Saturday, March 11, 2006

Stories That Work - links to great articles about writing

Thanks to Lady Tess for the link to Stories That Work. An incredible group of articles by Mary Lynn Mercer for writers that include:
     
The Three Master Recipes of Fiction - From these three master story types, a writer can cook up unlimited stories.

Balancing Plot and Character - How to juggle scene structure to achieve the desired balance between plot-driven and character-driven fiction.

Five Keys to Effective Internal Goals - Use these five keys to unlock the readers' capacity to care about the protagonist.

Five Keys to Compelling External Goals - The protagonist's external goal can drive a story toward a dynamic destination, but only if it contains these five essential things.

The Usual Suspects - Looking at a character's family and friends as sources of realistic conflict.

The ABCs of Subplots - A simple way to design subplots that enrich a story.

Simultaneity - Maintaining the logic in narrative description.

Tracking Subplots - How to weave the story tapestry without dropping any threads.

The Importance of Plot - How to start with a plan so readers finish the journey.

Solutions to Ten Common Name Mistakes - Tips on how to win the name game when christening characters.

The True Nature of Sympathetic Characters - Five published authors share the secrets of writing sympathetic characters.

Spicing Up Dialogue - The three levels of conversational conflict that make dialogue zing.

Finding Meaning in the Setting - The codependant relationship between theme and setting.

What Does That Mean? - Definitions of terms frequently used by writers.

Recommended Books for Writers - Titles and descriptions of books useful for writers of all experience levels.

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!!
Nienke

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds awesome! Thank you for the tip!

Jeff said...

Very interesting. Thanks :)

Tess said...

Glad you liked the articles!! I was completely bowled over by them - can't believe what I learned about my characters just from reading the ones on internal and external goals and on plot.

Sam said...

Hi Nienke - great list!
I was reading 'Stephen King on Writing' this weekend. He really inspires me.

Hugs,
Jenn

Shesawriter said...

This was a great list, Nienke. And thanks for the link.

Tanya

Rene said...

I bookmarked the site after reading Teresa's post. Couple of really great articles.

Sam said...

Very interesting!!!!
And more ways to Procrastinate!!!