Writers in the Storm

There are hundreds of books and classes that insist a writer must start with a story with a specific story structure. This implies that anyone who doesn’t use that method is writing their stories the wrong way. Some writers avoid structure, saying it stifles their creativity. Other writers may find the plethora of conflicting terms and advice to induce more headaches than help.

Discovery writer or Plotter, we are all human. Humans use story structure every day, multiple times a day. Each time we tell about a personal trial or triumph, or tell a joke, we are using story structure. Knowing what a Plot Point is and how and where to use it is a strategy that will help you craft successful stories.

Why Use Story Structure?

I’m not here to tell you that how you write is wrong. Get that first draft done, however you need to do it. But if you never address your story’s structure in at least one of your drafts, you do a disservice to yourself and your story.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book that just felt “off?” Maybe it’s a story you’ve written. You can’t put your finger on why it feels that “off” but you know something didn’t quite work. Most likely the story structure is off. Understanding story structure will help you identify those problems and will help you write better stories. 

All humans have an innate understanding of the pattern of a story. We expect moments of set up followed by tension that lead to an action followed by moments of “relief.” This expectation appears to be universal. Still, story structure isn’t a recipe or a one-size-fits all. It’s a pattern that successful stories follow. Structure makes your story flow powerfully, which keeps your reader’s rapt attention. 

Which Story Structure is Best?

A very short story usually has only one or two elements of structure. A novelette (7,500-17,999 words) has a more complicated structure. While novels and series have complex structures. The longer your story, the more nuanced your story structure must be. 

There are many approaches to story structure. There are three-act or five-act or seven-act structures. Some approaches to story structure work best for specific genres. Others are more general. Some are more scholarly and still others are more simplistic. 

At their most basic levels, all story structures agree a story has a beginning, middle, and end. This is not news to you. Your story has those parts. But it’s the stuff within each of those parts that is truly important. This is the “structure” that shapes your story into a successful one.  

By reading about different approaches to story structure, you’ll learn how you can adapt those interior parts of structure to your story. 

Writers in the Storm contributor, John Peragine, discussed 14 different plot structures that might work for pantsers here and here. You can find resources on Writers in the Storm and on my website. As you read, you’ll find many approaches that you will reject as not helpful. That’s okay. Keep checking out different approaches. It takes some work, but one will speak your story language. You might discover different parts of different story structures fit you best. That’s okay. Mash them together. 

The Most Important Part of Story Structure 

There is at least one Plot Point in every single successful story, regardless of its structure, its subject, its genre, or its intended audience. Plot Points are the most important part of story structure.

A Plot Point is a person, place, thing, event, or situation that creates a significant change for the primary character. The change can be in the protagonist, in her situation, in her location, in her goals, or in the reader’s perception of any of these things. It can involve only one change, more than one, or all of them. 

Its function is to clarify what the stakes are, to connect the sections of the story, and to propel the character (and the reader) forward in the story. This means that the Plot Point falls at the end of an act. 

Don’t let the name throw you off. There are many names for this element of your story. Blake Snyder uses “Beats.” Larry Brooks calls it a “Plot Point.” James Scott Bell calls it a “Doorway of No Return.” Shawn Coyne calls it a “Turning Point Progressive Complication.” I use the term Plot Point, but to my way of thinking, calling it a progressive complication is the clearest way of understanding what it is.

Aren’t Progressive Complications Everywhere?

Yes, and no. Your character should face as many or few complications as your story calls for. And all complications should become increasingly difficult for your protagonist to overcome. Complications can be part of a subplot. Sometimes those complications reveal different strengths or weakness that come into play during the story. Sometimes they have purposes specific to your story.

And no, progressive complications that are plot points shouldn’t be everywhere because these key complications occur in specific areas of your story and keep making things worse for your protagonist.

