Thursday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

DON’T START YOUR STORY UNLESS YOU KNOW THESE 5 THINGS

By: Rachel Hauck

What? Five things?

"Rachel, I'm a pantser, I don't like to plan."

I hear you! I'm not asking you to plan. I'm asking you to do 5 things

Even for the plotters, these 5 Things will make a difference in your story.

So let's get to it.

A story has to be about someone ordinary doing something extraordinary.

I can't design scenes, develop characters or even answer, "What's the story about?" without knowing WHO I'm dealing with -- internally.

I design my character with these 5 critical elements:

1. Dark wound of the past.
2. The Lie he believes.
3. The greatest fear.
4. The secret desire.
5. What can they do in the end they couldn't do in the beginning?

Once I know the answer to these five elements, I can answer, "What's the story about?"

Granted, these elements are fluid. They should adjust and deepen as you write BUT putting these stepping stones in place before you write the first line will aid your journey.

Think of it like this: You're going to at least look at the road map before pulling out of the drive.

There's still plenty of time to take a side road and veer off the beaten path to keep things interesting.

But knowing the wound --> lie --> fear will keep you focused.

We use this structure over on My Book Therapy to help struggling authors get to the next level.

Let's break it down a bit:

. . .

Read the full article HERE!  

~*~

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

1. Avoiding Premature Publication by Ann Warner | Romance University http://ow.ly/HGwV6
2. Jobs That Leave You Time to Write http://ow.ly/HGx3d
3. The inner horse – and your fictional character’s true nature | Nail Your Novel http://ow.ly/HGxfr
4. The One Thing All Great Love Stories Have In Common—And What It Means To Your Writing http://ow.ly/HGxnt
5. Simple eBook Formatting Using MS Word | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/HGAW
6. Novel Rocket: Don't Start Your Story Unless You Know These 5 Things http://ow.ly/HGzdz
7. Martha Alderson aka Plot Whisperer: Writing a Story is Like a Vision Quest http://ow.ly/HGBqW
8. Are You Waiting to be Perfect Before You Start Your Blog? http://ow.ly/HGBzv
9. Career Management - Becoming a 'Visible Expert': Seven Traits Shared by Industry All Stars : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/HGC3m
10. Social Media Marketing World: Social Media's Mega Conference! Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/HGC9L
11. How to Market a Book and Strengthen Your Author Platform with Goodreads | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/HGCdQ
12. Simple Steps to Market on Pinterest for Profit http://ow.ly/HGGJH
13. The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers http://ow.ly/HGHKM
14. Writer Beware®: The Blog: Questions to Ask Your Prospective Literary Agent http://ow.ly/HGHRA
15. Writer Unboxed » How To Become a Writer http://ow.ly/HGHWH
16. BookEnds Literary Agency: Mastering the Synopsis http://ow.ly/HGIIQ
17. Build Your Author Platform: 7 Manageable Ways to Start From Scratch http://ow.ly/HGIPc
18. 7 Ways To Keep Writing When You Feel Like Giving Up | Write to Done http://ow.ly/HGIZz
19. 7 Reasons Twitter Isn't Building Your Platform (and How to Fix It) http://ow.ly/HGJls
20. Jane Smiley: ‘All you need is for one reader to love your book’ | Books | The Guardian http://ow.ly/HGJpl

Happy writing and running, Kathy