Visit from a favourite blogger - Paula Roe Writing Workshop, Pain-free Plotting (even for Pantsers).

Hi friends and visitors!

I've not found a spare moment to blog as I've been delighted to be hosting a visit from a favourite blogger friend and editor, Nas Dean and her lovely husband Rajesh, from Fiji. This of course entails much driving around, showing them our paradise.

Nas and Rajesh on Noosa's Main Beach

Yes, the same lovelies who insisted my husband and I house-sit while they went to the States last year. What a time we had in Fiji...and what a lot of writing I got done in such inspirational surroundings. My first novel, set in Fiji and in its final edits, is about to be subbed to Harlequin Escape (in Australia). I'll let you know how I go...

Meanwhile, Nas' main reason to visit was to attend the Australian Romance Readers convention, an international event, which is being held in a hotel about 3 minutes from my Brisbane apartment. This convention brings together romance readers, authors and publishers and provides opportunities to talk about all things related to romance fiction.  This year will feature heavy hitting award-winning authors Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent as keynote speakers.

Yesterday, I attended a Pain-free Plotting (even for Pantsers) workshop by Paula Roe with Nas and my writing group friends, Charmaine Clancy and Jillanne Harrison. Awesome time at the Carindale Library -- and it was FREE! 

Nas, Myself, Charmaine, Jillanne busily plotting

Paula Roe and Nas

Paula used the Hero's Journey as the basis of her Pain-free Plotting workshop. Note our colourful sticky notes above. Most of us are familiar with the Hero's Journey pattern of narrative which originates (as far as I know)  from Joseph Campbel's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1949. 

Most, if not all stories, follow this structure (even Harlequin romances!) up to a point. Paula is a visual teacher, and the way she had us plotting our hero's journey using different coloured Post-it notes for Act 1, Act 11 and Act 111 of our story made it just that little clearer. Those around me all decided we had the elements covered -- up to a point.

As Paula said, even if you're a pantser and rush headlong into your story after getting that fabulous story idea, the Hero's Journey checklist is a very useful tool to use when editing that first draft. 

For anyone who may not know the Hero's Journey steps, or who didn't click on the link above, they are below. I found it useful to think of a favourite story as we did this exercise--The Hunger Games is a good example that most of us probably know. I can easily visualise these steps...modernised with some Roe-isms and Covey-isms.

ACT 1: (The Setup) Pose a Plot Question.

1.  The ORDINARY WORLD of the hero--establishes the characters in their everyday lives--this may take pages, or just be a simple sentence. Can also be told using backstory, but don't clutter the beginning of your story with too much backstory. 

2.  The CALL TO ADVENTURE--showing an extra-ordinary character in an ordinary world, with the potential to embark on a quest. 

3.  The DENIAL of the call--a crisis point. Here you establish their external goal. Usually transplanted into another world. 

4.  ...followed by ACCEPTANCE--character fully focused on his/her external goal...then your hero walks through the door...into ACT 11...

ACT 11: (Where the story unfolds) 

All about tests--failing them, learning, failing some more...finally passing them.

5.  Hero enters the NEW WORLD/LEARNS THE RULES,

6.  ...then ALLIES/ENEMIES are revealed, 

7.  ...followed by FAILING TRIALS, 

8.  ...then the hero reaches the POINT OF NO RETURN. He/she wants to go back to his/her ORDINARY WORLD, but cannot.

This is the Midpoint of your novel. If your midpoint is saggy, problematic, as Paula said, your hero may not have come up against enough obstacles, or his goal may need to be revisited.

9.  There's no going back, so the hero is now FAILING, 

then finally PASSING TRIALS. This reveals your hero's resilience, yet he/she is not perfect.

10. Then we have TIME OUT/HERO'S MASK IS REVEALED--to him/her self. This is usually portrayed through Internal Dialogue, but not always.

11. GUT PUNCH TIME! OMG! The reader asks--is that really going to happen? It is not totally a Black Moment, but it seems like it. How will the hero act under pressure?

12. NOOOOOOOOOO! At the beginning of your story, you asked a question...now the reader wonders if this is the answer! But of course it isn't!

The reader is left hungry for more...can't put your book down at this stage. So...the stage is all set for ACT 111.

ACT 111: (Climax/Resolution) It's a wrap! You must answer the original plot question asked at the beginning of your story.

13. THE ROAD BACK -- I wanna go home, cries the hero! He/she tries to leave, to go back to their ORDINARY WORLD.

14. TIME OUT -- again. Revelation. Decision time. The 'Ah-ha!' moment.(Internal dialogue...thinking...lull in action.)

15. PLOT CLIMAX/FINAL LESSON -- the gut-wrenching personal Black Moment for the hero. Boo hoo!

16. RESOLUTION -- Wrap up. Everyone's happy (at least in a romance). The hero returns. Others are affected by the changes in the hero. 

Paula recommended Michael Hague for some excellent articles regarding plotting. He is a very successful Hollywood screenwriter. 

Of course I learnt a lot more at Paula's workshop, but I'm sure you're worn out by now! Do visit Paula's website. She has some yummy stuff for writers.

• I hope you enjoyed The Hero's Journey. Do you use this pattern of narrative, or do you follow another method? I know there are several others, but I think, to a certain extent, most popular fiction follows The Hero's Journey. Do you agree/disagree?

RomanticFridayWriters are Driven to Murder in March. We want 1,000 words of prose or poetry on murder most foul. Go to the RFW Challenge Page for more details. Sign up soon! You'll see the linky here or on the RFW website.

Plot Ideas, Characters, Wordy Details

A short paraphrase from a recent Pep Talk from Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted) revving up NaNo writers:

When you run out of plot ideas, write about setting and what each character is wearing, in exquisite wordy detail. When you run out of setting and apparel, write about the voice quality of each speaker, speech mannerisms, facial ticks, body language. Hey! That sounds like me on a good day!

Now that I've cleverly downloaded the word count widget from NaNo Fun Stuff, I don't have to be so pedantic about my progress. Saturday I was a bit of a social butterfly for once, so only got about 700 words written and I've decided my brain is going to hurt if I don't take a day off, so Sunday I wrote zilch. I also gave the local Write In the flick. My fingers itched every time I looked at the computer but I stuck to my guns. I confess I had a bit of a play with my blogs etc.

I'm pretty happy how my story is going, but I have a love triangle coming up and I don't know who the heroine is going to end up with. Hmmm. I hope they can sort it out.

Happy writing everyone!

Questions to ask yourself about your novel

Day Three 3/11 - Tuesday - Words 2874 (9336)
Day Four 4/11 - Wednesday - Words 1771 (11,107)


A very useful little set of notes came my way courtesy of my local Nano region. They are good to check every now and then.

1. Character

• How can I make the actions/reactions of the characters believable?
• Have I provided enough background to understand the characters?

2. Setting

• How can I make the setting contribute to the tone, theme, plot of the narrative?

3. Plot

• How can I make the plot believable?
• Do the characters have a significant role in the plot?
• How can I make the plot fresh and original?

4. Theme

• What larger issues do I want readers to think about as a result of my novel?

5. Dialogue

• Is the dialogue natural?
• Does the dialogue develop the characters and plot?
• Does the dialogue show action?

Notes from Book in a Month, by Vl Schmidt and Writing for Emotional Impact, by K. Iglesias