From the archives

cj Sez: “As I have mentioned before—” That’s my sneaky way to introduce a subject I’ve written about before: the story structure authors need to follow to turn their ideas into intriguing novels. 

  

  Today seemed like a good time to resurrect that post since all you NaNoWriMo writers are racing to the end zone and will soon be gearing up for the editing on that raw, 50K-word manuscript. (Hip, Hip, Hurray for thirty days of writing discipline, 50K or no 50K.)

  Eons ago, when I was still working full time, I attended a screenwriting seminar led by author, lecturer, and story consultant Robert McKee. 

  The experience was invaluable in showing me how to create scenes that create a story. 

  Now I envision all of my story ideas as a play or movie, each chapter (act) having a beginning, middle, and an end that, hopefully, makes the reader want to turn the page. And that pattern doesn’t just apply to chapters. Ideally, it applies to scenes as well.

  Then in 2014, I happened across a post titled “Adapting screenplay to novels,” by author James Preston.

  Mr. Preston’s post explained how he reverse-engineered a screenplay into a story. The following is an excerpt from Mr. Preston's post. 

Kurt Vonnegut Graphic

     

“Remember, a story is about somebody who wants something. Something stops them from getting it. They try to get it and either succeed or fail. 

 This is called the Plot Point. It changes the  story, turns it into something unexpected, usually by changing the heroine’s goals.

 

  Since I am talking about adapting this structure to novel writing, I will use page numbers to show locations in the manuscript. Assume a 200-page manuscript.  We’ll see how it works as minutes.

  Let’s talk about the bones, the skeleton that is one way of building your story.

1. Hook. Something interesting happens that grabs the reader’s attention. This is the very beginning of the story and it is important!

2. Twist.The story goes off in a different direction. It’s not what you thought it would be. This can come any time before . . .

3. Plot Point One. About 20% in. For our mythical 200-page books, this is around page 40.

4. Midpoint. A watershed moment. You guessed it. Page 100.

5. Plot Point Two. Everything the heroine did is wrong. Page 160.

6. Climax. The heroine solves the problem, or doesn’t. This is less precise. Say around page 180.

7. Denouement. Loose ends are tied up. Everybody who wasn’t killed and eaten goes home.”

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  cj Sez: I personally liken all of the above to a stairway the character travels to get from the beginning to the end.

  How would my work-in-progress stack up against Mr. Preston’s skeleton, you ask? It needs editing, a lot of editing.

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Books do make great gifts . . . especially multi-story anthologies.

BUY NOW 

  Ebooks available for 99 cents at the time of this post

   Each of these anthologies is a two-fer—you get wonderful stories to read and part of the proceeds will go to benefit a worthwhile charity. (Note: I have a short story in each anthology.)

§§

  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. 

cj

  No inflation here: THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, my fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are now low-, low-priced at $2.99.

  P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed paperback copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

Happy reading!

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➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

  

For writers and readers

cj Sez: Writers live and writhe on reviews. We want them, solicit them, need them, and thank you for giving them.

  But this note from one of my author friends puts them into perspective:

“You have officially arrived when someone makes a Goodreads account JUST to one-star your book that isn't even out yet. Ha! Do watch for the trolls, ladies. They are everywhere.”

  The moral is: Take your reviews with a grain of salt

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Why it’s good to read anthologies

   Question: When you’re reading a story that drags you deep into the plot, do you wonder how the author could have imagined all those twists and turns? I do because I know personally that writing a coherent story is a difficult and exacting task, and I get a ton of inspiration by reading. In fact, a writer has to be a reader, especially in the genre they write.

  

  Because I also like to read the works of different authors in multiple genres, I find reading anthologies filled with short stories appealing for many reasons, but the top three are:

1) they don’t require a singular lengthy commitment;

2) they provide a lot of variety; and

3) they often introduce me to a new favorite author.

  I say three cheers for anthologies and their short stories! (Try it, you’ll like it.)

§§ 

  Participating in NaNoWriMo?

  I’m rooting for you …

  This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard. — Neil Gaiman

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My non-publishing victory . . .

  Tis the giving season, and I joined a group of police officers and Mobile Citizens Police Academy Alumni on Saturday morning to help decorate a Giving Tree in front of the Mobile Police Department headquarters. 

  And as the picture can attest, it was a cold morning, and I'm wearing a down coat over a wool shirt. 

  It’s the second annual event hosted by the MPD Victim Services unit to acknowledge victims of crime and families served by the Mobile Police Department. 

  Of course, the absolute prettiest ornaments were the ones hand decorated by school children.

  The Giving Tree lighting ceremony takes place Monday, November 21.

