Inspirational Writing Quotes

From @savethecat - "The plot doesn't just move ahead, it spins and intensifies as it goes." 

What's your favorite writing quote?

10 Books to Improve Your #Writing Skills

Want to know how to write well?

Read.

A lot.

 

Read award-winning and best-selling works of fiction within your chosen genre.
 

And …

 

Read books on the craft of writing. Read them with a highlighter and pencil in hand. Mark up the pages of the book, flag key passages, and take notes on how to implement the ideas into your own writing. Study and practice and read some more. That’s the formula for writing well. ... At least I *think* it is. ... I'm still striving to improve my own writing skills on a daily basis. ;)
 

 

Here are ten of my favorite books on the craft of writing:

THE FIRE IN FICTION by Donald Maass

HOOKED by Les Edgerton

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by Strunk & White

SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS by Browne & King

SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder

THE STORY BOOK by David Baboulene

WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES by Deborah Halverson

WRITING IRRISISTIBLE KIDLIT by Mary Kole

HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER by James Frey

ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT by Stephen King

 

 

What’s your favorite book on the craft of writing?
 

S is for SAVE THE CAT

 

So … you want to be a writer? Where do you start? How do you get there? No worries. This month I’ll be sharing my A to Z list of writer’s resources: books, blogs, and beyond! Check back each day to find helpful resources for improving your writing and navigating your way through the publishing industry.


S is for SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder

Seriously, if you haven't read this book yet ... WHAT are you waiting for?

 

 

Have you already read SAVE THE CAT? If so, did you find it helpful?

A Killer Title

I have read (and own) quite a few books on the craft of writing, but very few tackle the topic of creating a great title.

SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder dedicates a page and a half to the topic, which is more than the other books. ;)

Snyder writes, "to come up with one that nails the concept, without being so on the nose that it's stupid, is an art unto itself" (page 9).

Right ... we know that ... but how do we come up with that great title that nails the concept?

I dunno.

Evidence: My debut novel was originally titled THE EDUCATION OF THIA. After several agents used the phrase "too didactic" in their rejection letters, I reconsidered the title and changed it to BUT HE LOVES ME. With that change alone (I left the content of the query letter the same) I received quite a few requests for the full manuscript. So was it a winning title? Not really. After signing with an awesome agent, we worked and worked and worked to come up with a better title. We decided on SAFE. A winner? Not sure. The editor who made an offer on the manuscript said we had to change the title. Okay. Back to the drawing board.

Snyder also writes, "Title and logline are, in fact, the one-two punch, and a good combo never fails to knock me out. Like the irony in a good logline, a great title must have irony and tell the tale. One of the best titles of recent memory, and one I still marvel at, is Legally Blonde. ... It says what it is! ... If it doesn't pass the Say What It Is Test, you don't have your title. And you don't have the one-two punch" (pages 9-10).

So here is the logline my agent used to sell my manuscript:
Margo Kelly’s debut SAFE is a modern take on “the call is coming from inside the house” old urban legend, in which a young girl falls in love with a guy online who comes for her.

And here's the new title my editor and I came up with:
WHO RU REALLY?

Does it pass the Say What It Is Test? Or is it so "on the nose that its stupid?"

Actually, don't answer the second question.

Naming a book is like naming a child. Inevitably someone is going to hate the name, and you can't possibly please everyone.

*sigh*

BUT the good news is, I have a KILLER TITLE for my next book. ;)

All is Lost

"The All is Lost Point ... is the place where mentors go to die, presumably so their students can discover "They had it in them all along." The mentor's death clears the way to prove that" - - Blake Snyder (SAVE THE CAT, p.86).

The Finale

From Blake Snyder's book, SAVE THE CAT, here's what he advises for the finale:

"This is where we wrap it up. It's where the lessons learned are applied. It's where the character tics are mastered. It's where A story and B story end in triumph for our hero. It's the turning over of the old world and a creation of a new world order -- all thanks to the hero, who leads the way based on what he experienced in the upside-down, antithetical world of Act Two."

"The finale entails the dispatching of all the bad guys, in ascending order. Lieutenants and henchman die first, then the boss. The chief source of the "the problem" -- a person or thing -- must be dispatched completely for the new world order to exist. ... the finale is where a new society is born. It's not enough for the hero to triumph, he must change the world. The finale is where it happens. and it must be done in an emotionally satisfying way" (page 90).

For more information about Blake Snyder's method:
http://www.blakesnyder.com/

IWSG: RIGHT Writing Process?!

Today is the day! If you haven't joined the group, check it out at: insecure-writers-support-group

Okay ... still thinking about Stephen King's book ON WRITING. And still getting back into the groove of writing a first draft. I've been revising two other manuscripts for SO LONG, I felt like I'd forgotten how to write a first draft!

