[{"_id":"resources-for-writers-on-the-web","title":"Resources for Writers on the Web","description":"An ever-growing compendium of valuable tools and resources for writers gathered from around the Web.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2021-06-17T00:00:00.000Z","menus":["blog"],"path":["blog"],"topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"body":"

In my travels through the Web, I'm often stumbling across valuable tools and resources for writers, so I thought I\n would start collecting, organizing, and sharing them. I've only just begun, so the list is not yet exhaustive, but\n please do check back often and let me know in the comments or contact me if you know of\n something I should add.

\n\n

ACX: ACX is a marketplace where authors, literary agents, publishers, and other Rights Holders can connect with narrators, engineers, recording studios, and other Producers capable of producing a finished audiobook. \n If you’re a Rights Holder, you choose how you produce your audiobook—whether on your own or by engaging a Producer on ACX—and you choose among two royalty models. If you’re a Producer, ACX allows you to post a profile and be seen. \n Plus, you can be proactive and audition on ACX for posted titles. If you already created an audiobook and just want to sell it, ACX can help you.
AI-Writer: AI-Writer is an article generator that uses state-of-the-art AI writing models to generate content from just a headline.
Alliance of Independent Authors: A professional business membership organization for self-publishing authors. A non-profit that provides trusted advice, supportive guidance, and a range of resources, within a welcoming community of authors and advisors.
Alliance of Independent Authors Self-Publishing Advice Centre: A Self-publishing Advice Center, run as an author outreach service by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing: Self-publish eBooks and paperbacks for free with Kindle Direct Publishing, and reach millions of readers on Amazon.
BookBaby: Provides a variety of online services to help authors self-publish: book printing, eBook services, editing, book design, marketing services, educational resources for writers, templates, and more.
BookSweeps - Join a Promotion: \"The Smart & Easy Way to Grow an Audience for Your Books.\" BookSweeps runs genre-oriented contests featuring multiple authors, helping them grow their BookBub followers, newsletter subscribers, or \n followers on specific social media sites. Readers then choose which authors they are interested in.
Campfire: At the moment, there is not a very succinct description published about this tool other than, \"Develop characters, build worlds, weave plotlines, and write your stories.\" I haven't tried it yet, so I can't say anything about it, good or bad.
Capitalize My Title: A tool that makes title capitalization easy. Automatically capitalize and case convert to Title Case (in AP, APA, Chicago, MLA, BB, AMA), sentence case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, and more.
Chicago Manual of Style Online, The: The venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. An indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, \n informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice. Trial subscription available. Paid subscription required for regular use.
CitationGenerator: This online editor allows you to write or paste text, select portions of the text, and then generate a citation in the APA, MLA, and Chicago citation formats. The tool supports creating citations for a book, webpage, magazine, newspaper, video, journal, blog post, image, audio, encyclopedia/dictionary, television, government publication, lecture notes, film/dvd, conference, or report.
Duotrope: Duotrope is a subscription-based service for writers and artists that offers an extensive, searchable database of current fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual art markets, a calendar of upcoming deadlines, a personal submission tracker, and useful statistics compiled from the millions of data points they've gathered on the publishers and agents they list. Subscriptions cost USD $5 per month or $50 per year, and all new subscribers get a free trial.
Findaway Voices: Audiobook distributor offering "40+ options to make your title available for sale across retail and libraries". Soon to be releasing Findaway Voices Marketplace, an audiobook creation platform to help you create for distribution.
Grammarly: AI-powered writing assistant provided as a free web browser extension. From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate writing errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.
Headline Studio: \"Write better headlines that will boost your traffic.\"
Hemingway Editor: In order to make your writing a lot more expressive and interesting you should try to vary the words you use as often as you can. It's just like Google Search for synonyms. Simply input a word to find unique variations (synonyms) of the word.
IngramSpark: "If you're looking to publish quality print books and ebooks, you've come to the right place! We also offer global book distribution and free resources to help you self-publish successfully. Once you write and format your book, we make it possible to share it with the world."
