by Joslyn Chase |
Why are games of Hide and Seek or Tag so appealing? I think it’s because they play with our emotions and instincts as hunters and hunted. They stir the elemental embers of our flight response. As an adult, you may not indulge in actual games of tag, but I’ll bet you still love to participate by proxy in the pages of a thrilling book or on the screen.
As a writer, learning to use a chase story, also known as the pursuit plot, will strengthen and diversify your toolbox and may help you create an awesome book.
by Joslyn Chase |
Have you ever felt cheated when reading a book? Like the author held back information that would have enhanced your reading experience? Or neglected to include all the relevant details that would have allowed you to solve the mystery? Did the sequence of events in the story feel…off?
Think about this:
What if J.K. Rowling neglected to have Hagrid tell Harry about his parents’ deaths until the end of The Sorcerer’s Stone?
What if the writers of Die Hard had let Hans Gruber discover Holly was John McClane’s wife right up front?
What if Suzanne Collins had forgotten to alert readers to a rule change allowing tributes from the same district to win as a team in The Hunger Games?
Leaving out these vital pieces of information—or putting them in the wrong place—would have robbed these stories of a full measure of suspense. This would have dulled the impact of their final scenes.
As a writer, you never want readers to feel cheated or disappointed by your book. But how can you make sure you include all the relevant pieces of the puzzle, in the right order, to sustain suspense and satisfy your reader?
by Joe Bunting |
How do you write a best-selling novel or an award-winning screenplay? You might say, great writing or unique characters or thrilling conflict. But so much of writing a great story is knowing and mastering the type of story you’re trying to tell.
What are the types of stories? And how do you use them to tell a great story?
In this article, we’re going to cover the nine types of stories, share which tend to become best-sellers, and share the hidden values that help you master each type.
But first, what do I mean by “types of stories”?
by Liz Bureman and Sue Weems |
Most full length books or films will have multiple storylines, a primary plot and at least one secondary plot that impacts the outcome of the story. But keeping all those storylines straight can be a challenge. What are multiple storylines and how can you manage them to tell a terrific story?
by Joe Bunting |
“In fiction, we can help our readers understand our characters’ motivations with clarity… people read fiction—to come to some understanding of why other people act the way they do.”
The question is, do you understand why your characters do the things they do? And are you conveying that understanding to the reader in an interesting way?
by Joslyn Chase |
Perhaps you’ve heard the old publishing proverb: The first page sells the book; the last page sells the next book. I’m convinced there’s a mammoth grain of truth in that. The beginning and the end of any story are critical elements that you really want to nail.
Today, we’re going to focus on how to start a story—in other words, how you can craft a spectacular beginning that will hold readers spellbound and get them to turn that first all-important page.