I had this BIG plan of plotting out my story, because that's what great books on the craft of writing suggest as the RIGHT process for writing. But it seemed so overwhelming ... I had trouble starting.

Then I read King's book, and he suggests, "... put a group of characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free" (page 161).

That one line gave me the freedom to sit down and just start writing. YAY! But then I hit a road block ... I had questions about the characters ... questions about the path they were taking ... questions about who was the REAL bad guy going to be ... questions about motivations and solutions ... ACK!

So I grabbed Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT! book and roughed out a sketch of my story using his "Beat Sheet."

Fresh breath! Now I have a rough idea of how the who are going to do the what and the why and when in my story. It's not plotted out precisely, but I now I know which general route I'm taking to reach my destination. A little bit of Snyder's process plus a little bit of King's process plus a WHOLE lotta my process = pure writing bliss.

And I think the most important writing tip from King's book is:

"The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better" (page 274).

Quote for Inspiration

"... create heroes who: Offer the most conflict in that situation, have the longest way to go emotionally, and are the most demographically pleasing." -- Blake Snyder (SAVE THE CAT)


What do you think about that?

Quotes

"It is not enough for the hero to triumph, he must change the world." -- Blake Snyder, SAVE THE CAT

"Cracking the door open for teenage drama doesn't mean throwing that door wide for sterotypical characters or hokey dialogue that over-emotes to make up for a flat plot." -- Deborah Halverson, WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES

Do you have a writing quote to share?

Logline

Do you write a "logline" before or after you've written your manuscript? Hmm.

According to Blake Snyder, "A logline is the one--or two-- sentence description of your movie that tells us what it is. It must contain a type of hero (that means a type of person plus an adjective that describes him), the antagonist (ditto), and the hero's primal goal. It must have irony, and it must bloom in our brains with potential" (SAVE THE CAT, p.188).

A logline is also known as an elevator-pitch or a hook.

And it is essential because it's the quick one-two punch that excites people about reading your story. And if you can't pack your story into a tasty-bite-sized-morsel, that could mean there are inherent problems with your story.

Now, granted, I wrote my first manuscript with no logline. I just wrote. I didn't know much about the craft or the industry ... I just wrote. And then when I *thought* I was finished with the ms, I started researching how to get an agent and how to write a great query letter. Oops. That became a huge problem for me, because my story was "too big" to be bottled up so tightly. That wasn't MY fault. ... right? ... I figured the problem was with the system.

But then before proceeding with my second ms, I decided to write the query letter FIRST, just as an exercise ... to see if it was helpful or even possible. Hmm.

That's when I realized how important a BASIC storyline is to the success of the process.

Let's look at one of Snyder's loglines:
"A hen-pecked husband finally gets the house to himself one weekend and loses it in a poker game to an unscrupulous gambler" (SAVE THE CAT, p. 49).

HERO: Hen-pecked husband
ANTAGONIST: Unscrupulous gambler
PRIMAL GOAL: Get the house back which will protect his physical survival needs of warmth, sleep, and sex
IRONY: Finally gets the house and loses it
BLOOMS WITH POTENTIAL: Absolutely

I challenge you to write a logline right now - off the top of your head - simply use the formula:

A (adjective) (noun) finally gets the (noun) (phrase) and (verb) (phrase) to (adjective) (noun).

And remember to hint at the primal goal and include irony.

The Beginning and The End

Source: http://www.forging-ahead.co.uk/bookends.htm

Have you ever evaluated how the beginning and ending of your manuscript are related? What about the beginning and ending of each chapter? Each scene?

Other than the obvious facts that these are related by plot and characters, consider the following comments from successful people in the industry:

"The opening image is also an opportunity to give us the starting point of the hero. It gives us a moment to see a "before" snapshot ... there will also be an "after" snapshot to show how things have changed. ... The opening and final images should be opposites ... showing a change so dramatic it documents the emotional upheaval ..." (Blake Snyder, SAVE THE CAT, pp. 72-73).

And, Donald Maass spends pages discussing the topic as well. "Does it matter what is the last line of your scene, or the first? Apparently, many authors do not think it does. ... That's a shame. Like a handshake, an opening and closing line can create impressions and expectations. They can set a tone. They can signal where we're going, or what we've done, or serve any number of other useful story purposes. ... Creating them deliberately, is a discipline worth developing. ... Suppose you did a first line / last line draft, doing nothing but honing the bookends of every scene in your manuscript. Would those little changes give your story a bigger and more effective shape?" (Donald Maass, THE FIRE IN FICTION, pp. 69-73).

What do you think?

Source: http://www.forging-ahead.co.uk/bookends.htm

Should every scene, chapter, and story have their "bookends" related in some fashion?