International Association of Professional Writers & Editors (IAPWE): An organization dedicated to providing helpful resources to writers and editors and disseminating helpful ideas and resources across the greater professional community in the form of outreach, blogging, networking and thought leadership. In addition to providing free resources for members, \n IAPWE is always seeking talented writers and editors to help create engaging, locally relevant, educational and inspirational content to help support its outreach efforts. IAPWE believes in paying its writers and editors a competitive wage, unlike many of the "content mills" and \n comparable low-paying clients and/or companies. The IAPWE is also dedicated to bringing the most updated, legitimate and vetted writing and editing job opportunities to its members.
just the punctuation: Paste in some text, then hit 'submit' to strip out everything but the punctuation! Why? See: What I Learned About My Writing By Seeing Only The Punctuation.
LitReactor: A community for writers & book lovers featuring online writing classes, writers' workshops, and columns, articles, reviews and more. LitReactor is a destination for writers to improve their craft; a haven for readers to geek out about books; and a platform to kickstart your writing goals.
Master Writer: A powerful suite of writing tools and reference libraries: Word Families (Adjectives, Adverbs, Nouns, Verbs), Synonyms, Phrases, Definitions, Rhymes, Speech Types, and more.
Medium: A social journalism/blogging platform that pays writers to write about whatever they choose. To read most content on Medium, readers pay for a subscription fee.
OneLook Thesaurus and Reverse Dictionary: This tool lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence. Type in your description and hit Enter (or select a word that shows up in the autocomplete preview) to see the related words.\n Personally, I think this is the best thesaurus on the Web; I use it all the time.
Plottr: Visual book planning software for writers featuring visual timelines. Use Plottr to track your characters and places. Brainstorm with notes and stay organized with tags. Comes with starter templates based on proven storytelling structures to help you kickstart your writing project. \n Export to Word & Scrivener.
ProWritingAid: A grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. Integrates with MS Word/Outlook, Google Docs, Scrivener, Open Office, and Final Draft. Available with subscription or one-time "lifetime" payment.
Quillbot: \"QuillBot's paraphrasing tool helps millions of people rewrite and enhance any sentence, paragraph, or article using state-of-the-art AI.\"
Reedsy: Reedsy is hard to describe because it has so much stuff: searchable and sortable lists of Book Promotion Sites, Book Review Blogs, Booktube Channels, Independent Publishers, Literary Agents, Literary Magazines. It features a Character Name Generator, a Pen Name Generator, a Plot Generator, Short Story Ideas, Writing contests, Writing Exercises, and Writing Scholarships. There is the ReedsyBookeditor, Free EPUB & PDF typesetting tool, ReedsyDiscoivery, to "Launch your book in style, " and ReedsyPrompts, a weekly short story contest. There is a marketplace for finding professionals to help with your book and more.
Scrivener: A powerful writing application for desktop and devices. "Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing."\n
Simily: "At Simily, our goal is to help writers reach new readers and get paid in the process."
Speechnotes: Speech to text online notepad (dictation through your web browser). Also features a Chrome Extension that allows you to voice type on any web page. Automatic transcription of recordings, YouTubes, & more.
Substack: \n "Substack is the simplest way to start a subscription publication, and the best place to grow it." \n If you want to build a newsletter and get paid by your subscribers, this is an increasingly popular option.\n
Synonym Finder: Like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.\n Features include: Readability Grade Levels, Dangerously Weak Adverb Hilighting, Highlighting of Words That Can\n Be Simpler, Highlighting of Passive Voice, Toggle Between Write and Edit Modes, Use Text Formatting and Keyboard Shortcuts. Available to test for free on the Web and, for a one-time purchase (not a subscription), is available as a desktop app for Mac OSX or Windows.\n
Unbound: \n A crowdfunding publisher that works for readers and authors. Readers back projects, choose rewards, and help\n spread the word. Authors pitch ideas and rally an audience. Unbound takes the best ideas and makes them\n real. Stated on the website, June 2021:\n
"Our community of 289,914 people from 206 countries have pledged £10,413,896 to fund 597\n projects — and counting — from bestsellers to award-winners."
\n
Vocal: A social journalism/blogging platform that pays writers to write about whatever they choose. Sort of like Medium, but newer to the scene.
Wet Ink: Create and teach classes around writing. Build deeply engaging workshops and classrooms centered on written assignments. Wet Ink supports various types of learning environments such as Classes, Workshops, Self-Paced Courses and Mentorship. Whether you run in-person, online or hybrid classes, they'll find a happy home at Wet Ink!
Writesonic: AI writing assistant that helps you generate high-quality, human-level blog posts, landing pages, emails, product descriptions, digital ads and more in seconds.

