One of the MOST valuable things you can do at any point in your writing process, from brainstorming an idea to launching into a rewrite, is to identify the STORY PATTERNS that are working in your story. Or that you might want to have working in your story!
Hi Alexandra, is "It Ends With Us" a big event story structure? According to me it is but don't know for sure. And you described excellently in your book how to check sequence and act climaxes, ( act 1 till page 100, act 2 from 101 to 300 and act 3 from 301 until the book ends.) and I can understand them easily but how would you do that on a kindle app? Maybe this question sounds silly to you but there are locations like I was reading a book and I completed it 25% and I was on location 1000 of 4000 but the act one climax didn't come. They just moved to part two and I was not satisfied because they didn't give anything to go forward but then the book picked up again. What techniques do you use when you're reading from a kindle app?
I haven't read or seen It Ends With Us and have no desire to, but this is the publisher logline: "A workaholic with a too-good-to-be-true romance can't stop thinking about her first love." That's not a big event story, or a high concept premise - it's a typical romance that probably is hitting it big because of the profile of the author rather than the draw of the story.
I understand your pain about Kindle locations. I read mostly on my phone so I get it! What you need to do is jump to the end of your Kindle edition of a book and see what percentage of end material there is (usually not too much, but sometimes there's a chapter or two of an upcoming book which throws the percentages off). If there's a lot of end material, then subtract those pages from the total of the book. And THEN look for your Act Climaxes at 25%, 50%, 75% and about 90% of the book, MINUS the extra material at the end.
Of course, not every book hits Act and Sequence Climaxes regularly, but as you're saying, you definitely feel like something's missing if there's no climax where there's supposed to be a climax!
This is great stuff! I have written and I am still working on a full length play with music (not a musical!). I’d like to watch similar films, but I’m having difficulty elucidating my genre.
James, you've made a great start by realizing that you haven't nailed your genre yet. Have you done a Master List yet? This, in combination with writing a Premise is the very best way to hone in on what you're writing. Since you're writing a play, try making a list of movies and plays, rather than books. Try that, and post again - I started in theater and there are other theater people here who can help you! https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/p/the-master-list?utm_source=publication-search
Hi Alexandra, is "It Ends With Us" a big event story structure? According to me it is but don't know for sure. And you described excellently in your book how to check sequence and act climaxes, ( act 1 till page 100, act 2 from 101 to 300 and act 3 from 301 until the book ends.) and I can understand them easily but how would you do that on a kindle app? Maybe this question sounds silly to you but there are locations like I was reading a book and I completed it 25% and I was on location 1000 of 4000 but the act one climax didn't come. They just moved to part two and I was not satisfied because they didn't give anything to go forward but then the book picked up again. What techniques do you use when you're reading from a kindle app?
I haven't read or seen It Ends With Us and have no desire to, but this is the publisher logline: "A workaholic with a too-good-to-be-true romance can't stop thinking about her first love." That's not a big event story, or a high concept premise - it's a typical romance that probably is hitting it big because of the profile of the author rather than the draw of the story.
I understand your pain about Kindle locations. I read mostly on my phone so I get it! What you need to do is jump to the end of your Kindle edition of a book and see what percentage of end material there is (usually not too much, but sometimes there's a chapter or two of an upcoming book which throws the percentages off). If there's a lot of end material, then subtract those pages from the total of the book. And THEN look for your Act Climaxes at 25%, 50%, 75% and about 90% of the book, MINUS the extra material at the end.
Of course, not every book hits Act and Sequence Climaxes regularly, but as you're saying, you definitely feel like something's missing if there's no climax where there's supposed to be a climax!
This is great stuff! I have written and I am still working on a full length play with music (not a musical!). I’d like to watch similar films, but I’m having difficulty elucidating my genre.
James, you've made a great start by realizing that you haven't nailed your genre yet. Have you done a Master List yet? This, in combination with writing a Premise is the very best way to hone in on what you're writing. Since you're writing a play, try making a list of movies and plays, rather than books. Try that, and post again - I started in theater and there are other theater people here who can help you! https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/p/the-master-list?utm_source=publication-search