Worderella Writes

Article: Hold On to Your Plot Part 1

Writing » Craft, Plot, Synopsis, Tips
September 30th, 2007

When we begin writing, we have this core idea, this main plot that keeps the story together. But as we get deeper into subplots and secondary/tertiary characters, sometimes we lose our main idea. We obsess over the little things. We forget the forest for the trees. We see the colors but not the rainbow. I could go on, but I won’t, for your sake. The following series of three entries will focus on Mike Phillips’s essay showing how he keeps his plot in line, with his hints on how to help you stay focused.

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Quote: Tight Plot

Writing » Plot, Quotes
September 25th, 2007

Boiled down to its basic elements, a plot is comprised of people with motives which meet resistance, creating conflict and leading to consequences. Scenes must either advance the plot or develop one or more of your characters so avoid waffling on if it isn’t relevant. If when re-reading you do find a section which is a touch on the flabby side, rewrite so that it works with the plot and characters, or steel yourself and press the delete key.
- Mike Philips

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Book: Hurricane Moon

Book Reviews » Adult, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Setting
September 17th, 2007

It is the late 21st Century. Catharin, an idealistic astronaut-physician, is part of the crew of Aeon, a starship sent out to find a new Earth. She wants to help society start anew, now that medicine has solved all major problems; molecular biologist Joe Devreze, however, just wants to run away from Earth, for reasons Catharin can’t figure out. Everything goes awry when Aeon reaches a double-planet system: one dubbed Planet Green is covered with vegetation, the other, Planet Blue, is consistently covered with hurricanes. As Catharin and Joe start to settle into Planet Green, Catharin discovers problems with their DNA… to the point where they might be the last humans in the universe. Can she trust Joe, and his shady motives, to save humanity? And just how much attention should Catharin pay to her subconscious warnings that Planet Blue is more than just a watery moon?

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Mini-card Marketing

Marketing »
September 16th, 2007

So I never got around to showing you the mini-cards I got from MOO Print Ltd back when I was at LiveJournal. I love these things. My favorite one is the green polka-dot background with the thick white lettering (middle left).They’re small, convenient, and cheap, despite the heavy, quality cardstock. I need to order a new set since these have the old web address on the back, but as they were from a free promotional thing, I’m totally fine with that.

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Storyboarding

Writing » Outlines, Plot, Work-in-Progress
September 11th, 2007

I am an alpha personality: I live by lists, I like things ordered a certain way, I like to be in charge, I like to be on time. So you would think I use storyboarding to plot my novels, right?

Wrong! This past weekend was the first time I ever attempted a storyboard. And let me tell you: It was wonderful. I started out by drawing a line across an 11 x 24 sheet of paper for a timeline. I’ve always loved timelines, so it made sense for me to do it this way. Plus, my story has a backstory spanning ten years.

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