","layoutName":"SidebarRight","modified":"2022-01-26T19:41:29.635Z","ogImage":"","subtitle":"","features":[]},{"_id":"loneliness-and-a-shovel","title":"Prompt Writing - Loneliness and a Shovel","description":"A creepy little tale I wrote in response to a writing prompt.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2017-10-28T00:00:00.000Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":"

Writing prompt

\n\n

Prompt by Cameron Graham, Oct 25 2017, Writing Prompts Group, Facebook

\n\n

The loneliness was crushing. For six weeks, since the fever had taken her, there had been no one to talk to. The walls would not reply; the looming trees around the cabin had nothing to say; the winds only whipped his words away.

\n\n

Why did she have to be gone?

\n\n

He realized she did not have to be gone. Taking up his pick and shovel, he returned to the clearing where he had made her grave.

\n\n

Writing

\n\n

He dug madly into the earth. The moon watched over him throughout the night and then finally retired. As the sun rose, he carried her frail and withered body back to rest in her favorite chair beside the hearth where she had sat for all the years of his life. It was from that chair she’d taught him all the most important things to know.

\n\n

“You can’t keep that sweet young girl here, Jimmy,” Mama would say. And then she would wait patiently as he pinched his ears and shook his head and moaned and groaned in a fit of anger. She was always so patient. Always so gentle and wise.

\n\n

Jimmy picked maggots from her flesh and tossed them into the fire. He fetched her crochet needles and placed them gently in her hands. Laid the roll of yarn in her lap and arranged the blanket snug upon her shoulders.

\n\n

“I know, Mama,” he said. “Someone might a come lookin’ for that girl.”

\n\n

He waited for her to answer as she had done so many times before. He waited for her to say what she always said, and what he always hated to hear. That’s right, Jimmy. And you ought not have her in your bed when they come a knockin’.

\n\n

“But Mama,” he would whine.

\n\n

And “Now, Jimmy,” she would say, “you know better. You get that girl on outta here now.”

\n\n

He peeked through the door in his bedroom at the child. In the soft glow of the firelight, he could see that she was still there. Still sleeping. So, he sat on the floor by his mama and waited for her to tell him when it was time.

\n\n

As the day went on, she said many things, but never a sharp word. She never told him to take the girl on out. She had changed. The fever had softened her heart.

And Jimmy’s heart grew full. His loneliness was gone. He had someone to talk to. Like wise old friends, even the trees around the cabin had much to say. The winds sang like a jubilent chorus in their leaves.

\n\n

If she can stay, why do the others have to be gone too?

\n\n

He realized they did not have to be gone. Taking up his pick and shovel, he returned to the clearing where he had buried them.

\n","modified":"2021-05-07T18:08:06.695Z","path":["blog"]},{"_id":"quotes-for-writers","title":"Quotes for Writers","description":"A list of inspiring quotes from writers, for writers.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2017-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","modified":"2021-06-01T04:45:04.697Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":"

A list of quotes for writers – most often from writers, most often inspiring.

