Quick before we begin, squeeze your left hand with your
right. I have heard that will activate the right hemisphere of the brain and
thus up your creativity.
On the last blog I said I would address that dreaded
word Plot and Synopsis.
To really learn the skivvies on plot, check out The Plot Whisperer by Martha
Anderson, www.plotwhisperer.blogspot.com, she knows what she is talking about. Me? I am learning, but then as writers
we always are.
Ray Bradbury said, “Plot is just the footprints in the
snow after the players have walked through.”
Yeah but…
Come on Bradbury, I’ve tracked my chicken through the
snow and it was a mess, circles, backtracking, blank spaces where there was no
snow…nothing logical, nothing organized. On top of that it was frustrating. I found her though, but we're not chasing chickens, we are trying to get a book written.
And then I stumbled upon this and found it explained
plot, in pictures and few words, better than I could do it in 1,000.
I realize I took on a task to large for both plot and synopsis, so this coverage will be cursory. I will go into it in more depth on the next blog.
If you are like me, small increments of information stick in my brain better than long explanations anyway. So, check out the Plot planner above, test it, do some writing and next week we will advance in our search.
Since I mentioned #synopsis in my earlier blog, I will add a pointer here. This is called by some, a sucknopsis, for it is as difficult to write as the manuscript was. It is boiling down a 200 pages into four or five, and be sure to include the ending in it. Publishers don't like to be left hanging.
What will writing a synopsis do for you? One, it will be there when a buyer asks for it (like an interviewer asking for a resume'). I am tempted to be really snide here, for resume's usually go into something equivalent to the grand canyon.
But, it will do something for you...It will help you see problems in your manuscript, and it just might show you in a cruel way where your book needs more attention.
More, more more, I'm not complete here...
