Gather 'round…
Get ready... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Second Plot Point, the turning point at the 75% mark of your story. Again, it is time for a change of context. This time were shifting into the resolution box of our story, and our hero is becoming the martyr, the selfless heroic champion of everything good and... Continue Reading →
Attaaaaaack! Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Part Three, the next ~25% of our story. Up until this point our hero has been rather un-hero-like. He's a great guy, and we all love him, but he hasn't done anything exceptionally heroic, at least not in regards to the story at hand. That is all about... Continue Reading →
Keepin' the wheels a-turnin'... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Midpoint, the turning point in the... umm... middle. OK, we're halfway there! It's time for a revelation, for our hero, and our reader, to keep us plugging along. The midpoint serves up a new bit of information that changes the understanding of the reader, or of... Continue Reading →
Story Begins Here! Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Part Two, the next ~25% of our story. Our second box is our response box. This is where the story truly begins. We're past the point of no return and we must plunge on. We've introduced our world, our hero and some other characters, we've alluded... Continue Reading →
We are a fickle creation. Capable of such amazing feats of love and mercy, yet so often stuck in judgment and vice. We may stand in awe of God's majesty when we are hit in the head with it - when it comes to us as lightening to the scalp - but so often anything... Continue Reading →
Time to get things rolling... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): First Plot Point, the turning point at the 25% mark of your story. The First Plot Point, the moment we've been working up to. But what have we been working up to? Here, we have a context shift, we go from setup mode into response mode.... Continue Reading →
OK... Nitty-gritty here we come... Story Engineering Model (four-part story model): Part One, the first ~25% of our story. Part One, or box number one, is our setup box. Our story has yet to be launched in earnest, and before it can do so, our readers must enter into our world. Part One is where our... Continue Reading →
To begin, we’ll take a broad look at the Story Engineering model Larry Brooks puts forth. Four parts, brilliantly named (wait for it…) Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four (you may applaud now), will form the main chunks of our story framework, The Four-Part Story Structure (yes, I’ll wait…). Once we’re seated... Continue Reading →
Well, maybe no plotting can be a fit for you if you're a die-hard pantser. But if you're like me, flying along on the wings of your whimsy, and you reach that terrifying point of realization that you're spinning your wheels, you'll probably find yourself searching out some advice of the plotting type - anything to help... Continue Reading →
I get ahead of myself sometimes. I'm sure you don't, but I do. I get excited, I get distracted, I get confused, and often I get out of my depth. I’m probably about to do all of those things spectacularly. I'm about to commence a series of posts about story structure, the holy grail of... Continue Reading →
Interesting rabbit holes lead to interesting destinations. A while ago - in the midst of some fits of frugality and the desire to move to the Boundary Waters once and for all and live out of a canoe - I decided to read Thoreau's Walden. I didn't finish it. In fact I barely started it, but... Continue Reading →
I once thought that book reviews might be something fun for my blog. But then, as I explored a little deeper, it occurred to me what a slow reader I am. Seriously, shockingly slow. Not necessarily words-per-minute slow. More like pages-per-week slow. I enjoy reading. I do. But there is not enough time in life... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Nexus 