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The first sentence can’t be written until the final sentence is written.
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Creativity and ego cannot go together. If you free yourself from the comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly.
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Editing while writing is a terrible idea. Reviewing while writing is a terrible idea. Making retrospective story changes while writing is a terrible idea. There are cases where you might feel that you have to do some of those things, but you’d be better off if you didn’t. Just write the thing. That’s the single most valuable lesson I learned. Get the words out, almost without regard to what those words are. Keep going, at all costs.
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Habit is the bed of creativity. Tuck yourself in.
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Time constraints sharpen the mind.
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Inspiration is everywhere. Carry a notebook.
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The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightening.
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Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration.
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The two most engaging powers of a writer are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.
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It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.
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It’s hell writing and it’s hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.
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Good dialog illuminates what people are not saying.
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My prescription for writer’s block is to face the fact there is no such thing. It’s an invented condition, a literary version of the judicial ‘abuse excuse’. Writing well is difficult, but one can always write something. And then, with a lot of work, make it better. It’s a question of having enough will and ambition, not of hoping to evade this mysterious hysteria people are always talking about.
\n

\n \n\n\n

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One of the biggest, and possibly the biggest, obstacle to becoming a writer is learning to live with the fact that the wonderful story in your head is infinitely better, truer, more moving, more fascinating, more perceptive, than anything you’re going to get down on paper.
\n

\n \n\n\n

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Be an unstoppable force. Write with an imaginary machete strapped to your thigh. This is not a wishy-washy, polite, drinking-tea-with-your-pinkie-sticking-out stuff. It’s who you want to be, your most powerful self. Write your books. Finish them, then make them better. Find the way. No one will make this dream come true for you but you.
\n

\n \n\n\n

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If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are\n numbered.
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\n \n\n\n

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When in doubt, make trouble for your character. Don’t let her stand on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come up behind her and give her a good hard shove. That’s my advice to you now. Make trouble for your character. In life, we try to avoid trouble. We chew on our choices endlessly. We go to shrinks, we talk to our friends. In fiction, this is deadly. Protagonists need to screw up, act impulsively, have enemies, get into trouble.
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\n \n\n\n

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The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.
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\n \n\n\n

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You don’t really understand an antagonist until you understand why he’s a protagonist in his own version of the world.
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\n \n\n\n

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Stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing to do is shovel shit from a sitting position.
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\n \n\n\n

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A good writer is always a people watcher.
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If you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it.
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\n \n\n\n

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I want your loves to be multiple. I don’t want you to be a snob about anything. Anything you love, you do it. It’s got to be with a great sense of fun. Writing is not a serious business. It’s a joy and a celebration. You should be having fun at it. Ignore the authors who say, oh my god, what work, oh Jesus Christ, you know. No, to hell with that. It is not work. If it’s work, stop it, and do something else.
\n

\n \n\n\n

\n
Writing isn't hard. Landmine removal is hard. There are so many things in this world harder than spending an hour a night pretending to be somebody else. I don't mean to minimize your pain, but let's recognize that writing is fun. It's when we don't write that we complain about how hard it is.
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\n \n\n\n

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Becoming a writer was partly a matter of acquiring technique, but it was just as importantly a matter of the spirit and a habit of the mind. It was the willingness to sit in that chair for thousands of hours, receiving only occasional and minor recognition, enduring the grief of writing in the belief that somehow, despite my ignorance, something transformative was taking place. It was an act of faith, and faith would not be faith if it was not hard, if it was not a test, if it was not an act of willful ignorance, of believing in something that can neither be predicted nor proved by any scientific metric.
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\n \n\n\n

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Like everyone, I know some big words, but I try my damndest not to use them.
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\n \n\n\n

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I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.
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\n \n\n\n

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Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.
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\n \n\n\n

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Don't look back until you've written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.
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\n \n\n\n

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I don't need time, I need a deadline.
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\n \n\n\n

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If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.
\n

\n \n\n\n

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Creative living is any life that you live where your decisions are based more strongly on your curiosity than your fear.
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\n \n\n\n

