Having survived my first round of feedback on my writing, I of course immediately re-read everything I had submitted thus far and reworked it so that she had new things to comment on.
No, I didn’t do that. Instead I procrastinated (aka avoided my book) and wrote part 2 of one of my secondary character’s backstory, which will publish on this blog on Thanksgiving day as a way to give you a break from the intense family time that day typically holds in the US.
I did write down a task list of all that I need to rewrite, explain, clarify and address in that chapter (there was a lot of things I needed to change. Sigh.) But this post isn’t about that. I could go on and on about that, so feel free to tell me that that type of content is interesting to you. But I’m guessing based on my sad site stats that my writing pieces are more interesting to you than my writing tips, my writing journey or really anything else.
That’s okay. I’ve got more in mind for Tristana’s backstory, maybe even have it be her own novella that gets posted somewhere, so I’ll keep dropping some of that content here over the next few months.
So this post isn’t about my feedback or Tristana’s story. Instead, I wanted to write about an awesome book my development editor recommended to me that she also uses to review fiction novels – and seriously, how could I not have heard about this book?! The book is:
I purchased it last Thursday and have read it cover to cover. I’ve also done the one thing I hate to do to actual physical books – highlighted key passages and tabbed important pages (well, important to me).
What’s so great about it? It breaks the novel down into 15 beats, or key plot points you need to hit in order to write a good story. Those 15 beats are then broken down into the standard 3 story act makeup of any good book and the plot basically writes itself.
Well, not really. You still have to do the work. Or rather I still have to do the work. I have already added a few scenes to fill in some of the beats my original plot outline was missing, but I just haven’t fleshed them out enough to call it complete.
I love this book, I love the structure and I love the way it is presented. For a first time writer, it is a gold mine, a treasure trove, the holy grail of how to create a plot outline and what it needs to include. Or at least it is for me, a pantser not a plotter (I write by the seat of my pants, in case you were wondering what that means.)
You may not like it. You may hate it, you may be a plotter and have every detail already worked out. If you do, great, as you were.
But if you are struggling with the messy middle or with how to show your character’s story arc in scenes, then this book may be for you. Give it a shot – at least see if it works for you. Because I bet it will. I bet you’ll get something amazing out of it, even if it’s an answer to a question about your protagonist.
I know I have. And that’s good enough for me.
(PS. I’m not paid to promote this product nor was this post sponsored by it. And I’m not a paid actor. I’m just a writer who found a great tool who wants to share it with my 8 followers.)