Flights of Fantasy

I’ve run across some excellent articles on writing-related subjects in the last few days. Let me share them with you.

First up, check out Jim VanPelt’s post on Teaching Plot to Young Adults. I like his premise (and not just for kids):

When I teach plot to kids I center on the definition that a story is a significant event or events that happen to someone.  I like this starting point because I can stress the key words, “significant,” and “event.”  The first word means that the events have to matter to some one, and the second means that something has to happen.

Next, let me direct your attention to J. Steven York’s article, A Series of Unfortunate Events–Is Not A Story.

Steve:

No, this is not a rant about about Lemony Snicket. It’s suggested by a number of posts I’ve seen from professional writers on various private lists lately. They’re talking about something that happens to every writer at one point or another.

I really got a handle on my work as a professional writer when I pursued what people in HVAC would call my personal writing setpoint.

So much of writing is going where the fear is. Fear is power, and a lot of writers don’t want to go there.