§§

Speaking of anthologies . . . but I repeat myself:

BUY NOW 

Ebooks are available for 99 cents at the time of this post.

   Books are the kind of gifts that keep on giving, don’t you know, and each of these anthologies is a two-fer—you get wonderful stories to read and part of the proceeds will go to benefit a worthwhile charity. (Note: I have a short story in each anthology.)

§§

  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. 

  Sending my warmest and best wishes for your Happy Thanksgiving celebrations. 

cj

  No inflation here: THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, my fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are now low-, low-priced at $2.99.

P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed paperback copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

Happy reading!

➜ Follow me on . . .           

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6 

 cj Sez:  For all you word warriors: You still have almost half a month to reach your NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words on or before November 30 . . . Keep up the good work…you got this!

§§

  November 30? Now that I think about it, since I get paid monthly, that means I have only one more payday before Christmas. Aarrgh

§§

cj’s helpful hints for Holiday gifts that keep on giving …

Pix credit: Carrie Dalby

   Each of the anthologies pictured is a two-fer—you get wonderful stories to read and part of the proceeds will go to benefit a worthwhile charity.

  

  The overall anthology theme might be Christmas, but you’ll find stories with contemporary, historical, and paranormal plot lines. Ergo, the stories are enjoyable reads, all year round.  (Note: I have a short story in each anthology.)

  

FINALLY HOME brings you eight Christmas stories about our four-legged friends in need of rescue and the special people who provide loving homes. From funny to sad to romantic, there’s something in this anthology to tug at everyone’s heart strings. (My short is “Puppy Love”)

  

  

  

HOMETOWN HEROES brings you five Christmas romances that celebrate the everyday heroes in our hometowns. (My short is “Hobbes House Noel.”)

   

 

  

HOMEROOM HEROES brings you seven Christmas romances celebrating our teachers and the compassion and dedication they bring to their classrooms every day. (My short is “The Substitute.”)

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Just a thought: 

   Stephen King has sold more than 350 million books, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, television series, and comic books. And he has strategies for creating a story that people love to read. One such strategy in his writing is to tell the truth.

  “Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want. Anything at all... as long as you tell the truth... Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex, and work...What you know makes you unique in some other way. Be brave.”

§§

  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for your health and safety.

cj

  No inflation here: THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, my fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are now low-, low-priced at $2.99.

P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed paperback copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

Happy reading!

➜ Follow me on . . .           

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

Did you remember?

cj Sez:  Daylight Saving Time ended this morning at 2 a.m. local time. Did you remember to turn back your clock one hour? I did, but I didn't get any extra sleep.

  Animals, specifically my cats, don’t deign to observe hoo-mom time. Their internal clock said it was time for me to get up and feed them, and they were not shy about walking across my body and face to remind me. About the time we all get back on the same schedule, the time will change again because standard time returns on Sunday, March 12, 2023. I wish “those” people would make up our minds. All that ending of daylight saving time really means is that the sun will rise earlier in the morning and the evenings will get darker sooner.

§§ 

Public Service Announcements

  November 11 . . . one hundred years ago, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the “war to end all wars” officially came to an end.

  This coming Friday is Veterans Day, also called Poppy Day, the day set aside to honor the sacrifices of all who fought in wars throughout the years. 

  From the American Legion  https://spanberry.com/news/detail/32/national-poppy-day-honors-veterans-sacrifice-for-freedom   

  “Even in the darkest of times, flowers still find their way to the surface to bloom. Poppy seeds can lay fallow for years, yet bloom brilliantly when the soil is disturbed or when the soil is freshly dug. After the battles were fought in World War I, the blood red poppy flourished in France and Belgium when battlefields became burial grounds. The red flowers suddenly bloomed among the newly dug gravesites of fallen service members, turning the new graveyards into fields of red.

  Surviving soldiers came to see the poppy as more than a flower—–it became a symbol of their sacrifice; a tribute to the price of freedom. Although all WWI veterans have since passed, 100 years later, the poppy has become a universal display of the sacrifices made by Americans and allied service members around the world.”

For more info, visit www.ALAforveterans.org

///

cj Sez: I thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for my soul, and I thank the thousands and thousands of service people and their families for their sacrifices which have ensured the singularly rare freedoms that Americans enjoy. 

§§

This week Tuesday is Midterm Election Day.

Please take the time to exercise your right and duty to vote. (Psst: Voting is one of the ways to help safeguard the freedoms that all those thousands of service people fought for: "All gave some; some gave all.")

cj

No inflation here: 

THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, my fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are now low-, low-priced at $2.99.

P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed paperback copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

Happy reading! 

➜ Follow me on . . .           

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6