Gold-standard writing advice from a new angle

[Mel L]

We've all been there. Super helpful!

The Best Writing Advice: Rescue Your Stalled Book with One Word

Writing advice from the creators of South Park and the Book of Mormon: ask yourself these questions to get your book unstuck

annerallen.com

 

[Pamela Jo]

This is one of those things I struggle to get my head around. "It's but, because, therefore" = good. "And then"= bad.
I know it makes sense to other people, but somehow it doesn't to me. I of course understand that the story must flow, intersect, merge. My mental image is a river. But testing to see if the story works with these words? Nope. My inner writer just cranes it's head and fixes me with the gaze of a pissed off cockatoo.

 

[Mel L]

This is one of those things I struggle to get my head around. "It's but, because, therefore" = good. "And then"= bad.
I know it makes sense to other people, but somehow it doesn't to me. I of course understand that the story must flow, intersect, merge. My mental image is a river. But testing to see if the story works with these words? Nope. My inner writer just cranes it's head and fixes me with the gaze of a pissed off cockatoo.

Well, you have to admire the sticky heading!
I think you can read the same advice dozens of times before something resonates. For some reason, the 'but' does with me. But hey, I'm a born contrarian!

 

[Pamela Jo]

Well, you have to admire the sticky heading!
I think you can read the same advice dozens of times before something resonates. For some reason, the 'but' does with me. But hey, I'm a born contrarian!

It's like some can do the Rubriks cube and others (me) just wander off and start making mud pies instead. I'm glad you get it. I'm still looking for the thing that will turn the lightbulb on for me.

 

[Jonny]

There is so much "rules driven" drivel masquerading as sound writing advice out there @Mel L that I mostly switch off.

But this is the simplest, most succinct and practical tip I have seen in a long time.

Fab. Thanks for sharing.

**Off now to make me that list**

 

[Hannah F]

Basically, they're saying everything in a novel must be progressed through causation. Chapter 2 happens because of chapter 1's events rather than independently. With the exception of chapter 2 being a different timeline/POV/seemingly unrelated event, the relevance of which will be revealed later; the reader will expect causation to happen/become clear at some point.

There are always exceptions, but the exceptions must lead to the cause-effect equation. If a chapter is merely an oxbow lake along a river, read it, love it then kill it.

 

[Jonny]

Oddly enough, @Hannah F my new List Doc is entitled Story Beats Cause and Effect.

So far I’m pleased to say there are no thens - but the incomplete nature of it right through to the story’s conclusion is another matter

But just working with it for an hour has allowed me to get some more plot points into shape and sequence.

I'm just waiting for my resolution from eBay to be delivered and I'm good to go.

 

[E G Logan]

There are always exceptions, but the exceptions must lead to the cause-effect equation. If a chapter is merely an oxbow lake along a river, read it, love it then kill it.

Absolutely. What a neat way of putting it.

 

[Rich.]

I'm just waiting for my resolution from eBay to be delivered and I'm good to go.

(Careful there, Jonny, those second-hand resolutions can be hit or miss. You might have to buy a couple to cobble together a good one.)

 

[Mel L]

Oddly enough, @Hannah F my new List Doc is entitled Story Beats Cause and Effect.

So far I’m pleased to say there are no thens - but the incomplete nature of it right through to the story’s conclusion is another matter

But just working with it for an hour has allowed me to get some more plot points into shape and sequence.

I'm just waiting for my resolution from eBay to be delivered and I'm good to go.

@Jonny, I am wondering how granular you got in your cause-and-effect beats list? Did you stick to the main story beats ie, Save The Cat, or did you include more detail? Looking for inspiration here as I can't find my list on eBay!

 

[Jonny]

Hi @Mel L

I'm using it to make a skeleton to finalise first draft full book plot after I had to make an about-turn last week, ditching the original middle and hence the end too.

My approach is not granular at all. I want to check there's a progression of cause and effect for each beat. Really brief, the absolute top line of what happens, as I think I read in the article not to get bogged down in great depth or detail.

So here's a typical transition extract. I have a few where the description might stray into a second line, but by no more than a few words.