The First Plot Point 

This is a complication that happens around the 25% mark of the story. It is a progression of the inciting incident. In other words, if the inciting incident didn’t happen, this Plot Point wouldn’t have happened. In addition, this Plot Point should present a more difficult internal or external obstacle for your protagonist. (If you can do both, yay you!) 

The protagonist cannot overcome this complication in the same way she overcame the inciting incident. Plus, her choices here will cost her something. Her choice also forces her toward the mid-point complication of your novel. 

The Second Plot Point 

This Plot Point happens at the 50% mark of the story. It’s no surprise then that it is often called the mid-point. The obstacle and choices your protagonist has made so far have led her to this even more challenging obstacle. It’s at this point the protagonist realizes she didn’t have a clear idea of what problem she faced before now. Now she has a clearer idea of what she is about to face and exactly what it’s going to cost her. This understanding propels her toward the final conflict.

The Third Plot Point 

The third, or final Plot Point, happens around the 75% mark of your story. Again, it directly results from the choice the protagonist made during the previous Plot Point. Now, the protagonist learns something of importance that will help her overcome the final conflict.

This last Plot Point is also when your protagonist finally understands how much she will lose, even if she overcomes this obstacle. Take your story’s tension up several notches by making her face a dilemma. This Plot Point forces the protagonist into the final confrontation with the antagonist.

Note A: If you follow something other than the three act structure, you may have more plot points. Regardless of how many there are, keep cranking up the difficulty and building toward the final show-down. 

Note B:Precise positions of these plot points are unnecessary, but the closer you are to the mark, the less likely your reader will get too impatient to finish the book.

Types of Complications

Progressive complications sounds well, complicated. Fortunately, the concept only sounds complicated. There are two basic types of complications in stories: Revelatory and Action.

A Revelatory complication is where new information comes to light. This information can change the way the protagonist understands the complication or the overall story problem. It can be information about the location, the situation, an upcoming event, about the antagonist. It can be a clue that is only partly understood. The key factor is that it changes something about the situation, so the protagonist must change her strategy to move forward.

An Action complication is when someone does something that forces the protagonist to change his strategy. 

Link the Plot Points

You, the writer, have to make your protagonist’s journey more difficult. Use a revelatory progressive complication or an active progressive complication that arises because of the previous complication. 

 If you are writing a romance, a revelatory progressive complication could be that she learns her heart’s desire is the sort of person she’d never marry. In a thriller, your protagonist could learn of an impending danger to herself, her loved ones, or her world that she doesn’t know how to solve but only she can prevent.

Each time, the protagonist gets a new glimpse or new understanding of the big bad obstacle or person standing in the way of her achieving her goal. That glimpse or new bit of information added to her previous knowledge and events, limiting the choices she has and forcing her to change what she does next. 

The stakes go higher with each complication. Each change or choice she makes seals off all other ways out of her situation. There is no turning back. For ill or for good, she must charge forward into the next Plot Point all the way to the final confrontation. 

Example: Star Wars: A New Hope

Inciting Incident: Luke finds Obi Wan Kenobi to give him the Princess’s message and learns about the Force.

Plot Point One: After finding his aunt and uncle dead, Luke goes with Obi Wan to help the Princess and learn about the Force. (He has dreamed of adventure, and now has nowhere else to go.)

Plot Point Two, The Midpoint: After a tractor beam pulled their ship on board, Luke and company discovers the Princess is a prisoner on the Death Star and decides to rescue her. (If he hadn’t seen her message to Obi Wan, he wouldn’t have been in the ship, tractor beamed aboard the Death Star, or wanted to rescue her.)

Plot Point Three: Luke and company make it back to the ship because Obi Wan is battling Darth Vader. Luke watches Obi Wan allow Darth Vader to strike him down. (Luke can’t continue training with Obi Wan and can’t allow Obi Wan to have died in vain, so he moves forward toward the final confrontation.)

3 Signs of an Ineffective Plot Point

1. Your reader doesn’t connect with your protagonist, or care about her goals, or doesn’t care about the antagonists.

Problem: Your character isn’t deep enough. 

