mbarker: (ISeeYou2)
[personal profile] mbarker
 Original Posting 11/02/2019

Now, I know, you are going for 50,000 words, not a mere short story. But... you might find this useful for doing short side trips, or just for a twist? Anyway...It’s available several places. One ishttps://mgherron.com/2015/01/lester-dents-pulp-paper-master-fiction-plot-formula/You might also like this summary (several parts!)https://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/11/lester-dents-short-story-master-formula.htmlLet’s look at what Lester recommends...Start out by brainstorming one or more of these1 A different murder method for the villain to use2 Something different for the villain to be seeking3 A different locale (aka setting!)4 A lurking menace to threaten the heroNext, divvy up your 6000 word story into four 1500 word chunks. This is where you may need to do some variation, since you are shooting for 50,000 total, but... take a look at his four parts. Do you want to just multiply everything by ten, and end up with 60,000 words? Or maybe do multiple 6000 word chunks and stitch them together later? Up to you...First 1500 words.Start, in the first line or as near as possible, to introduce the hero and a fistful of trouble. Give a hint of mystery, menace, a problem to be solved... something the hero must cope with.Next, the hero tries!And as soon as possible, introduce all the characters. Bring them in action.Fourth, the hero’s efforts cause a physical conflict near the end of the first 1500 words.Finally, there is a surprise twist in the plot.This section should have suspense, a menace to the hero, and everything should happen logically.Second 1500 wordsFirst, more trouble for the hero!Which means, second, the hero struggles more.Third, this causes another physical conflict!And, to finish it off, add in another surprising plot twist.Keep the suspense, the menace, and the trouble for the hero coming! Make sure it is logical, too.Third 1500 wordsStart with more trouble!Fighting all this, the hero starts to get ahead, and corners the villain into...A physical conflict!But, sure enough, another plot twist hits, and usually the hero is now in real trouble!Guess what! Suspense, menace, the hero is getting in deeper and deeper, and it all happened logically. Right!Fourth 1500 words?Start with more trouble.The hero is almost buried in trouble, right?But... the hero gets out, through his own efforts, skills, training, ideas...And in the final conflict, the mysteries are cleared up.And there’s one more surprise waiting for us.Plus a punch line to end it all.There it is. 6000 words? Or maybe a framework for a piece of your runaway masterpiece? One square of your quilt?Anyway, keep writing!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting Dec. 31, 2015

Well, maybe not quite that fast. But... Over here

http://madgeniusclub.com/2015/12/30/thrill-me/

Sarah Hoyt talks about what the key parts of a thriller are. So fasten your seatbelt and keep your head and arms inside the car at all times, here we go!

First off, Sarah tosses off a definition of a thriller fairly lightly. Simple, eh? A book where good and evil race before something horrible can happen. So we have the good guys (aka the guys in white hats?) and the bad guys (black hats, anyone?) racing to prevent or cause something horrible. That makes sense, right?

Now, Sarah does point out that the horrible thing may range from losing a cookie (children's book? Hey, losing a cookie is a horrible thing to have happen at any age!) up to blowing up the planet (or for those of you who remember E. E. Smith, we can toss in blowing up the sun, blowing up the Galaxy, or perhaps even blowing up the universe -- world-shattering booms!). But it needs to be something really horrible, okay?

The place to start your thriller? With the evil protagonist, and the horrible things that he or she can and will cause. Start with something that establishes just how bad they are, and how horrible the horrible thing is.

An optional tweak is whether you hide the identity of our bad boy, or reveal it up front. For mystery, keep them in the shadows. For a bit more horror, let us see that they are the boy next door.

Next up, build urgency by showing us both the bad boys busily preparing to pull the pin on their boom and the good guy riding to the rescue, intent on stopping them. Alternating scenes, letters back and forth, perhaps a Skype interview? You figure out how to do this, but make us feel that urgency building.

Yes, this is a ticking clock, of some variety. In a thriller, they tend to be explicit and very present, ticking away with the numbers dwindling...

To the climax!

Let the villain build in horror, stepping closer to the final horrible event that we have been afraid of from the start. And keep the hero struggling to catch up, running, running...

Until the final fight. The thriller needs that final confrontation, villain against hero, right on the edge of the final disaster. This is where the hero pays for victory, in pain, loss, or whatever.

Sarah recommends a Writer's Digest book if you want to know more about thrillers.

I have to admit, I think this is one genre where reading helps quite a bit. Reading thrillers, that is, not advice. Then step back and think about just how that thriller kept you turning the pages, racing along with the good guy until...

Exercise? Well, one simple one is to take a thriller that you like and simply go through it, identifying the good guys, bad guys, the ticking clock, and the final horror... What are the parts of your favorite thriller?

Then, of course, you can either try crafting one fresh, or perhaps consider adding some or all the thriller parts to a story you have already. What does it take to turn your story into a thriller? Does punching up the antagonist, adding a horrible thing, and a ticking clock do the job? What else needs to change?

Go ahead, take your readers on a roller coaster ride with a thriller! Just watch out for the final drop!

tink
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 26 December 2007

Genre Tips for Plot and Structure (28)

It's beginning to look a lot like a plot, all around the scenes?

Anyway, before we torture any other old songs with words of writing, let's get to Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, shall we? Along about page 218 in chapter 14 where Bell gives various tips. Perhaps the most important is the two-fold injunction to know the chosen genre's conventions and always add something fresh. Good advice for all genres!

Mystery. First bit of advice is the suggestion to start with the scene of the crime and plot backwards from that. Take one killer, a good strong motive, and the murder or crime that gets committed. Then work out from that what clues need to be planted in the plot and what other suspects, distractions, etc. will keep the readers guessing.

Thriller. Often like a mystery, but where the mystery is a puzzle or maze full of clues, the thriller is a narrowing chase towards a climactic confrontation. Probably easiest to start with that scene, then plot and write towards that. Make sure your opposition has a good solid motive throughout, too!

Literary. Mood, texture, impressions -  that's the literary goal. So think about resonances, images that will stick to your readers' minds.

Romance. Think about all the things that might keep two lovers apart. Frustration can be good for romance, so pile it on!

Science-fiction and Fantasy. The joy and danger of these genres is the ease with which the writer can change the rules. So don't do it! Establish your world and keep it naturally woven into the story. Make sure there's a real story there, beyond just speculative visions.

Bell cites Brenda Ueland's book "If You Want to Write" where Brenda asserts, "Everybody is talented, original and has something important to say . . . Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself."

Plot and structure are tools you use to connect with your readers, but you will be pouring yourself out in the story, that's what makes it unique. So start pouring.

That about does it for Plot & Structure. There's an appendix where Bell summarizes the key points in five pages, and another appendix with a four-step kickstart based around writing the backcover description first, but maybe we'll leave those for purchasers of the book. Right now, it's almost time to start thinking about a story a week!

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