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Whatever the genre, I look for someone who is precise and economical in their style and hard-working in their prose. By that I mean they take the time to choose words that surprise me; they use metaphors that I've never heard before; and they avoid cliches like "The mortars slammed into the hillside." I don't want to read anything - not even a clause - that I've seen before. It's just a waste of everyone's time.
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\n \n\n\n

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One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?"
\n

\n \n","subtitle":"","path":["blog"],"layoutName":"SidebarRight"},{"_id":"scene-and-sequel-pattern-for-writers","title":"The Scene and Sequel Pattern for Writers","description":"This technique is one that can help you create a solid pacing with the powerful and emotional experience that readers crave.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2017-10-12T00:00:00.000Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":"

Aliases

\n\n

ACTION SCENE AND REACTION SCENE

\n\n

Context

\n\n

Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, you need to carry the reader through your story with a purposeful progression of logically connected events that ultimately lead to the resolution of a climax. How can you advance through your scenes in a way that creates a steady and consistent reading speed, or pacing, while also accounting for important factors such as building tension, developing characters, and describing setting? The Scene and Sequel technique developed by Dwight Swain in his book, Techniques of the Selling Writer, is one that can help you create a solid pacing with the powerful and emotional experience that readers crave.

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

Problem

\n\n

Portions of your novel may have the tendency to lag or drag and fail to create a deep emotional connection with the characters of your story.

\n\n

Forces

\n\n

Humans like patterns and readers like a pattern that establishes solid pacing through a novel while building tension, developing characters, describing setting, and advancing plot lines.
As a writer, you must use a pacing that helps create and maintain an illusion strong enough to deliver the powerful and emotional experience that readers crave – one that allows them to escape from the drudgery of the real world and a way to live vicariously through others.

\n\n

Solution

\n\n

Therefore:

\n\n

Alternate between the two variant types of scenes known as SCENE and SEQUEL. The SCENE is driven by a goal, conflict, and disaster. It is then followed by a SEQUEL, which contains a reaction, dilemma, and decision. The decision leads to a new goal which begets the next SCENE and, as such, the cycle repeats.

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

Rationale

\n\n

Scene and Sequel is a technique developed by Dwight Swain in his book, Techniques of the Selling Writer. It can help you create and maintain solid pacing while also guiding you to account for the factors that build tension, develop characters, describe setting, and advance plot lines.

\n\n

A scene has the following pattern:

Goal – what the character wants. Must be clearly definable
Conflict – an obstacle or series of obstacles that keep the character from the goal
Disaster – makes the character fail to get the goal

And a sequel has the following pattern:

Reaction – emotional follow through of the disaster
Dilemma – a situation with no good options
Decision – character makes a choice (which sets up the new goal)

\n\n

Example

\n\n

For a brief example, see Writing Patterns Into Fiction: Scene and Sequel.

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

Related patterns

\n\n

SCENE
SWAIN SCENE
SWAIN SEQUEL

\n\n

References and related external resources

\n\n

Ackerman, Angela (2015). Writing Patterns Into Fiction: Scene and Sequel. Retrieved: 2017-10-07.
Swain, Dwight V. (1965). Techniques of the Selling Writer. University of Oklahoma Press.
Weiland, K.M. (2013). Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story. Published by PenForASword.
\n
Weiland, K.M. (2012). Structuring Your Story’s Scenes, Pt. 1: Mastering the Two Different Types of Scene. Retrieved: 2017-10-07.

\n","modified":"2021-06-01T14:55:49.458Z","path":["blog"],"layoutName":"SidebarRight","subtitle":""},{"_id":"im-not-bored-im-thinking","title":"I'm Not Bored, I'm Thinking","description":"In order to think, sometimes you have to power through a little boredom.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2016-08-12T00:00:00.000Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":"

Last night, I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I went to bed without my laptop or smart phone. Once in the bed, I did not so much as peek at either screen. I didn’t even set an audiobook or podcast to playing as usual. I just laid there in the dark with nothing but silence and my very own thoughts. Not even a traditional printed book.

\n\n

As I laid there, for what seemed like forever, I was reminded of a conversation I often have with my son, which goes something like this.

