New answers tagged plot
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I highly recomend reading the novel "Holes" (the 2003 film is probably the only film to break the "book was better" rule, being 99% faithful, but I still recommend a read through). Long story short, the novel basically has three stories running through out, and the first starts in media res and the "inciting incident" of that first story is told ...
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What I like to do is replace an adverb with an action. Not all the time, but a lot of the time.
"Listen to me!" John said, his voice beginning to rise in excitement. "We can sell all these coins now and get rich today." He lowered his voice, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. "Let me take care of it for you, okay? I can make you rich, ...
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You're using too many beats, especially in your second example. You don't need to describe every minute change of tone while a character is speaking. It breaks up the flow too much. There's absolutely nothing wrong with:
"Listen to me!", said John. "We can sell all these coins now and get rich today. Let me take care of it for you, okay? I can make you ...
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You are trying to describe two talking heads. Or One talking head.
Do not replace "said" with anything else that means basically the same thing.
Use adverbs extremely sparingly, it is far better to show some action that implies excitement, than to say "excitedly". This is somewhat an opinion, but an opinion shared by the majority of best selling authors. ...
answered Nov 4 at 18:16
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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It should be pointed out that most of those Mystery Series work because the mystery was acceptably unusual and above the norm for the setting. Agatha Christie's most famous work relied on the killer being unable to leave the social gathering and thus, still among the core group. Sherlock Holmes was a consulting expert that Scotland Yard came to when they ...
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I am making my first post here, not because the question is particularly good, but because the answers so far are particularly bad.
The answer is: Yes, you can do it, and you can even do it well if you try hard and if you follow some basic "rules". Details below:
So, your story seems to need the kind of plot where the main character is reactive - that is, ...
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So it seems like you want to do something similar to Archer has had going on for the past couple of seasons.
To whit, the show is a work comedy set in a spy agency. Around season four, the writers felt they had milked the spy genre for all it's worth, and introduced season five with the cast now having to make it into the world of drug trafficking (for ...
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I would say that two things are essential to make your proposed reality-shift such that the reader doesn't feel cheated, and like they wasted their time. And I truly believe both are essential, not either or:
Make sure that the potential for this outcome is expected, to some degree, before it happens. It shouldn't be out of the blue. That doesn't mean you ...
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... it does not make much sense to structure a mystery novel with alternating sequences of scenes and sequels which is composed of MRUs.
I agree, I dislike this formulaic MRU theory, I don't think it applies, or if it does, it stretches too far the meanings of goal, conflict, disaster, reaction, dilemma, decision.
I do believe there are elements you have ...
answered Oct 22 at 14:17
Amadeus-Reinstate-Monica
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The answer is no. Simply because there are no elements that should or should not be included within a novel, mystery or otherwise. There are no correct formulas. This is evidenced by Dwight Swain's inability to write a successful work of fiction.
Most mysteries / thrillers rely on skills such as misdirection, selective POV and psychological manipulation of ...
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I would say Plot Structures are narrative models. They can be used in writing, editing, and critiquing plots. I see no reason for them to be mutually exclusive from each other if the goal is providing a way to think about sequences of events. That means that many plot structures could easily apply to your story.
For example, I may realize that I've built up ...
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