CREATING STORIES by Hank Quense

It’s a pleasure to be participating in the Blog Tour for CREATING STORIES by Hank Quense through MC Book Tours.

Do you have a story in you? Do you know how to write it or how to tell it? Well, CREATING STORIES has the answers. In addition, Hank is offering a tour-wide giveaway featuring of five (5) eBooks of CREATING STORIES and three (3) print copies of the author’s MOXIE'S PROBLEM (U.S. entries only). See how you can enter to win below. If you don’t want to wait to win a copy of CREATINGSTORIES, Hank is offering a special ‘half price’ sale that will only be available during his tour (March 20 through April 14).

Hank, the author of more than twenty books, tells you how to write your story. He believes that stories come from the melding of three elements: getting ideas, story design, and story-telling. Ideas have to come from the author. CREATING STORIES covers the last two.

Creating Stories
by Hank Quense

• Published by Strange World Publishing
• AVAILABLE April 1, 2017
• $8.99, 9947 KB, 105 Pages
• Genre: Fiction Writing
• ASIN: B01MZ6E3EM

          The book concentrates on developing characters including such rarely discussed requirements such as a dominant reader emotion and the character's biography.

          Plots are also covered in depth and a number of graphics are included to illustrate complex points. Another topic discusses subplots and how to utilize them and how to nest them within the main plot.

          A separate chapter discusses the relationship between the plot and the emotional arcs.

Other topics covered are character arcs, scene design, point-of-view, writing voice.

Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories.

He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He is currently working on a third Moxie novel that takes place in the Camelot era.

He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.

You can connect with Hank on his Amazon Author Page. You can check out the schedule and follow Hank’s tour by clicking HERE.

From Chapter 6 of Creating Stories

Constructing a plot

A plot consists of a series of events that connect the inciting incident to the story's climax.  

Events are not the same as incidents in this context.  What's the difference?  Events are major happenings or plot twists.  Incidents are everyday occurrences.   Humdrum and ordinary, they are the stuff that should be omitted from the story for the most part.  For instance, let's suppose a character wakes up in the morning.  If you then describe her routine of taking a shower, putting on makeup, selecting an outfit to wear to work and eating breakfast, these are all incidents.  You, the author, have to ask yourself why am I even writing about this stuff?  All it does is slow down the story, consume words and bore the readers.

However, if the woman's estranged husband replaced the water in the water heater with sulphuric acid, then the shower becomes an event: a very messy one.

Constructing a plot is a three-step process.  The first step is to come up with a plot problem for the characters to work on.  The second step is to develop the story's ending.  The third step is to develop a series of events to connect step one and step two.  After that, you are ready to write the first draft, provided all the other design work has been completed.

That's all there is to it, but don't be deceived by this simple formula.  It's hard work.

Step two may be a shock to some.  It may seem counterintuitive at first, but it isn't.  The purpose of a story is to take the reader on a journey from the beginning to the story's climax.  Everything in the story must take the reader closer and closer to the climax.  If you're writing a first draft and you haven't figured out the ending yet, how can you move the reader closer to the climax?  The story's climax doesn't exist yet.

Let's develop a generic plot path for a story.  

One: Hero recognizes the plot problem.

Two: Hero makes an effort to solve the plot problem and fails.

Three: A second and more serious effort also fails.

Four: A third desperate attempt ends in a disaster.

Five: A do-or-die attempt follows.

Six: The hero succeeds (or not).

In a short story, these steps could become the scenes in the story.  In a longer work, each step could be several chapters.

What's the point of all these successive failures?  To jerk the reader around emotionally.  As the protagonist repeatedly fails, the tension increases and the characters' emotions become stronger.  The tension and the emotions affect the readers and keep them turning the pages.

After step six, you need one more scene: the validation scene.  This scene describes what the reward is for all the hero's hard work.  Does he win the gold medal?  Does he get a big kiss from a beautiful woman?  Does he find the treasure?  The validation scene is the final scene in the story.  In a longer work, the validation scene can become the validation chapter as you wrap up all the loose ends.

All these factors contribute to a key element in the story construction: the story's emotional arcs.

~ ~ ~

If you have any questions or comments on this material, leave a note and I'll respond.

This tour-wide giveaway is for five (5) eBooks of CREATING STORIES and three (3) print copies of the author’s MOXIE'S PROBLEM (U.S. entries only). The prizes are courtesy of the publisher. The giveaway will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, April 18.

To enter, click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to check out Hank’s book.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway