Write Compelling Plots E-Book

Amanda Apthorpe

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

We are enthralled by stories – tales told around the campfire, acted on stage, written down, filmed, painted, danced and sung. Why? Because we want to be entertained, to be inspired, to escape, to enter virtual worlds, to understand and to relate to others like and unlike ourselves.

It’s said that there are only seven storylines, but those seven have generated an extraordinary number of tales because their creators have told them from their own perspectives, their own point of difference.

The fourth book in Amanda Apthorpe's Write This Way series, 'Write Compelling Plots’, identifies the difference between plot and story, guides external and internal structural organisation and explains the significance of the narrative arc. You will discover how your central character’s desire, their limitations and their fear entwine to create the conflict that will drive your story. Drawing on the content within these pages, and your own point of difference, you too can create compelling plots.

In addition, this book explores the elements of setting and description. Part 3: Editing Toolbox identifies and corrects common editing errors in creative writing.

Leseprobe

WRITE COMPELLING PLOTS

WRITE THIS WAY BOOK 4

AMANDA APTHORPE

CONTENTS

Introduction

I. Plot And Story

II. Description

III. Editing Toolbox

Dear Writer

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2022 Amanda Apthorpe

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Cover art by CoverMint

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

All internal images: Bing Creative Commons Archive

INTRODUCTION

Dear Writer

Children are great inventors of stories – all that wonderful free-wheeling, imagination and adventure.

Our family home was located on a very busy road, so my adventures were confined to the mind and were seldom acted out physically. Compare that to my partner who, between you and me, had perhaps too much physical freedom as a child to act out his imaginings, sometimes landing him in hospital.

On hearing his tales of adventures, I envied that freedom, but I came to appreciate that the life behind my young forehead was vivid and marvellous. I went through a stage when I wanted to be a ‘tomboy’ (I blame George in the Famous Five series), but the best I could do was to climb out of my bedroom window at ground level and into the backyard. Once there, I’d enact some type of tomboyish behaviour, climb back in through the window. Adventure done.

Later, I became obsessed with horses and imagined myself entering gymkhanas (usually held in the US or UK even though I live in Melbourne, Australia. Again, I blame the books I was reading!). My mother held a great fear of horses, which transferred itself to me, and so my contact with a real horse was very, very limited. When the central character in my favourite book fell from a horse and broke her arm, I went out in sympathy. I hid a makeshift bandage and sling in my school bag and slipped them on as I approached school. My story came undone when a family friend asked me what I had done. Knowing that our families were very likely to socialise at the weekend, I unravelled the sling and bandage and pointed to a freckle the size of a pin prick. As she contorted with laughter, I decided that I needed to keep my fertile imaginings to myself. That was, until much later, I began to write them down, to form worlds and people and scenarios. I could live in the world of my stories after all.

Can you relate to any of this? I suspect that, if you’re drawn to writing, you have a vivid imagination.

We are enthralled by stories – the real and the fictional – tales told around campfires, acted on stage, written down, filmed, painted, danced and sung. Why? Because we want to be entertained, to be inspired, to escape, to enter virtual worlds, to understand and to relate to others like and unlike ourselves.

It’s said that there are only seven storylines. While that might be true, those seven have generated an incredible number of readable, viewable, listenable, playable stories because – and this is the significant point that I want you to remember – the creators have told them from their own perspectives, their own point of difference.

If you have read or listened to ‘Vol 2: Finding Your Writer’s Voice’, you’ll be familiar with the following exercise. In that volume, the intention is to identify what has contributed, and is still contributing, to your perspective or ‘take’ on life and thus to understand how this has shaped your very individual writing voice. In this volume, you’re going to mine that gold to construct, shape and enrich the showing and telling of your story.

I’ve provided an abbreviated version of that exercise here that asks questions for you to ponder. Take your time, but if any of the questions prompt unsettling or upsetting thoughts, move on gently.

WRITING EXERCISE 1

Pause, Think and Write after each of the questions.

1. Are you literary, conversational, or colloquial in the way you write?

Literary writing is precise and focuses on details. While it is a wonderful form of writing, I suggest that you don’t force this style if you’re not comfortable with it as it can lose a lot of its energy. If it’s not how you think and write, the reader will pick up on that.

Conversational, or perhaps even colloquial, is your most ‘natural’ way of talking. Think of how you might tell a story to a friend. Because it is your most natural voice, you would relate a story with energy and ease, but there is often assumed knowledge between you and the listener. The problem with writing in this voice can be that the assumed knowledge is lost in translation, and you don’t have the benefit of your facial expressions and gesticulations to convey some of the messages to the reader. Keep this in mind if you write in this voice.

What’s your most natural way of writing?

2. Are you well read, or not well read?

It’s important that you answer this honestly. There’s no right or wrong answer; no answer better than another. In ‘Volume 2: Finding Your Writer’s Voice’, I relate the story of how the supervisor for my PhD, Professor Peter Steele SJ, endorsed my own experience. When I confessed that I had not read the weighty tomes of literature that he often referred to because of the interruption to my own education, his response was a very gentle, ‘And in that, Amanda, you are lucky.’ To this day, I am still grateful to that simple comment that reassured me that my own path was significant in developing my writing voice.

3. How have the following shaped your view of life? Take your time here.

Your upbringing (parents/guardians/siblings/only child)Your education – good, bad or indifferentWhat you’ve read

How has reading shaped your life? Can you remember a particular book that got you through a bad time? Or changed/influenced your view of life? Or set you on the writing path?

A mentor in your life

Has there been someone you have admired who has guided you in some way? If so, what have you taken from this relationship?

4. Here’s a big one:

Your life experience - good and bad

Take care here. If you’d rather not revisit bad experiences, please don’t; it’s your call. But if comfort can be had, know that they contribute to your point of difference, and that’s what we’re looking for.

Are there other factors that have contributed to your perspective?

Consider your responses to these and what have shaped you. Take a moment to read and think about your responses.

In my writing classes, and in these volumes of the Write This Way series, I introduce ‘spontaneous’ writing exercises with just a few words, the idea being that students/readers/listeners continue the words in any way they like for ten minutes. Although I haven’t read or heard all of the responses to these exercises, I know that no two responses will be the same, despite the common introductory words.

What would your response to the lead-in words be? Try it now. Continue the following words for 5 minutes in any way you like:

‘Shards of glass…’

Pause, Think and Write (5 minutes)

Remember, that what makes you – you, is significant for the way that you write. Hold on to this as we move forward.

Ready? Let’s go!