The most basic structure for a story is the three-act rising-action-to-climax. They teach it in high school. It works because it hits the beats that conform to emotional expectations that people have. But it’s not the only structure that can be. I mentioned earlier this week when I finally got Chapter XII finished that it … More On the Fourth Act
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” -Jack London So I finally finished Chapter 11 of The Sword over the weekend. For a transitional chapter, this one took forever. I’m not sure if the culprit that dragged it out over so many weeks was a loss of confidence in my … More Writer’s Block, Resistance, and the Grind
via A Writer’s Path: There are three points: Avoid Repetition – In the substance of your writing, words used, plot occurences, etc. Sometimes repetition is useful, but you have to know how much you’re doing it. Avoid Monotony – how is this different from “Repetition”? Here the author refers to rhythm, i.e. what do your … More Writing Principles Derived From Musici
Here’s where we are on my Civil War novel. I just finished Chapter 7 of a planned 15. Chapters are averaging somewhere between 4,000-5,000 words (rough estimate). This will put me at about 70,000 words, reasonable size for a novel. If I finish in the next six weeks or so, I can let it lie … More The Sword Update
Good post at The Green Study: My writing tip #234: Don’t read books on writing while trying to write a novel. First of all, it usually sheds bad light on whatever you are writing and secondly, it can make you overly ambitious. I agree. What you need when you’re working on something is Inspiration. It … More If You Want to Write a Story, Write a Story…
Good Post at madgeniusclub about making sure your readers are getting the cues you’re giving them, and more importantly, not reading cues that you don’t intend to be there: You need to be aware that if you’ve got a strong mystery plot, you should be putting in the cues for the red herrings and the … More Vlad the Impaler and Cue-ing Your Readers
New books are live. More books are coming. The Devil Left Him is up on sale on Amazon. I just did the official announcement on Periscope. The Devil Left Him: Official Anouncement! https://t.co/1QM8l1tPx6 — Andrew J. Patrick (@ajpwriter) July 25, 2017 That should have showed up on Facebook as well. I explain that the book … More Everything is Back on Track!
