About My Vision
You’re ready to start writing your first novel, or you’ve already written it and you’re not sure what’s next. Maybe you wrote your first draft by the seat of your pants, and by now – after countless revisions – you know you’re missing something but you can’t seem to put your finger on it. Sound familiar? That was me about 10 years ago. I knew I had a novel in me so I started writing…then re-writing…then re-writing! Eventually I got past that first chapter and couldn’t stop until my first draft was done. But then I read it…
After 9 revisions and a still unfinished novel that felt so far from the original concept it no longer resembled anything I had in mind, I took a break from writing and realized I had to learn the craft before I could try to salvage my manuscript. I threw myself into the world of storytelling. From plot structure to character arcs and all the good stuff in between, I devoured everything I could get my hands on to learn how to write a truly compelling story. Now that I’ve finally cracked the code (or at the very least, understand it a lot better), I’m excited to pass my knowledge along to you so you don’t have to spend as many years as I did feeling frustrated and inadequate with nothing but a bunch of revisions to show for your efforts.
So, come along with me while I share the intricacies of crafting stories that I’ve learned over the years.Not only will I be dissecting popular fiction to show you what makes these stories work, but I’ll also be breaking down popular story crafting methods and stacking them up against each other to show their differences and commonalities.
Want to learn more about me?
The Craft
After years of learning just about every major plotting method, characterization strategy, storytelling concept…and the list goes on…I was still stuck in the same spiral of half written outlines and flat characters, not knowing how to get out of my writing rut. Until one day, I started comparing methods. I wanted to see what was so different between Save The Cat and The Story Grid, or any of the hundreds of other strategies out there. Why did some people like one method over another? Which one made more sense?!? Eventually I realized all of these methods offer their own secret ingredient that helps give writers a fighting edge. But they also have commonalities that make the understanding of storytelling that much easier to grasp once you realize the wording may change, but the craft has remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.
This is your “one-stop-shop” on all things writing. Sure, I’ll be posting articles that explain different techniques and definitions, like what the midpoint is all about, or how to make your readers cry, but I’ll be going deeper than that. I’ll be breaking down popular methods on story structure, characterization, or anything that makes a story tick. I’ll give you a summary of each method, how they’re similar to others, and how they differ. Maybe the key for you is one of the many methods I’ll be discussing, or maybe it’s a combination of methods working together to bring out the very best you have to offer. Either way, I hope you stick around to find out what works for you.
Writing Tips Post 2
Test post about writing tips number two
Test Blog Post 2
This is a blog post meant for the writing tips section…
Book Reviews
Are you tired of those book reviews that give you nothing but *5 Stars* and rosey coloured praise? I am too. While most of the books I read offer up a plethora of opportunities to sing their praises, those same books can have glaring flaws or areas where they just fall short. I’d love to see more book reviews that showcase not only the good, but also the bad.
Nowadays, us book lovers have TBR lists a mile long and only so much time in a week/month/year to crush that list. Wouldn’t it be great if you could refine things and only read those books that are truly worthy? If you’d like an honest, raw review of a book to see whether it’s worth the read, check out this page. I’ll be posting regular reviews of books that I have lovingly devoured over the years, and ones yet to come. It’s a great chance to view my unfiltered opinions on all things story. And yes, I have a lot of opinions. Rest assured, I do not believe I’m better than everyone else (after all, these books were actually published while mine are still sitting in my WIP folder…). I’m simply trying to give readers and budding authors like you, a chance to see that every book has flaws – even the published ones – and yet, they can still be enjoyable reads that make it into your favourites list.
Test Book Review 1
this is a book review post just to test how things look on the home…
Test Blog Post 1
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
Book Deconstructions
On my journey to learning how to write, I kept coming across one common piece of advice that almost every person has suggested at some point. Read a lot, write a lot, and if you want to write well, then read your favourite stories in your chosen genre and dissect them until you understand how the pros did it.
**Challenge Accepted**
I’m making it my mission to re-read all the books that brought me here – the ones that stirred up the passion to write my own novel – and all of the books on my TBR that keep me passionate about writing. But I’m not stopping there. I’m going to dissect them all. I’m going to dismantle them scene by scene, plot point by plot point, character by character, to discover what makes these books tick. What makes them great? I’ll uncover what worked and *gasp* what didn’t, but more importantly, I’ll explain why. I’ll include everything from a plot summary and list of major plot points (like that darn inciting incident so you can see how every book differs in placement and how to execute it), to a discussion about character arcs and theme.
I’ll be posting the outcomes here, so that you can see for yourself why they work. Be sure to visit regularly for updates on new titles and discoveries!
Book Deconstructions Post 2
Another test page to see how multiple posts look on the same page on the…
Book Deconstructions Post 1
this is a quick note to talk about book deconstructions, this will be the first…
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