You may have noticed that I did not get a Friday Links up (My "While Cynsations was Out of the Office" series) because I was flat in bed much of last week. I even had to cancel the home-school writing workshop I was scheduled for on Thursday as well as my Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday post. My flu/cold/thingie came out of left field and took me by surprise.
Also, last week I got the copy edits for my Summer 2014 Scholastic title, THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES - which are due TODAY. Yep. Gulp. (Insert silent panicked scream here).
So blogging went out the window. Although I do - 99% of most days - manage to be on Facebook or Twitter at least once or twice so if you're not following me there you're missing out on ALL KINDS OF AWESOME! Ha, ha. So go HERE and HERE right now and come back instantly!
Write on Con is a FREE Online Writer's Conference for two whole days at the link with posts and panels and vlogs by editors, authors, and agents! Amazing, super informative, and a few authors have been able to pitch their stories and get agented through this conference. Read the Success story at the link. Go to the links for the faculty and schedule so you don't miss anything.
The previous 3 years' conferences are all archived so go back and read and watch some very cool stuff.
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And last, but not least, my new book, WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME (see my sidebar for gorgeous cover!) is the August Scholastic pick for their Mother-Daughter Book Club site!
I'm thrilled to pieces! Check out the recipe and the Club Guide on the site, too.
It's your birthday, Elana Johnson!!! And I'm excited to be a part of the blogging world who is wishing you the very best birthday *ever*!
If you don't know Elana, you simply must check out her blog which is chock full of advice and writerly help and experience and teaching. And she does it all with style and humor and wit - and bacon!
ANDWriteOnCon - a free online, fantabulous writer's workshop every August!
She also has written a FREE E-book called From the Query to the Call, which I recommend to everyone! A **Must-Read** for any aspiring or experienced writers. Get yours HERE. And I am lucky and blessed to call her my friend. (I get to meet Elana every May at LDStorymakers workshop and dish about books and writing!)
And it's YOUR (my blog readers!) lucky day, too! Guess what?!?
Christine Fonseca, another online buddy and wonderful writer is giving away a set of ALL of Elana's YA novels to celebrate this wonderful day - plus a few other books and E-books and goodies! (Check out all of Christine's awesomely delicious YA novels, too! She is the brains behind the birthday logo and giveaway!) Enter below! Easy Peasy!
Have a blessed birthday, darling Elana! xo, Kimberley
And here is the video about it from WriteOnCon from three weeks ago:
I promised more tips and details so here we go!
As you'll see,this is definitely part of The Hero's Journey Method of getting ideas for your novel, defining your characters, the ARC of the story, as well as high and low points. Once you get your 3x5 card plotting done, you'll see all/most of these elements in your cards/scenes.
Going over this checklist can be a great way to make sure you don't have holes - or to identify where you might have holes in your cards. They do NOT have to all be *carded* and filled in and identified when you start drafting because ideas will continue to come to you as you begin writing and the characters take off and come to life.
**In fact, just yesterday as I was gathering my cards to start drafting my new book, an epiphany came to me as to how I could make a plot element become extra motivation to solve the mystery/problem for my main character as well as make it part of her inner, emotional element. I'd been wondering if I even needed that particular plot & character element for my MC's mother (she's 6 months pregnant), but now it's going to work even better in the story's mystery and plot as well as a much needed element for that elusive emotional residue. It's not just a peripheral, "I'll throw this in just because it might be kinda cool, or I need to flesh out the Mother character". Now that element is NEEDED to make the story work on so many more levels. Cool, eh? I was pretty excited. And all because I'd had my cards spread out on the rug and was picking them up in order. Our subconsciousness (The Muse) keeps on working and figuring things out.
- Opening image
- Meet the hero or heroine
- Hero/ine’s inner and outer desire.
- Hero/ine's past wounds, problems
- Hero/ine’s arc -
- Inciting Incident/Call to Adventure
- Meet the antagonist (and/or introduce a mystery, which is what you
do when you’re going to keep your antagonist hidden to reveal at the
end)
- State the theme/what’s the story about?
- Allies
- Mentor (possibly. May not have one or may be revealed later in the story).
- Love interest
(may or may not work for MG books, of course!)
