Tag Archives: Writing

Novel Structure Cheat Sheets

Hey,

I’ve added this link to my blog roll but also as a post. I found it via a link from reddit a few weeks ago but only really got round to looking at it now. For me and my inherent lack of planning skills I’ve found some of these templates very useful for checking my beats, structure etc. In fact I’m using one right now to go through my current WIP to check I’m on the right lines.

I know there’s no hard and fast rules about plot and story structure, but for me, with this being my first “properly edited” novel, I’ve found adhering, even loosely, to some kind of framework very helpful.

There’s a few here, kudos to Jami (@JamiGold) for doing this 🙂

Mike

The rudderless hero

So, I’m working through the second draft of my current WIP, an urban fantasy that I can only describe as the Matrix meets ancient Celtic mythology (with a bit of quantum physics thrown in), and I’ve got a problem with my protagonist.

Basically, as this world is new to him, he’s spent a lot of his time being purely reactive, either being told this and that or just responding to various scenarios. Conversely, the antagonist, who IS well aware of how this mythical world works, drives her story forwards with gusto.

My fear now is that, until my hero starts to do things himself and acts on his motives, he just comes across as well, dull.

How do others do this? How do you make a protagonist who still has so much to learn be more proactive in the early stages of the story? It’s basically the old Hero’s Journey I know, so a bit of back reading on similar works/journeys is required methinks…

Greetings

Hey!

This is my first post, so just a quick one to say hi, and welcome to my blog.

I’ll be posting regular updates on the progress of my current novel, as well as general musing on writing in general.

See you around!