6. SO.
Internal turmoil over his hasty action sees him devise what he believes is a workable alternative.
7. BUT.
Before he can implement it, dark forces discover what he has done and make a preemptive strike
8. Therefore
....
And so on and so on until I get to the end (not there yet btw. I was checking there were no instances of:

6. X happens
THEN
7. Y happens
THEN
8. Z happens

As they are more than likely going to be be a series of unconnected and independent events that will need cobbled together somehow in a way that propaply won't work. See my reference to an about-turn in first sentence above.

Does that make sense?

 

[Hannah F]

One of Brandon Sanderson's lectures said each chapter should end with yes (resolution), but (new obstacle) or no (failed resolution), and (another obstacle or extension to obstacle) until, of course you get to the end of the last chapter.

 

[Mel L]

Hi @Mel L

I'm using it to make a skeleton to finalise first draft full book plot after I had to make an about-turn last week, ditching the original middle and hence the end too.

My approach is not granular at all. I want to check there's a progression of cause and effect for each beat. Really brief, the absolute top line of what happens, as I think I read in the article not to get bogged down in great depth or detail.

So here's a typical transition extract. I have a few where the description might stray into a second line, but by no more than a few words.

6. SO.
Internal turmoil over his hasty action sees him devise what he believes is a workable alternative.
7. BUT.
Before he can implement it, dark forces discover what he has done and make a preemptive strike
8. Therefore
....
And so on and so on until I get to the end (not there yet btw. I was checking there were no instances of:

6. X happens
THEN
7. Y happens
THEN
8. Z happens

As they are more than likely going to be be a series of unconnected and independent events that will need cobbled together somehow in a way that propaply won't work. See my reference to an about-turn in first sentence above.

Does that make sense?

Absolutely! Thank you. BTW, hope that about turn doesn't literally set you on your ear!

 

[Jonny]

It was a situation where I had completed the first twelve chapters or there abouts and had the rest sort of in my head but only vaguely.

The problem was that in those first twelve, four of them featured characters who figured in my vague middle and ending. So of course they had to go.

In truth I had been blocked on it since before Christmas as I had pansted my way up until then. It was quite a wrench pulling it all (about 12k) but once I got over the hurt of it I immediately felt relieved and free to move on again, albeit with a new main strand (which I'm still having to figure out).

Thing is though, when I do then I can write the first draft using the beat sheet for each chapter reasonably quickly, then start pulling it into proper shape.

And as is often the way the 12k are saved and may reappear in something else.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Super helpful!

She's so, so right about that word "THEN"... it makes sense to me.

 

[KG Christopher]

I found the advice in Elizabeth Ryan's book - manuscript makeover to be invaluable... I try and produce plots / structure with double protagonists / sub plots...

I find that if I have a linear plot for a single protagonist....you have to get the structure spot on. If you have a dual plot structure...you have more room to develop independently...and time to re- join / merge the structure latter on...

Love south park

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Hold on, the Book of Mormon was not written by these guys. It's a foundational text for a Christian sect with millions of adherents. Am I missing something?

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Hold on, the Book of Mormon was not written by these guys. It's a foundational text for a Christian sect with millions of adherents. Am I missing something?

Yes. You’re missing the hit musical show, The Book of Mormon.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Yes. You’re missing the hit musical show, The Book of Mormon.

I read books. When I have read them all, I will try theater and movies. If I live that long. I really do not know how people live their lives, write, and still find time for everything else.

Thanks for clueing me in. Next, it will be The Upanishads, the Musical. Or Sylvia Plath Commits Suicide, the Musical.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

I read books. When I have read them all, I will try theater and movies. If I live that long. I really do not know how people live their lives, write, and still find time for everything else.

Thanks for clueing me in. Next, it will be The Upanishads, the Musical. Or Sylvia Plath Commits Suicide, the Musical.

Lol, I’d be quite interested in the Upanishads one.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Thanks for clueing me in. Next, it will be The Upanishads, the Musical. Or Sylvia Plath Commits Suicide, the Musical.

Completely off topic, but I once scribbled on my bedside notepad: Spiders, the Musical. I don't know why I wrote that in the middle of the night, but imagine the tap-dancing!