Story Development and Execution Part 6: Constructing Chapters

Ciao, SEers. Today is part six: chapter construction. I was surprised to find none of us has spent a great deal of time discussing the chapter as a discrete unit of a story. We gloss of things in a few posts, but never delve into chapter construction. (There is a post on scenes that might …

Story Development and Execution Part 5: Plot Development

Ciao, SEers. Today is part five: plot development. Here at Story Empire, we’ve covered different ways to plot a story (I covered Vonnegut, Booker, and Nutshell, and Craig has discussed three-act structure), so I’m not going to teach “plotting” today. Rather, I want to discuss how to develop a plot. Last time, we discussed dialogue …

Story Development and Execution Part 4: Dialogue

Ciao, SEers. We’re at part four of this series: dialogue. I’ve written two posts on the subject (101 and 201), and there are several others by my colleagues. Harmony has a series of tips, and John discusses tags and beats.  Today, my goal is to show how to use dialogue to reveal your story. The …

Story Development and Execution Part 3: Character

Ciao, SEers. As we bring February to a close, we reach part three of this series: characters. SE has quite a few posts on the topic. (Joan has a whole series on specific character types, Craig has a series on archetypes, Mae shows us how to use personality tests to develop characters, John discusses insensitivity, …

Story Development and Execution Part 2: The Story Bible

Ciao, SEers. Happy Groundhog Day! I hope Punxsutawney Phil isn't a disappointment to you. While I considered doing a time-loop post and circling back to the beginning over and over, I decided against it. (You’re welcome.) The gimmick would be cute, but this topic deserves serious consideration. Today is part two: the story bible. I …