When I started writing my first book, I didn’t plot. I chose a time period I loved and imagined a dynamic, larger-than-life hero and a heroine who was a lot like me. Since it was a romance, I knew it ended up with them together and happy. But that was all I knew. About three…
Tag: plotting
Writing Romance: Getting to Midpoint
Hello Campers! Are we back from holiday vacation yet? No, are we REALLY back from holiday vacation? Big confession – I forgot my deadline last week for this column. Rude awakening, that. Many thanks to Rachel for not beating me! Now I’m REALLY back. Remember at the beginning of this series, we talked about the…
Writing Romance: Crossing into Act Two
Welcome, Campers. Last month we approached the turning point that launches our duo into Act Two. By the end of Act One, your characters will likely have stated – either in their heads or actually out loud – that they want nothing to do with the other, nothing to do with a relationship with the…
Thrillers: Part 4 of 4: Plotting And Pacing
The key to any fiction is tension. Romantic tension, professional tension, survival, etc. In a thriller, the tension is primarily adversarial in nature. Here, whether our protagonist is striving for some sort of reconciliation, kumbaya moment with the antagonist or is willing to stop them at all cost, the thriller is driven forward by the…
Thrillers, Part 3 of 4: Villains
The villain in a thriller is generally not your run-of-the-mill murderer. He is someone with a goal in mind, and he is driving toward that goal, regardless of the damage he causes along the way. While he may enjoy that destruction, whether human (serial killer, assassin, strong-man dictator) or property (arsonist, bomber, unscrupulous land baron)…