- Plant/Reveal (or: Set ups and Payoffs)
- Hope/Fear (and Stakes)
- Time Clock (possibly. May not have one or may be revealed later in the story)
- Central Story Question or Problem
- Crossing the Threshold/ Into the Special World
- Threshold Guardian (maybe)
- Hero/ine’s Plan
- Antagonist’s Plan
- Training Sequence
- Series of Tests
- Picking up new Allies
- Assembling the Team
- Attacks by the Antagonist (whether or not the Hero/ine recognizes these as being from the antagonist)
- In a detective story, questioning witnesses, lining up and eliminating suspects, following clues.
THE MIDPOINT –
- Completely changes the game
- Locks the hero/ine into a situation or action
- Can be a huge revelation
- Can be a huge defeat
- Can be a “now it’s personal” loss
- Recalibrating – after the shock or defeat of the game-changer in
the Midpoint, the hero/ine must Revamp The Plan and try a New Mode of
Attack.
- Escalating Actions/ Obsessive Drive
- Hard Choices and Crossing The Line (immoral actions by the main character to get what s/he wants)
- Loss of Key Allies (possibly because of the hero/ine’s obsessive actions, possibly through death or injury by the antagonist).
- A Ticking Clock (can happen anywhere in the story)
- Reversals and Revelations/Twists
- The Long Dark Night of the Soul and/or Visit to Death (aka All Is Lost)
- Often can be a final revelation before the end game: the knowledge of who the opponent really is.
**Now we're coming up on the Final 25-30% of the book:
-Answers the Central Question
-Final Battle and Resolution. It can
often be one continuous sequence – the chase and confrontation, or
confrontation and chase. There may be a final preparation for battle,
or it might be done on the fly.
-The hero will make a new, FINAL PLAN, based on the new
information and revelations.
-Final showdown between protagonist and antagonist. It is often divided into two sequences:
1- Getting there (Storming the castle)
2- The final battle itself
- Thematic Location - often a visual and literal representation of the Hero/ine’s Greatest Nightmare
- The protagonist’s character change
- The antagonist’s character change (if any)
- Possibly allies’ character changes and/or gaining of desire
- There could also be one last huge reveal or twist, or series of reveals and
twists, or series of final payoffs you've been saving (as in BACK TO
THE FUTURE or IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE).
**I've got one of these twists in my book CIRCLE OF SECRETS and my upcoming WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME. I've got one planned in this new book, too, which will be a final scene or an Epilogue.
- RESOLUTION: A glimpse into the New Way of Life that the heroine
will be living after this whole ordeal and all she’s learned from it.
Hope this outline helps in your own plotting or 3x5 card scribbling, throw them on the floor, and pick them up again adventure!
Final Installment (at least for now) on 3x5 Card Plotting tomorrow!
The last 10 days has been, let's say, interesting? Mind-numbing? Frantic? Exhausting? Mind-stretching?
I've been working 12 hour days. Right smack in the middle of it all, my computer started crackling and zapping and popping and then went black.
Fried the mother board - while doing revisions for my Harpercollins editor on my sexy YA novel (Fall 2013 lead title - I'm slightly excited, but you probably can't tell!! Nope, I'm cool, calm and collected).
Took a day to get up and running again with another old laptop sitting under my bed, but yes I . . .Finally finished the kick-me-to-the-gutter revisions yesterday and TURNED THEM IN. Yes, I hit SEND on the email to my editor, then sweated a little, then ate 3 donuts (yes, indeedy!) and went to lunch with Caroline Starr Rose and Carolyn Kuehn.
Last Wednesday I was a guest speaker at WRITE ON CON the biggest, most incredibly awesome free online writer's conference ever. I was really thrilled to be a part of it, but afraid that I looked dorky or nervous in front of the camera. AND I realized later there was so much more to say about 3x5 card plotting. Here is the video to begin your tutorial!
I will be here again - soon I promise! - to talk more about Plotting Your Novel Using 3x5 Cards. Some GOOD stuff so check back in a couple of days while I pull it all together right here on my blog.
Meanwhile I'm going to eat some bon bons and read a book (I have 40 in my stacks that have been waiting patiently for me - me not so patient!)
BUT DON'T LEAVE YET! Here are some links to articles that I really enjoyed the past week:
