**I need suggestions for our next books. Let me know what you would like to journey through next.**
We only have one open space left in our outline. What could it be?? Line 4 of your Story Core will become, what Ms. Hawker refers to as, the “meat” of the plot. It is time to spin your tale and create your story. If you remember way back near the beginning of our journey, I may have mentioned that Ms. Hawker informed us that the plot can change, dramatically, through this entire process. Like, EVERYTHING can change (character arc, theme, pacing…). Even with all these possible changes our Story Core can remain the same- it can still remain a love story, or a crime drama, or a fantasy with Hobbits and rings and a sexy elf who handles a wicked bow. You get what I’m sayin’. Hopefully a better picture of this will be created as we move forward.
Greetings to all my crazy, kookie, cuppa lovin’ followers. What’s in your cuppa this fine day? I am sippin’ caramel macchiato coffee. Mmmm. My nibble is absent today. I am finally getting over a horrid cold and food is not on my noggin. Blah. The Hubs and I spent our 28th anniversary chillin’ on the couch, fighting over the remote and what to watch, eating cough drops, taking
meds, and hugging our own boxes of tissues. Our goal was to see who could nap the most. It sucked. BUT he did buy me a new book to enjoy when I can keep my eyes open long enough to get past the title page. Colds suck major monkey balls. **cough, cough, COUGH, wheeze, cough, blows nose and ARGH** Sorry, please get your copy of Take Off Your Pants! by Libbie Hawker.
And back to our journey. Let’s think about our plots, the external events, as a physical bridge that gets your MC from point A to point B. This magical bridge is made from 3 bricks, the character arc, theme, and Story Core.
These are the bricks you can put into any order you deem fit for your tale. If you don’t like where you put these blocks you have the freedom to move them around as many times and in as many ways as you wish. All that matters is you have a strong character arc, a theme, and the MC makes it to point B. It can be a straight line, have twists and turns, or a 45 minutes fight scene with thousands of Orcs. Line 4 of our outline is our MC’s journey. This is their attempt to reach their end goal. It is the path they take to get to Line 5. Remember Line 5 is the ending. It is the success or failure of our character and whether or not they overcame their internal flaw.
It is now time to build our bridge with the bricks. Okay, follow along. Below your entry “theme” line add a line break. Label the following lines as:
- Opening Scene
- Inciting Event
- Character Realizes External Goal
- Display of Flaw
- Drive for Goal
- Antagonist Revealed
- Thwart #1
- Revisiting the Flaw
- New Drive for Goal
- Antagonist Attacks
- Thwart #2
- Changed Goal
- Ally Attacks
- Girding the Loins
- Battle
- Death
- Outcome
A lot of lines, I know. As you may have figured, this is the outline for the meat of our stories. Now the fun part. Start filling it all in. Sketch out your scenes. They can be broad and loose. You will tighten up the details as you go along. Remember, this is your MC’s journey from A to B. How did it start, where are the twists (if you have any), when does the antagonist pop up, is there a battle, and was their goal met?
Under each plot heading include scenes and plot points that are only their personal and external goals. Write it as though they are the one and only star of your book. Remember- you can do this with multiple characters. You should create an outline for each major character in your story. We will learn how to weave them all together at a later point.
Polish your sparkle and keep twirling.
Find joy. Be joy. Enjoy.
I’m always looking for new friends!
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New Ink. Used Ideas. 