A lot of story analysis and critique starts by focusing on macro-level aspects of storytelling: characterization, narrative, worldbuilding, plot, and the ways one develops or reveals these things over the course of a novel. Ultimately, though, how one presents characterization, growth, personality, action, worldbuilding, plot, and everything
Read more →Writing a multiple viewpoint story, novel, or series means that you are will be juggling many different viewpoint characters, each with their own story as well as their contributions to the main plotline. Choosing those characters takes a bit of care and attention, especially for writers who
Read more →Multiple viewpoint stories, especially the sort that are occasionally termed “bestseller style,” have become increasingly popular over the past couple of decades – popular with would-be writers, at least. Some people hear the saying that “viewpoint solves everything” and assume that it means all they have to
Read more →For a lot of stories, the choice of viewpoint character seems obvious, either because the writer starts with a character and develops the plot later, or because they start with a plotline in which one particular character is at the center of the action. I said “seems
Read more →It is time for another Open Mic! Announce successes, complain about things that aren’t going right, wonder about things that don’t make sense…whatever you want to talk about, this is your chance.
Read more →I’ve talked a bit about the difference between plot and structure, and some of the ways structure is currently being misused (in my opinion). But structure is still a massively useful concept, and that usefulness is the reason behind the huge focus so many how-to-write books and
Read more →Almost all of the references I can find on structure start by talking about the order things happen in. They basically approach structure as playing with chronology through flashbacks and other not-strictly-linear storytelling techniques. Once they’ve said that, 98% immediately revert to talking about one of two
Read more →Structure and plot are getting confused with each other more and more lately. It isn’t surprising. As I’ve pointed out before, writing terminology has never been truly standardized. Many terms, like “viewpoint” get used for more than one thing, and “plot” and “structure” are frequently treated as
Read more →An idiot plot was first defined by James Blish as “a plot that only hangs together because all of the main characters act like idiots.” I’d add “…when they’re not supposed to be idiots,” because there are plenty of stories about characters who are supposed to be
Read more →Who’s telling the story? Unless a story is in first-person, most people will answer “the writer;” if the story is first-person, some of them will say “the viewpoint character.” And they’re not exactly wrong … but they’re not exactly right, either. In both cases, the writer is
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