When I'm writing, I can't read fiction. I don't know if it has to do with lack of confidence or what, but reading good books brings me down, so I tend to read writing books - usually Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott or On Writing by Stephen King. This time around, my buddies Robin and Eve recommended Save the Cat and Save the Cat Strikes Back by Blake Snyder.So far, I've read both of them cover to cover twice in the hopes that all of his great advice will be implanted in my brain by osmosis. The books are about screenwriting, but there is so much good stuff in there for fiction writers, I can't recommend them highly enough.
By using some of Blake's techniques, I've turned this:
Into this:
Because I can never use something right out of the box, I adapted his methods a little bit to suit how I do things but it is really helpful to see everything right out in front of me. I can swap scenes around and find something in seconds without having to rifle through all 300+ pages trying to remember where I had a particular character say a particular thing.
Better pacing? Check. Better character motivation? Check. New title? Um.....
3 comments:
Can't read fiction? Yeah, just had that experience. I'm deep in major revisions and needed a break, so I picked up my Kindle & started reading this awesome book...couldn't put it down...finished it in one day...aaaand now my WIP doesn't seem nearly as appealing as it did. *sigh* I may have to adopt your "no fiction" rule at least until I get through with this round of revisions.
Good luck! Looks like you're almost there!
It's become a hard and fast rule for me - no fiction while I'm writing. Try Bird by Bird - Anne always makes me feel better. Good luck with yours too!
Oooh. I'll have to check Save the Cat out. Love the title. I'm reading Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell and I like that a lot.
Hmmm... I wonder what the new title will be???
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