As promised, I wanted to highlight various resources I found helpful through this process. Personally, I didn’t find out about these two books until much later in the process, but it’s never too late. For anyone thinking of writing, who has already started writing, has a finished piece but isn’t sure what to do next, or anything in between, check out this book by Larry Brooks, Story Engineering, Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing. Go to Amazon and search by the author’s name. You’ll find it without any trouble.
My writing had started out very scattered at first, just writing with no real clear direction. And I couldn’t tell you how many re-writes I did until I firmed up the plan for the story a bit more. Ultimately I ended up following the six core competencies, but I didn’t really know that’s what I was doing. The process would’ve been much less painful if my plan would’ve been in place earlier in the process. But, I’m not complaining. I have learned a tremendous amount about writing and about myself through this process. And part of what I’ve learned is that I will certainly be changing tactics on future writing projects.
Mr. Brooks has another book along similar lines, Story Physics, Harnessing the Underlying Forces of Storytelling. I have not yet read this one as of today, but I have it queued on my Kindle and ready to go once I finish Story Engineering.
Both of these books came highly recommended, well it was probably more like marching orders, from Joel D Canfield along the lines of: Cheryl, get these books and read them. They will help you!
I know to trust Joel’s advice, so I immediately looked up the books and got them.
More to come on publishing resources/info. In the interim, check out this video on The Hero’s Journey. Great information, and fun to watch, on story set up. Enjoy!