nightbird: Mucha illustration, young peasant holding scythe and grain (quiet sisters)
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Holy crap, my story works.

I read this fantastic blog post about story structure while I was at work today. It has a breakdown of 20 steps that are the classic bones of any huge story. I scribbled notes in the margins of a printout while riding the train home, and then retreated to my room with a notebook rather than eating dinner.

I now have in hand five and change pages of comprehensive outline, plus several huge, important, incredible discoveries about the characters. Not only that, but the story really, really works. It's not just "Insert quest here!" anymore. (I mean, there is still a lot of that, but not on the big picture level. Which is thrilling!)

So, I cannot recommend reading that link enough. I also cannot recommend food enough. Very quick dinner, here I come. (My writing hand will appreciate it too!)
Mood:: 'impressed' impressed
Music:: "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine," Thea Gilmore
There are 6 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
skygiants: Princess Tutu, facing darkness with a green light in the distance (Default)
posted by [personal profile] skygiants at 02:22pm on 28/10/2009
That is SUCH an awesome feeling! THINGS WORK. \o/ Uh, it is not one I have quite yet achieved myself, but YAY.
nightbird: Mucha illustration, young peasant holding scythe and grain (my oh my what a)
posted by [personal profile] nightbird at 04:53pm on 28/10/2009
I'm about to look over my notes a day later and see if I wasn't prematurely optimistic, but I don't think I was, really! The internet is full of awesome helpful things! (And also not-helpful. But that's neither here nor there.)
saramily: (fabulous)
posted by [personal profile] saramily at 06:42pm on 28/10/2009
That's so great! It's such an amazing feeling when the story actually comes together in your head. :D
nightbird: Mucha illustration, young peasant holding scythe and grain (there was another one; something else)
posted by [personal profile] nightbird at 07:11pm on 28/10/2009
Yes! And it seems like a rare feeling, especially at this stage. Thank goodness for professional writer bloggers!
st_aurafina: Rainbow DNA (Default)
posted by [personal profile] st_aurafina at 02:58am on 29/10/2009
Yay for things falling together! I haven't reached that point yet. Um. *hopes*

That link is fascinating - I'm going to try it out. I get quite nervous using outlining tools because I worry that my ideas will become formulaic, but I think I need something strong and structural this year, so I can actually finish a decent plot.
nightbird: Mucha illustration, young peasant holding scythe and grain (find the fulcrum)
posted by [personal profile] nightbird at 04:08am on 29/10/2009
To tell the truth, I really am so much less worried about how to proceed now. It's not really so much being formulaic as having a structure to play against, you know what I'm saying? Like how once you have meter in a poem, that's how you can really start to explore. So yes, I highly recommend it! *cheerleads!*

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