Any writer will tell you there is a formula. There are rules. There are strategies for writing a winning book.
I'll be honest, I'm not currently a fan of GMC's (goals, motivations and conflicts). Although I understand the importance of them, it's frustrating to always need a reason for why something is happening, why someone feels a certain way, why a specific decision is made, why a thought was...thought. :)
Share with me. What writing component was the hardest for you to learn or pick up on? What area of your writing do you still struggle with?
I love craft books, and Katie Ganshert wrote a great post about this yesterday. If you haven't read it, you should.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it's about the story. Just write it. Because every story has a character who wants something, even if it's the man or woman. And conflict will come. It has to in order to be a story. So write it and then after you finish it, go back with what you've learned from craft books and tighten it.
I never follow a formula, but after I'm done writing and look back, all the elements are there, just not necessarily in the order some books tell us they should be. :)
I sometimes get frustrated by the plotting books that say, "At precisely the halfway mark, X should have happened and X should be about to happen." I recently read Jeff Gerke's book Plot Versus Character, and I loved how he presented all the components a novel can (and often should) have, but he also gives us freedom to use the components to their best effect in our own stories. It freed me from the percentage-plotting monster. :)
ReplyDeletePace. Pace kills me. Because it's so nebulous, I never know if I'm doing it right.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI've never followed just one formula. Just write, then take what you've learned to edit and tighten it.
Sometimes too much information is too much information. It clogs the brain.