Story Structure

Powerful Character Arcs Create Powerful Stories Have you written a story with an exciting concept and interesting characters—but it just isn’t grabbing the attention of readers or agents? It’s time to look deeper into the story beats that create realistic and compelling character arcs.

Uncover the Secrets to Creating Characters Readers Will Never Forget Award-winning author K.M. Weiland’s previous book, the acclaimed Creating Character Arcs, showed writers how to identify the five most important types of character arcs and use them to bring your own characters to life.

Get some insights into the rise and fall of a story and how you might improve the passing of your own novel.

Discover the Proven Blueprint for Creating Stories That Sell! Award-winning author K.M. Weiland’s previous book, the award-winning Structuring Your Novel, showed writers how to create stories with strong and compelling plot structure. Now it’s time to put those lessons to use!

Learn some tricks on how to structure and outline your story to create an engrossing story.

Learn How to Make Your First Draft Easy! Award-winning author K.M. Weiland’s previous book, the bestselling Outlining Your Novel, showed writers how to embrace outlines in a way that makes the writing process fun, inspiring, and easy. Now it’s time to put those lessons to use!

It may have been written for screenwriters, but the story structure that is presented seems to work for almost every story in existence. Get some solid advice to help with the pacing of your writing.

The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! story-structure series, which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success.Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriti...

What makes a romance novel a romance? How do you write a kissing book?Writing a well-structured romance isn’t the same as writing any other genre—something the popular novel and screenwriting guides don’t address. The romance arc is made up of its own story beats, and the external plot and theme need to be braided to the romance arc—not the other way around.Told in conversational (and often irreverent) prose, Romancing the Beat can be read like you are sitting down to coffee with romance editor and author Gwen Hayes while she explains story structure. The way she does with her clients. Some of whom are regular inhabitants of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.Romancing the Beat is a recipe, not a rigid system. The beats don’t care if you plot or outline before you write, or if you pants your way through the drafts and do a “beat check” when you’re revising. Pantsers and plotters are both welcome. So sit down, grab a cuppa, and let’s talk about kissing books.

Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling, the engineering and design of a story--and uses it as the basis for narrative. The greatest potential of any story is found in the way six specific aspects of storytelling combine and empower each other on the page. When rendered artfully, they become a sum in excess of their parts.

Structure is Character. Characters are what they do. Story events impact the characters and the characters impact events. Actions and reactions create revelation and insight, opening the door to a meaningful emotional experience for the audience. Story is what elevates a film, a novel, a play, or teleplay, transforming a good work into a great one.

This book is for developmental editing, but it is NOT an early craft book. This book assumes that you have some basic knowledge of storytelling. While it does define the terms, the way it is structured and presents ideas does require the more advanced writing knowledge. This book is for intermediate to advanced writers.

There is a lot more to the Save the Cat! model than was ever published in that first book by Blake Snyder. In fact, Blake share more of his ideas on his blog that spanned 4 years of materials. This book contains some of his more important blog post, including some of the information that was missing from the original book.

This book is your game plan for success. Using dozens of examples from his own work - including Dropshot, Tiebreaker and other popular novels - Jack M. Bickham will guide you in building a sturdy framework for your novel, whatever its form or length.

Super Structure represents over two decades of research on what makes a novel or screenplay entertaining, commercial, original, and irresistible. Contrary to what some may think, structure is not a nasty inhibitor of creativity. Quite the opposite. Properly understood and utilized, structure is what translates story into a form readers are wired to receive it.

And it is only when readers truly connect with your story that they turn from casual readers into fans.

This book delves into the story structure model that James Scott Bell uses himself to write his novels... and it's slightly different to the traditional three-act structure.

What's the best way to write a "next level" novel? Some writers start at the beginning and let the story unfold without a plan. They are called "pantsers," because they write by the "seat of the pants." Other writers plan and outline and know the ending before they start. These are the "plotters." The two sides never seem to agree with each other on the best approach. But what if it's not the beginning or the end that is the key to a successful book? What if, amazing as it may seem, the place to begin writing your novel is in the very middle of the story? According to #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell, that's exactly where you'll find your story's heart and heat. Bell's "Mirror Moment" is the secret, and its power is available to any writer, at any stage of the writing process.

Take advantage of the six most common transformational character arcs found in story. Use these beats to craft engaging stories.

Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat!® and Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies, is back with the book countless readers and students have clamored for.

This book fills in some of the things that were missing from the original, filling out the story structure model.

Suspense is one of the most powerful tools a writer has for captivating readers—but it isn't just for thrillers. From mainstream fiction to memoir, suspense creates the emotional tension that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot is your hands-on guide to weaving suspense into your narrative. Award-winning author Jane K. Cleland teaches you how to navigate genre conventions, write for your audience, and build gripping tension to craft an irresistible page-turner.

This book contains clear exercises, developing on the ideas presented in the book.