Hello friend, 👋🏾
I’ve been deep in story creation mode for the past few weeks. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is nurturing the tiny seeds of inspiration into full-fledged stories. Brainstorming, researching, plotting, talking it out, going back to the drawing board—it’s second only to the revision process in my list of most loved things about writing.
Seeing how a story unfolds in your mind and how it changes from what you first thought it might be to what it was supposed to be is really magical. Case in point, I finally got to the end of the outline for my WIP and sent it over to my new agent for feedback. I did not expect that we’d spend over an hour talking it through, with him pushing me to go further on virtually every aspect of the story, from the character arcs to the worldbuilding to the plot.
I thought I had a really solid outline, and it was a good foundation, but I’m especially excited to see where it will go from here now that I’ve been challenged to go deeper and make everything more resonant and impactful.
This morning, I did a presentation at an area high school and one girl asked me, “Is writing a book hard?” I had to hold myself back from laughing. Not at her, but at the idea that it could ever be easy.
My answer was yes, it’s hard. But if it’s a part of you, then writing is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do. I’m not sure if youth and inexperience can allow for a full understanding of this, but I hope one day she gets it.
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My Upcoming Events
MetroWest Writers’ Guild: The Authorpreneur Path - March 26, 2024
Poconos Liars Conference - Apr 20, 2024
📝 Deeper Themes
One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is theme. For the story I’m currently working on, I recognized the theme pretty early on and have consciously been using it to guide my plot and character decisions. That’s not always the case, of course. With many books, I don’t know the theme until I get to the end of a draft or two (or more).
I came across this article “Deepening Your Story’s Theme with the Thematic Square” by K.M. Weiland. It delves into concepts from Robert McKee’s seminal writing book Story. Weiland writes:
…character arc reveals and proves theme, while plot structure creates and unfolds character arc. In order for any of the “big three” of plot, character, and theme to truly work, all three must be in alignment. This means that if you’ve got a plot that works or a character arc that works, it’s pretty likely you also have a theme that works. And if any of the three doesn’t work, you’ll at least have clear problems to solve on your way to strengthening all three.
I would add “world” to round out the big four elements of story design, as the world in which the story takes place is so vital to the other three. In the case of my current WIP, intuitively feeling my way through the theme wasn’t enough to design a strong character arc. I had to draw it out and the thematic square really helped.
📝 Getting Twisty
Since I’m working on a story that fits in the Mystery/Thriller genre, I’ve also been thinking a lot about twists. Especially since the initial editorial feedback I received on my latest two traditionally published novels, The Monsters We Defy and Daughter of the Merciful Deep, included advice to give them more twists and turns. The final versions both include way more surprises than early drafts did, so maybe that’s why I want to turn my attention toward mastering the twist.
“Designing Thriller and Mystery Twists That Work” by Samantha Skal offers excellent advice. My biggest takeaway was this:
Twists are the reveal of the villain’s truth. This truth feels “twisty”, because the reveal of the truth is unexpected to the protagonist.
Thinking about twists this way opened some mental doors for me and led me to create surprises in my current outline that directly relate to the main character’s assumptions or beliefs. Plus, I realized I’d spent so much time on the main character, I really needed to spend a significant amount with the lead antagonist in order to flesh things out more fully.
For those working in the mystery, thriller, or suspense genres, this post is highly recommended. And even if you’re not, all genres can benefit from a few unexpected surprises!
💡Imaginary Worldbuilding: Creating Fictional Worlds for Writers
“For years I thought I loathed worldbuilding. Then I took this course and realized that I was going about it the wrong way. No more wasting countless hours making up non story-relevant details just for them to collect dust in a Word document. Leslye will not cover every single possible detail you can cram into a your world, but she doesn’t promise to. Instead, she offers something much better: to help you lay the foundation of your world and story so that you can get writing faster.” — Erin Oliver
🚀 Quick Bites
This one page yearly calendar template can be helpful for planning. I use a similar one to create my book production schedule for the year. (h/t Jane Friedman)
The very bingeable and fascinating podcast “Things Fell Apart” by Jon Ronson and the BBC is a fabulous listen for anyone wanting to dive deeper into human motivations and the unforeseen ripple effects of our actions.
And I love the idea of this art installation “featuring a chair where you can relax and charge your phone. However, your phone will only charge when your eyes are closed.”
It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea. By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise.
— William Deresiewicz
✨Ink & Magic podcast: Episode 12
“Butter & Big Misunderstandings with Theodora Taylor”
This week special celebrity guest
joins us! She breaks down story butter, why readers are hungry for Universal FantasiesTM, and why Big Misunderstandings might just get a bad rap.🎙️ My Imaginary Friends podcast
“Crafting the Villain“
The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing, where I share insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week’s best thing.
Watch on YouTube | Listen to the podcast
Mentioned:
- Bookbub - ebook deals
- Scribecount - track book sales
- FaRoFeb - Fantasy Romance February
- Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell
- Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
- Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
- Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
- "Designing Thriller and Mystery Twists That Work" by Samantha Skal
- 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains by Sacha Black -
- Imaginary Worldbuilding course
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