Elements of Fiction
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What the Heck is a Character Arc?
One of the fundamental things that you should understand to help you write a great story is the character arc. The term character arc embodies all of the internal changes that the character goes through as a result of the story’s actions. Many novice writers and even published genre novelists leave this out, but I believe that it is crucial and helps to take your story to the next level. Do I Really Need a Character Arc? Although it is quite possible to write a story without a character arc, I would advise against it. The character arc is one of those things that satisfy the reader on a deeper…
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A Plot is a Plot is a Plot
Fail to plot, plot to fail. If structure is the thing that gives substance to your story, then plot is structure’s show-off fraternal twin. The two are tied together (conjoined twins, maybe?). Plot consists of all of the happenings in your story; the things that take your inciting incident all the way to your resolution. The defining factor of what is plot and what is filler is cause and effect. Plot is Propelled by Cause and Effect Each scene should have a cause, and each scene should have an effect. This is what propels your story forward. If you have a scene that has no story cause and has no…
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Scenes, Scenes, Wonderful Scenes!
The scene is the building block of fiction. Once upon a time, a novel might contain a lengthy description of a field, several flashbacks, and lots and lots of telling. Those days are gone. We’ve become a cinematic society. Scenes speak to us. Pretty words are all well and good, and I do enjoy them myself, but not when they put the story on hold. Not when they bore me. Scenes move the story forward, keep your reader turning the pages, keep them on the edge of their…well, you get it. As Ansen Dibell puts it in her wonderful craft book, Plot: “Creating scenes means finding ways for your story…
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A Gentle Introduction to Story Structure
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A Gentle Introduction to Story Structure
Structure is foundational to telling a good story. Although the two elements do go hand in hand, plot is not the same as structure. You can think of it like the layers of a quilt. You’ve got the colorful outside fabrics and the patterns that make people say ‘that’s a beautiful quilt. ’ That would be the plot. Then, you have the fluffy white batting that fills the quilt. This is stuff that nobody sees in the final quilt and that only fellow-quiltmakers probably ever think about, but if you didn’t have that batting, your quilt would not be functional. It would only be two floppy pieces of fabric attached…
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Scenes, Scenes, Wonderful Scenes!
