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How to Combine Structure with Intuition to Plan Your Novel
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Sept. 30, 2016
Oakland, California
Hi Friend,
Lots of us think that structure is the opposite of creativity.
But actually creativity needs structure in which to flourish.
I didn't really believe this about myself as a creative writer. I thought I could just sit down and write. Except when nothing came.
I realized that to write I needed to know what happened next, and after that, what happened next.
I recognized this story structure! It was in all the fairy tales and folktales I'd read as a child. It was in every adventure story, film, and TV show I ever loved.
Using the hero's journey unlocked a freedom in me to both follow a structure and make it specific, using my knowledge of my characters and my story world. With all this, I could now get to the end of my first draft with confidence and passion.
There are a lot of models of story structures out there. In my opinion, they all say pretty much the same thing. There are differences according to genre, culture, and time period.
My advice is to find a story structure model that you resonate with. It could be the: - 3-act structure
- Hero's journey
- Heroine's journey
- Five-point plot structure
- Fichtean Curve*
- Media Res*
*These last two are from Kristen Keifer's awesome blog.
If you don't understand structure, I highly recommend you study it, and then analyze books you read and shows you watch to identify all aspects of structure. That way you can bring that awareness into your story in the planning stage or while you write.
What about intuition, you may wonder. What about that flow, that effortless sense of being one with your story?
In one hand, hold your intuitive knowing about story, the feelings you have about your characters, the emotions you want to convey, the sense of rightness about your ideas.
In the other hand, hold your understanding of the beginning, middle, and end, the conflicts, the twists, the turns, the secrets, the reveals, the rising action of challenges and conflicts, the black moment, the resolution.
Can you trust each hand equally? Can you allow both aspects of storytelling do their job and work together inside of you? Can you respect and honor all the parts of you that know how to tell a story?
When you sit down to write, trust all of yourself to bring everything you know to the moment. The cool thing is you already do. Trust that. Go write.
Hit reply and let me know how it goes.
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Have a Happy and Creative Week!
And thanks for showing up for yourself and doing your creative work!
All our best,
Beth & Ezra
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
BTW, If you found this newsletter useful, please forward it to your friends,
writing buddies, and people who you know want to write a novel, but
gosh darn it, haven't yet.
♥
ABOUT US
Beth and Ezra Barany
are award-winning, best-selling novelists, with 20 books and 6 awards to their name. They are teachers who have worked
with over 100 authors to help them get their books written and
published and into the hands of their readers.
♥ Happily married for over 16 years, we’re passionate about writing, storytelling, and guiding authors to achieve their dreams.
♥ We
offer coaching, change work sessions, book marketing coaching (Beth)
and cover design (Ezra), all for genre novelists. More at bethbarany.com.
WHAT I DO + WHY
I support writers and aspiring authors through classes and workshops, articles, books, group programs, and consultations with private clients.
I also help authors because I walk my talk; everything I or my teachers teach is based in real experience and matured through the school of hard knocks.
I believe that the creative life works better with play and love, so with playful joy, I offer you goodies to support you in your writer's adventure.
ABOUT BETH BARANY
An
award-winning novelist, certified creativity coach and Master NLP
Practitioner, Beth runs Writer's Fun Zone, a blog for and by writers,
and her recently launched school for novelists, the Barany School of
Fiction.
In
her downtime, Beth reads, colors, watches movies with her sweetie,
travels, and has coffee with friends and family. And plays with her cat, gardens, and walks. And sleeps. She loves sleep.
Photo Credit: by c. 2014 Vivienne McMaster
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