Tag: authors plotting

The Non-Linear Novel-Writing Approach

an author's busy brain courtesy of pixabay.comWriting is hard enough, and even harder when you’re really busy. How many times have you been doing something and a great scene pops into your head? It may have to deal with your current WIP (or sometimes even a sequel you haven’t thought about writing), or it may be a scene far toward the end of the book. Writers joke about the worst places inspiration can hit: the car, the shower, in a restaurant, out shopping, or the most common: in bed. If you’re like me, your characters are with you all the time — and sometimes it’s annoying. They sneak into your thoughts and create scenes that are amazing when you least expect it. Yeah, thanks, guys!

These fleeting scenes are the gold in your writing. They are raw, wild, and spontaneous. So what do you do about them? Continue reading “The Non-Linear Novel-Writing Approach”

Storyboarding for Novelists

save the cat by blake snyderStoryboarding is a plotting technique used by screenwriters, but it’s also popular with some novelists. I like it since I’m a planner, not a pantser. Storyboarding is not a rigid plotting device. The whole point of the board is that it’s flexible. The greatest advantage is seeing exactly how your novel is “built,” just as an architect refers to a blueprint.

Now, I realize that some purists eschew structuring their work according to a storyboard. That is fine for those who wish to write Litrachure. But as popular Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins once said, “I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of a work of fiction should be to tell a story.” I feel the same way, and I don’t think storyboarding need adversely affect good writing. Continue reading “Storyboarding for Novelists”

A Question of Balance

balancing on a tightropeI’m deathly afraid of heights. Going out on the observation platform on the Space Needle in Seattle, I have to plaster myself to the back wall of the central structure and dig my fingernails into the wall when the wind blows. At the Grand Canyon, I have to stay at least six feet back from the low walls that line the trails; none of this blithe waltzing over to the edge and looking down for me.

So how did I end up on a tightrope?

I’ve discovered that writing is very much like walking a tightrope, placing the feet carefully on the rope itself, hefting a balance beam and making very small corrections to the left or right as necessary. But what, exactly, are we balancing? Continue reading “A Question of Balance”

THREE WOMEN; ONE HIDEOUT

Yvonne Hertzberger, author

What do you get when you put three women who have never met, from three different countries (Canada, England and the Netherlands) together in a room for an afternoon? And what if all three belong to the same group, under the iron control of the same evil mastermind? Give up? Read and learn. Heh heh.

Yesterday we held the first meeting of the Ontario Chapter of Indies Unlimited, henceforth to be named the Secret Sisters Society. Membership will be limited to female writers who need to bond together to withstand the brainwashing and manipulation of our evil mastermind. Psst, ladies, keep this under your hats, OK? If the guys hear about it they will want in – and there goes the neighbourhood. Continue reading “THREE WOMEN; ONE HIDEOUT”