\n\n

“Caden,” I say, “You’re not getting enough sleep.”

\n\n

“I can’t sleep,” he says.

\n\n

I look at the unshaven hair on his chin and neck. It itches me.

\n\n

“You know you need at least seven or eight hours of sleep per night,” I say. “How much sleep have you been getting?”

\n\n

“I don’t know. About four hours?”

\n\n

“If you’d stop going to bed so late, you wouldn’t be so exhausted and then, when you are awake, you would be more effective. Your mind will be clear. Your brain will work better. You won’t be so stressed.”

\n\n

“Yeah,” he says. “I tried that. It doesn’t work. I just lie there and I can’t fall asleep.”

\n\n

“So, just keep lying there until you do!”

\n\n

“It doesn’t work! I just lie there with my monkey mind, thinking about all sorts of things, and I never fall asleep.”

\n\n

And then he gets frustrated. I bark at him about shaving, or his unkempt hair, or his absences at school, unfinished business, or whatever. I’m always dispensing advice – like annoying drips of water on his forehead. I might as well be thumping him there with my finger. I can see from the way he diverts his eyes that it feels like that – endless criticism, not guidance.

\n\n

Anyway, so I’m lying there thinking about this. Thinking about that. Thinking about all sorts of things. Monkey mind, as my son said. And just like him, I can’t sleep.

\n\n

Still, I resist the swelling urge to grab my smart phone.

\n\n

And then it occurs to me. That monkey mind, all that noise in my head, is me. I’m am with myself, in myself, of myself. Even if my thoughts are in the past, or the future, I am experiencing them fully.

\n\n

I remembered that, as a boy, I once enjoyed this time before sleep. It was my chance to make movies in my mind. I would close my eyes, the lights in the theater would dim, and I would project my stories up there on the back of my eyelids. And I would enjoy them as much, if not more, than the real movies. I would work on them for nights in a row – changing up the scenes, introducing new characters and situations. And then, in the days, I would write or draw or tell stories and people would often ask “Where in hell do you come up with this stuff?”

\n\n

So, I try it again.

\n\n

Instead of just letting my mind jump around like a broken time machine, I direct my thoughts. I try to hold them on a single idea or question.

\n\n

At first, it’s very clear that I’m out of practice. Every little thing that comes to mind reminds me of something else – like an inbox full of spam. But, I concentrate. I heave my mind back out of the muck and return it to the idea. Back and forth it goes like this until alas, I’m thinking.

\n\n

I’m thinking!

\n\n

I’m not bored, I’m thinking.

\n\n

Since when did thinking become boredom?

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I like thinking!

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I like this place of thought. I like this spot here in the dark, in the bed – this perfect place for quiet contemplation. I like the silence. I can hear myself. I’m in good company.

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And then, maybe thirty minutes later, maybe an hour, maybe more, I fell asleep.

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I woke early, feeling fully rested – energized, but remarkably peaceful. I made a cup of hot tea. The house was quiet. I watched a hummingbird drink from the feeder just outside the window.

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I opened my laptop. I didn’t jump straight into the email. I didn’t open Skype. No Facebook. No Twitter. Not even the daily news. Just a blank page and a blinking cursor.

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I wrote.

","modified":"2021-05-07T18:28:55.778Z","path":["blog"]},{"_id":"story-structure-diagram","title":"Story Structure Diagram","description":"A story structure diagram to help you plan and plot your novel.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2016-04-02T00:00:00.000Z","modified":"2022-02-28T22:38:23.066Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":"

Here is a story structure diagram to help you visualize, plan, and plot your novel.

