Hello, and welcome to this the first installment of the Fiction Writers clinic. This column will address challenges faced everyday by you, the writer of Fiction. From creating dialogue, scene and structure, to dealing with writers block you’ll find usable answers right here in the Locals Guide. Read this column and learn the current state of the publishing world, discover the agent’s pet peeve and how to keep your manuscript out of the slush pile. What’s that? Your particular writers problem isn’t addressed in this month’s column? Just drop me an E mail. Kit@mind.net
The best part is, it’s all free, right inside your LocalsGuide. You can also sign up and join my group on LocalsGuide.com
One writer’s solution to outlining
The trick to making this outline format work is to know your characters and have a basic idea of where you want your story to go.
1. Create chapters that contain a minimum of the opening, the characters and the close.
2. If there is an action event include it.
3. Keep each chapter to 75 words or less.
4. This is not the place for perfect grammar and sentence structure.
5. You want to put down the events with an order and clarity that you can easily understand next week.
6. Each chapter contains the result of your research and maybe a line of dialogue that you think carries a scene or event.
7. By looking back at each chapter you should have a sense of where the story is going.
8. These chapters are not written in stone.
9. Devise your own code of underlines, all capitals, even circles so that when you begin writing the story you have a real sense of intent with each chapter.
10. The more detail you cram into each chapter the easier it will be to write your story.
11. Use an artist sketch pad that’s 18 by 23 and write with a #2 lead. This way you can get up to 20 chapters on each sheet with plenty of space to scribble notes. With 20 chapters right in front of you, you’ll really be able to see where the story is going and how far along it is.
12. You don’t have to wait until the last chapter to begin your book.
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