fiction.
Of Sword Fights, The Himalayas, And so on… And so on… Read More »
I’ve been gone most of the summer, first to Brussels, then to Maui where vacation each year.
As the opening of the new school year approaches I am amazed at how it seems that just yesterday I was bidding a enjoyable and safe travels to fellow parents and their daughters and sons who attend the same school as my children.
Now nearly 2 and half months later I have received the first in a line of requests from the service that provides lunches at the school our youngest child attends the choices of entrées our child desires.
Change, Challenge and Seasons of Growth… Read More »
Author, Ken Follett, writes, “There is a rule which says that the story should turn about every four to six pages. A story turn is anything that changes the basic dramatic situation. It can change it in a little way or change it in a big way. …You can’t go longer than about six pages without a story turn, otherwise the reader will get bored. … Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, follows the same rule. In Dickens it’s the same; something happens about every four to six pages.”
The author of at least 20 novels, many of which are thrillers that have achieved international success, this list includes Follett’s well-received historical works, The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, the latter of which made the New York Times Best Seller List.
Adapted for film, The Pillars of the Earth debuted July 23, 2010 on Starz as a mini-series.
When it comes to pacing, Follett’s admonishments are well taken. But what is he really talking about?
Pacing. Read the rest of this entry…
Of Pacing, Tension and the All-Important Artistry of Holding the Reader’s Attention…a Read More »
“A successful resolution thwart the our expectation; it doesn’t (fully) satisfy them.”—-Peter Selgin, 179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers
Reversals sit at the heart of a successful resolution. And since novels consist of a continual list of crises fostered by a string of obstacles, both physical and human writers must embed our stories with a minefield of reversals.
But what is the true nature of a reversal?
Of Reversals, Plausible Endings and the Artistry of Thwarting Expectations… Read More »