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$\"\"$

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LEGEND: Acts, Periods, Events, Points

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Details

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ACT I – The Beginning\n
- Hook – Grab the reader, provoke interest,and cause questions to be asked.
- Inciting Event – The event that sets the story in motion, and will lead to the Key Event.
- Key Event – The event that causes the protagonist to be caught up in the story.
- Plot Point 1 – A change of surroundings. A personal turning point. The point of no return for the protagonist.
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ACT II – The Middle\n
- Strong Reaction – The protagonist has a strong response to the 1st Plot Point.
- Pinch 1 – The antagonist’s presence and power are displayed.
- Plot Point 2 – The midpoint. The turning point of the novel. A change of direction for the characters. A push from reaction to action. A personal catalyst for the protagonist. A move to dramatic, new, fresh, different circumstances. The true midpoint is not a scene. It’s a moment within a scene. It’s like the earth’s core. The true center. Find it in your novel, and everything will radiate from it.
- Strong Action – The protagonist takes a strong action after the Turning Point.
- Pinch 2 – The antagonist’s presence and power are reaffirmed.
- Plot Point 3 – We are setup on our inexorable course towards the Climax. A low point for the protagonist. Perhaps a meeting between protagonist and antagonist? A decision? An upheaval? An unexpected event?
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ACT III – The End\n
- Increased Pace – The pacing will naturally increase (and chapter length will decrease) as we approach the Climax.
- Climax – The final 10% of the novel, where the core conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is brought to a conclusion.\n
  - Climactic Moment – The critical moment that fulfills the dramatic promise of the story.
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- Resolution – A brief hint (a scene or two) of how the story continues beyond the novel’s scope. A period of emotional recovery. A chance to spend another brief moment with the protagonist.
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Sources

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Although this is pretty standard for story structure, it is based primarily on a study of the book, Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story $\"\"/$ , by K.M. Weiland. She also has an excellent blog called Helping Writers Become Better Authors where you can find a treasure trove of tips on writing.

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Image Files

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For the original Adobe Illustrator master image, as well as a much higher resolution JPEG image, download Story Structure Diagram.zip (983.8 KB).

\n","path":["blog"],"features":[],"layoutName":"SidebarRight","ogImage":"","subtitle":""},{"_id":"trim-fat-from-your-content","title":"Trim Fat From Your Content","description":"An example-based reminder to make reduction a conscious part of your writing process.","thumbnail":"https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/codyburleson.com/images/thumbnail-writing-hand.svg","created":"2011-08-19T00:00:00.000Z","topics":["storycraft-and-writing"],"menus":["blog"],"body":" \n

Fat makes your Web content ugly. ~~Face it, friends – it’s a fact. So, I’m going to get straight to the point and leave you with the~~ Here’s the big tip now: Make REDUCTION a conscious part of your ~~Web authoring~~ writing process. Teach this to your ~~colleagues~~ friends. Have competitions in your office to ~~see who can~~ destroy ~~the most~~ useless words. ~~There is too much shit on the Web already and we just don’t need any more, dammit. Add value, be crisp, be succinct, or get off the pot.~~

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I’m reading the book, Getting the Words Right: 39 Ways to Improve Your Writing $\"\"$ , ~~in which Theodore Cheney provides 39 ways to improve your writing.~~ , by Theodore Cheney. He starts with ~~a section on reduction with~~ these key tips:

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Shorten or remove whole chapters, sections, and paragraphs
Shorten or remove superfluous, ineffective, or redundant sentences and words
Replace longer words with shorter ones

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~~Whether you’re writing a novel, an essay, an article, or an email, reduction should be first and foremost in your revision process.~~ With so many channels to choose from, and with so much traffic and noise online, trimming the fat from your content is more important now than ever. ~~In fact,~~ Studies suggest that 79 percent of Web users scan rather than read ~~. It’s not just some bull-shit from somebody trying to be famous, either.~~ I’ve witnessed it first-hand during formal Web usability evaluations. ~~As someone who loves to both read and write, I have been shocked…horrified…at witnessing this. But the scientist in me cannot ignore the evidence of my senses. It’s simple:~~

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Users don’t like to read a lot of crap, so cut it.

\n","modified":"2021-06-01T04:43:14.513Z","path":["blog"],"layoutName":"SidebarRight","subtitle":""}]

Topic: Storycraft and Writing