Dramatic Structure and Plot, by Hallie Ephron

…or how to keep your story from circling the drain From: http://mysterywriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ephron_-_Plotting_-_Website.pdf As I was planning to teach my first session for MWA University on dramatic structure and plot, I thought a lot about what works in a mystery novel and what doesn’t. After all, I write them. I read gobs of them. Is plotting simply sequencing scenes?

How To Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound, by Angela Ackerman

From: http://writershelpingwriters.net/2015/05/how-to-uncover-your-characters-emotional-wound “One of the challenges a fiction writer faces, especially when prolific, is coming up with fresh ways to describe emotions. This handy compendium fills that need. It is both a reference and a brainstorming tool, and one of the resources I’ll be turning to most often as I write my own books.”  James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Deceived and Plot & Structure “In these brilliantly conceived, superbly organized and astonishingly… Read More

The Whole Point; What’s the Climax of a novel? by Victoria Mixon

From:  http://jamigold.com/2011/11/story-climax-the-whole-point-guest-victoria-mixon We must understand, for now, only this one, fundamental thing: the Climax is the real reason we write our stories. Once upon a time, two teenagers became so distraught over their passion for each other they committed suicide—that’s the premise. Cause? Their parents wouldn’t let them marry or even date—that’s the story. Cause of that? Their families hated each other—that’s the backstory. —Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare

Story Climax: Forcing Characters to Move Forward; by Jami Gold

From WRITING STUFF:   http://jamigold.com/2015/04/story-climax-forcing-characters-to-move-forward; APRIL 30, 2015 Editor Victoria Mixon states that our story’s Climax is “The Point” of our story. Whatever confrontation, revelation, redemption, growth, realization, etc. happens in the Climax is often the reason we decided to write the story back when it was just a twinkle in our muse’s eye. *smile*