Solution: 

• Avoid stereotypes and cliches. How? Your first thoughts are usually something you’ve experienced or read or seen in the past. Push beyond that. Brainstorm ways to make your character different. Make the difference more than skin deep.
• Give your character a life beyond the book. Figure out what her important relationships and life events were before the book begins. How did she think her life would progress from there? Will her relationships, job, important life events change after the book’s ending?
• Show more of your character’s inner thoughts and emotions. 
• Give enough of your character’s background that your reader understands why her goals are important, what she fears, and how far she’ll go to get her goal. 
• Give her a flaw that could make her unable to reach her goal. Then use that flaw to increase the reader’s tension.
  Hint: Make her unaware of her flaw. Or have her think of it as a strength. Then, when it interferes with her goal, it will heighten the reader’s tension 
• Incorporate some bit of your own personal, emotional experience into her story. Chances are, that bit will make her seem more human and therefore more relatable.

2. The protagonist conquers each complication with little or no difficulties.

Problem: There’s too little challenge.

Solution: 

• Show your character stumble because of her flaw(s). 
• Make her fail at least once. 
• Show her faltering because of the pressure. 
• Give her a secret that’s in danger of being revealed because of her situation.  
• Give her an opponent that is as strong as she and has a reasonable chance of winning the fight. 
• Make her do something that hints at an extraordinary skill she is hesitant (with good reason) to use and she must overcome her hesitation to use it during the final confrontation. 
• Make her experiences in this story force her to change in an important way. Your reader wants to take the ride, to feel the struggle. 
• Have her struggle to overcome her flaws and her obstacles. Make her earn her wins.

3. Someone else solves the protagonist’s problem. Or the conflict doesn’t cost the protagonist. Or the protagonist’s triumph at the end is unbelievable.

Problem: Conflict is not big enough.

Solution: 

• Make certain what the protagonist wants and what obstacles she faces have a connection. Obstacles that simply delay are not satisfying.
• Be certain to show the reader, more than once, why your protagonist believes this fight is worth it.
• Show that she has good reason to doubt her ability to win.
• Make it cost your protagonist dearly to keep going, to overcome her obstacles, to battle her foe.
• Make her fear the consequences of losing and winning. 
• Force the protagonist to betray herself. 
• Push the antagonist and protagonist together. 
• Show the antagonist’s strength, abilities, or needs.
• Make the antagonist as strong or stronger (in personality or abilities) than the protagonist. 
• Make the protagonist’s choice the tougher than she wants to face.

Note: Even if the conflict is small in real life, it must be of vital importance to the protagonist. 

Outlining Destroys My Fun/Creativity 

Story structure doesn’t have to destroy your work flow. You can apply story structure whenever it works best for you and your writing. Some writers start with a basic outline, others create detailed outlines before they write. Those are not the only times you can use story structure. You can write your outline scene by scene as you write. Or you can write your story from beginning to end. Then, during a second or later draft, apply your story structure. Maybe each story you write will require a different structure or time when you apply structure. 

Structure is a Strategy

Some of you have done your homework and have assimilated the skills needed to create powerful plot points. Some of you use story structure instinctively. If either of those are you, go you! 

If you haven’t started studying story structure, don’t stress about it. None of us know it all. Keep writing, keep reading, and keep learning. Story structure can be a lot of challenging work. Rise to that challenge and you will have a much stronger, more compelling story for your readers.

Do you intuitively or deliberately use story structure? If deliberately, when do you think about structure?

About Lynette

Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, Yorkie wrangler, and occasional stained glass technician. She writes character-driven science fiction exploring the power of choice, identity, transformation, and unimagined heroism.

Her fast-paced series the Fellowship Dystopia, takes place in 1961 and America’s a theocracy. Following the rules isn’t optional. Not even for one of the elite. The first two books, My Soul to Keep, If I Should Die, and the companion book, Fellowship, are available on Amazon and all online bookseller sites. She is hard at work on the third book of the series, And When I Wake.

Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not procrastinating by not doing housework or playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next book. Join Lynette online at https://lynettemburrows.com, Facebook.com/LynetteMBurrowsAuthor, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows. 

Image Credits

Top Photo by Stephen Monroe on Unsplash

Second Photo by Roger Bradshaw on Unsplash

by Lisa Norman

There's a hole in the bucket.

When I work with writers on their marketing, everyone has a firm opinion about newsletters. Many authors come to me aggressively denying their need for a newsletter. "You can't make me do one!" Others say they know they need one, but they don't know how to start. I've watched authors build their following from nothing. In this multi-part series, I want to show you not just why, but how you can build your newsletter following.

To start, let's change the definition of "newsletter," A newsletter is an email that you write to your superfans. Get rid of all other preconceived ideas about what that looks like and return to this basic definition.

Authors who don't have an email list that people can sign up for are losing a direct connection with their fans. In marketing funnels, everything brings people back to the signup forms. If you don't have an email list, your funnel can work better than any other funnel in the universe and it will fail because there's no bucket to catch your readers.

Why I believe in newsletters.

I've worked with quite a few clients with highly monetized platforms. They've built up their followings, and they have products that sell well. These are the ones where you can see immediately the value of an email list. I love it when you can track sales on a site, and you can hold the graph of sales up to the graph of when those emails go out.

There's a reason marketing professionals push writers to have an email list: they work. The email list that an author maintains is the most powerful tool they have for selling books.

Your email list is a direct connection between you and people who want to buy your books.

Why some newsletters work, and others don’t.

Some authors know their fans. They know what their fans want, and they give them exactly what they want. Others struggle with finding an audience.

Look in your email box for the next few days. Pay attention to which newsletters you throw away and which ones you open. Which ones do you open first? Why? Do you have a newsletter that you look forward to? Is there one that you would even pay money for? (Substack is a growing platform for monetized newsletters. Yes, people pay to receive newsletters.)

Why do you open some newsletters, save others, and delete most of them? The ones you keep have something for you, something you specifically want. You know you can trust those authors to deliver. Others are a waste of your time. You're busy. That author didn't respect your needs, and so you didn't even open the newsletter. Remember this when you put your newsletters together.

Finding your audience

We can find our audience in one of several ways: with a blog, with a newsletter, or with our books. Blogging and writing newsletters are a much faster way to connect with an audience than writing books! You can experiment with blogs and newsletters. You can also experiment with books, but they require a much greater time and energy investment. If you've learned to connect with your audience through your newsletter, you'll also be able to focus your books so that they'll delight your readers.

You're going to start small.

If you write in a genre with a well-defined readership, then you may be able to participate in a newsletter promotion or newsletter swap to grow your audience.

But most writers aren't that lucky. Most build up their fan base slowly over time, and that's okay.

Quality over quantity

I've seen some writers buy lists or participate in promos and get a bunch of signups only to end up with a list that is barely functional. It isn't the number of emails you have on your list. It is the number of true fans that you have. 10 true fans are worth more than 100 people who signed up to win a prize.

As your list grows, you will run into challenges: sending limitations, cost increases, and more. If that list is strong and clean, these issues will be irrelevant because the list will be generating income and paying for itself — more on that in a moment. If that list is weak, I've seen writers decide to scrap the list and start over. Don't get yourself into that situation. Be content with a smaller list, and let it grow over time. Remember: we don't just want to write good newsletters: we want sharable newsletters. Sharable newsletters will find new fans.

How can an email list earn its keep?

When you think of monetizing your newsletters, maybe you think of Substack or other subscription-based platforms like Ko-fi, Ream, or Patreon. And those work, but there are other ways that your newsletter will support itself:

• Improving your discoverability
• Increased book sales
• Super-charging your fan base so they will tell others about you, share your newsletters, and purchase your books

Newsletter basics

A person's email address is a bit of personal information that has a high value. You're asking them to give you that email address and to allow you to put your messages directly in their inbox. That's a big ask! You want to make it easy for them to sign up.

