Saturday, November 15, 2014

Saturday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts


By: Rachel Scheller

In this excerpt from Story Trumps Structure, Steven James presents four ways to craft plot twists that readers will never see coming.

PLOT TWISTS: PRACTICAL STEPS TO PULLING THE RUG OUT

1. Eliminate the obvious

When coming up with the climax to your story, discard every possible solution you can think of for your protagonist to succeed.

Then think of some more.

And discard those, too.

You’re trying to create an ending that’s so unforeseen that if a million people read your book, not one of them would guess how it ends (or how it will get to the end), but when they finally come to it, every one of those people would think, Yes! That makes perfect sense! Why didn’t I see that coming?

The more impossible the climax is for your protagonist to overcome, the more believable and inevitable the escape or solution needs to be. No reader should anticipate it, but everyone should nod and smile when it happens. No one guesses, everyone nods. That’s what you’re shooting for.

While writing, ask yourself:  

What do I need to change to create a more believable world for each separate twist I’m including?

How can I drop the gimmicks and depend more on the strength of the narrative to build my twist?

Will readers have to “put up with” the story that’s being told in anticipation of a twist ending, or will they enjoy it even more because of the twist? How can I improve the pretwist story?

How can I make better use of the clues that prove the logic of the surface story to create the twist and bring more continuity to the story—but only after the twist is revealed?

2. Redirect suspicion
. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

  1. Seriously Write: How to Recharge When You’re Artistically Empty by Kathleen Fuller http://ow.ly/Ehd77
  2. 4 Ways to Write a Killer Plot Twist | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/EhdzB
  3. Why is my book not selling? Here are some reasons and how to fix them. http://ow.ly/EhdPJ
  4. Big Data Problem: Could Fake Reviews Kill Amazon? – Data Science Central http://ow.ly/EhfDQ
  5. Andrew Lownie Literary Agency | The Acquisitions Process http://ow.ly/EhfS3
  6. How To Kickstart Your Sales – Kobo Writing Life http://ow.ly/Ehg7t
  7. The future of books is on your phone, not your tablet | The Verge http://ow.ly/Ehgh3
  8. Women Rise in Sci Fi (Again) - The Atlantic http://ow.ly/EhgsZ
  9. Five Tips for Choosing the Correct Short Story Competition - Writers Write http://ow.ly/EhgHl
  10. Writer's Block? Work on Subplots http://ow.ly/EhgWT
  11. How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/Ehh6o
  12. Frustrated with Slow Progress? Join the Crowd | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/EhhjT
  13. A quick lesson on hyphens - She Writes http://ow.ly/EhhsL
  14. Why Antagonists Are More Important To Your Story Than Protagonists |  http://ow.ly/EhhF4
  15. Writer Unboxed » Creating Living Breathing Dialog http://ow.ly/Ehije
  16. 6 Hot Trends in Indie Book Marketing - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/EhiTK
  17. What to Look for in a Professional Content Writer - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/Ehjge
  18. How to Master Visual Customer Service in the Social Age : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/Ehjvy
  19. How to Grow Your Twitter Followers (and our Manage Flitter Review) - Training Authors for Success http://ow.ly/Ehk6R
  20. BookMarketingBuzzBlog: Do You Have Book Insurance? http://ow.ly/EhkhU
Happy writing and running, Kathy

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