Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Boy Meets Girl

Ciao, SEers. Last time I was here, I talked about the first of Vonnegut’s five basic plots, Man in Hole, which you can find by clicking the link. Today, I’m going to talk about the second, Boy Meets Girl. As I mentioned last time, Vonnegut plotted all stories on a grid. The vertical axis was …

Basic Plots: Vonnegut’s Man in Hole

Ciao, SEers. I’m back again to talk about story structure (admittedly an obsession of mine). Love him or hate him, one of the twentieth centuries most influential and prolific authors was Kurt Vonnegut. Though he studied at some of our nation’s finest institutions (including my alma mater), he never studied writing. And when he wrote …

The Bag of Marbles

Hi, Gang! Craig with you again, and it’s time to manipulate one of my old parenting lessons into a writing post. This involves advice to my children, which they hated, but still seems to bear some merit. A few years ago I posted about the Plate of Peas approach to story. It was a moderate …

The Secret of my Success – Maybe

Hi, Gang. Craig with you again today. Honestly, there is a fudge in that title, because it depends upon what you call success. If you’re all about sales, volume, and bestseller lists I don’t have success. I’m more motivated by delivering a good story that readers will enjoy. In that regard, I’ve been quite successful …

It’s Time to Start Planning #NaNoWriMo

Hello,  SEers! It's a Mae Day on Story Empire. Thank you for joining me. In a few months, the writing world is going to embrace NaNoWriMo. If you’re new to the term, it’s a commitment that writers undertake each November. The goal is to write a 50K novel in thirty days. Accomplish that word count …