Signup form on every page

Every page of your website should have a signup form. You may even want to include a signup button on your social media pages! Keep your signup forms simple: name and email address is enough. Sometimes just asking for the email address is enough! You don't need extra information. Sure, once you have a huge list, having more information can be helpful, but the more information you ask for, the less likely people are to sign up.

Pick a platform.

There are many platforms for sending newsletters. Most will let you send to a small list for free, but will charge as your list grows. MailChimp and MailerLite are both well-known and stable. My favorite for people with WordPress websites is a plugin called The Newsletter Plugin.

Why do I recommend one that no one has ever heard of? Because it lives on your website, alleviating privacy concerns. Their pro version also has all the tools of the more well-known platforms without a monthly minimum or per-subscriber fee. It does run on your website, so it will be subject to the limitations of your hosting. It integrates with tools like Send in Blue and Amazon SES to allow you to get around those limitations once you have a larger list. The Newsletter Plugin is fantastic for people just starting to build a list, but it has the power to handle lists of 10,000 or more!

Make sure your email reaches their inbox.

Look, technically these emails are promotional emails, so many email providers will filter them out. Increase your chances by setting up a branded email address (you@yourname.com) and then send a test email to Mail Tester (https://www.mail-tester.com/) to make sure that there aren't any technical difficulties. Mail Tester is a website that will check your newsletter and diagnose any problems that might cause it to go to spam.

Sometimes fixing the problems can take a bit of work, but there's no point in sending out an email that never reaches its destination! The best email in the world won't do you any good if no one receives it.

Create a template.

Keep it simple! I have a client who sends out a newsletter that is designed by a graphic artist. The content is on point and people pay to receive it. The #1 complaint she receives is that it is over-designed. People want simple, easy-to-read newsletters. Bonus points if they can be read easily on phones. Don't try to get fancy. Don't set yourself up with grand expectations and elaborate patterns you need to follow each month. Make it simple to send and easy to read.

Be welcoming.

Write a welcome email that goes out whenever someone signs up. If you want to be fancy, you can create a series of welcome emails. You can even create different ones depending on where people sign up. But know that you don't have to be fancy. Just a simple welcome email will suffice. You want people to know that you value them. Let them know what to expect from you. Let them know they've come to the right place.

Do you have a newsletter? What has your experience been with it? Share your wins AND your horror stories!

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter or check out her brand new classroom!

By Lori Freeland

As writers, we have seasons. Seasons when our muse visits daily. Seasons when the muse packs up and moves to Mexico. Seasons when life comes in swinging and sucker punches us in the gut.   

We have some control over the muse. We can learn to be disciplined, make “butt in seat” a priority, show up even when we aren’t feeling it, and work to find our writing groove. You’ve probably heard all the tips and tricks for writer’s block. There are a lot of great ideas out there.

But what about when life sucker punches you in the gut? Sometimes writer’s block has nothing to do with laziness or lack of organization or bad time management. Sometimes it’s about being physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, where no matter how much you want to write, you just can’t.   

I’m talking about when you’re:

• dealing with a financial crisis
• going through marital issues or a divorce
• relocating across the county and leaving your support system
• struggling with your mental health
• struggling with your kids’ mental health
• suddenly a caretaker to a parent or other family member
• diagnosed with cancer or a chronic illness
• someone you love is diagnosed with cancer or a chronic illness
• dealing with grief and loss

As someone who’s walked through six of the above, I’ll tell you that no amount of discipline can break through the mental and physical exhaustion of being kicked to the curb by life. Not right away, anyway.

5 Things to Try When Life Gets in the Way

If you can relate, I’d like to offer 5 things to try when life throws a roadblock between you and writing. Because even in the toughest seasons, the artistic piece of you is still in there. As a creative, “creativity” is part of who you are. It’s part of your soul. And it longs to be fed. I’d love to say I figured these things out right away. But that would be a lie. Instead, I learned from my mistakes. Here’s what I wish someone would have told me:

1. Tune out the destructive voices.

Just because you’re not writing, it doesn’t make you a quitter. You’re not giving up your dreams. You haven’t lost yourself. This is a season. It may last longer than you want, but things will change. Life doesn’t stay the same. Look back at last year. And the year before. Writing may take a backseat today. But it isn’t going away forever. Hang onto that and learn to be okay with it.

2. Take care of yourself.

Start with the basics. Sleeping. Eating. Exercising. Without them, the hard things can feel impossible. No one functions well when they don’t take care of their bodies. Prioritize you whenever you can. Consistently being good to yourself gives you room to be creative.   

3. Talk to your muse.

Then listen to what it says. Feeding your soul is just as important as feeding your body. Let your creativity come out in other ways. Embrace what helps. Release what doesn’t. Take up doodling, knitting, sculpting, journaling, painting, cooking, whatever outlet gives you peace or brings you joy—even for a second. Just because you’re not writing doesn’t mean you’re not creating.

4. Today is all you have to deal with.

Say it. Believe it. Walk it out. Forget about counting the hours in a day and focus on budgeting your energy instead of your time. What you feel like you can accomplish won’t be the same every day. If you have the energy, jot down a story idea or write 500 words in your WIP. If you’re drained by noon, watch reruns of Gray’s Anatomy and cry on the couch. And don’t feel guilty about it. Guilt sucks energy and serves no purpose.

5. Take a break—for now.

Life will get better. Even if it doesn’t seem like it. I’m a walking testimony to this. And I’ve been through some pretty terrible stuff. Writing is a muscle. Like your stamina for biking or jogging or swimming, it may get out of shape temporarily. But you can get it back with some practice. When you’re ready to embrace “butt in chair” on a regular basis, take it slow. Set small goals that will boost your creativity, not tear it down. Baby steps are still forward progress.

Have you walked through hard times? Felt like you lost that creative part of yourself? What worked for you? Better yet, what didn’t? Realizing we’re not alone can be powerful. Knowing someone else stumbled through the dark tunnel and came out on the other side is the kind of encouragement that can carry us as we limp along. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share them in the comments.

About Lori

Lori Freeland wrote her first story at age five. It wasn’t good. But it left her with a firm belief that everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she holds a BA in psychology from The University of Wisconsin and lives in the Dallas area. She’s presented multiple workshops at conferences across the country and writes articles, novels, and everything in between. When she’s not curled up with her husband and dogs drinking too much coffee and worrying about her adult kids, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head. You can visit her at lorifreeland.com or lafreeland.com.  

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Some accidents were meant to be. 

Gabe isn’t a werewolf. He just plays one on TV. 

Jess isn’t a guy magnet. She just writes about teen romance. 

TV heartthrob Gabriel Wade has never met a party he couldn’t rock, a problem he couldn’t dodge, or a crowd he couldn’t play. Homeschooled Jessica Thorne has never met a party she couldn’t wallflower, a problem she couldn’t stress over, or a crowd she couldn’t escape. But they both know what it’s like to lose someone—someone who’s still here. 

After a hotel escalator dumps Jess into Gabe’s spotlight and he unknowingly hijacks her first kiss, he decides she’ll be the perfect decoy for the paparazzi—if he can convince her to play his “girlfriend of the week.” Jess wants nothing to do with TV’s Hottest Hairball or his Hollywood ego. And by the time she figures out he isn’t who she thought, it might be too late to admit she needs him as much as he needs her. Even if he wants her for real. 

Buy it on Amazon today

Lori Freeland author/editor/writing coach   lorifreeland.com (young adult & contemporary romance fiction)  lafreeland.com (inspirational blog & resources for writers)  Buy Now | Amazon Author Page