Writer Unleashed

There's an implicit, central dramatic question driving every compelling story.

Will Santiago catch a fish? (The Old Man and The Sea)
Will Clarice Starling catch Buffalo Bill? (Silence of the Lambs)
Did Kya kill Chase? (Where The Crawdads Sing)

The trick is drilling down to the essential question your story asks. Because that's what's urging your reader through to the end.

In this episode, you'll answer 3 questions to help your drill down to your story's central dramatic question. So grab a pen and paper, and let's do this together.

Episode Website

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

What should your first chapter do?  What does it need to accomplish? And what are common ways writers get their first chapter wrong?

In this episode, we'll talk about the primary aims of your first chapter, 5 common mistakes you may be making, and  what to do instead.

We'll cover: 

• What to do with all that back fill;
• Surprising ways to bring more action into your first chapter while building intensity;
• How to avoid overloading your first chapter with insignificant  details;
• How to establish a strong, identifiable point of view, and;
• Why giving away too much of your plot is deflating the readers' urge to know more, and how to keep  them curious. 

Episode Website

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

What's the one thing stopping writers from bringing their story to the finish line?

Fear.

Maybe you fear visibility and the expectations and judgements you’ll open yourself up to.  

Then there's the fear of rejection. Even if you’re nowhere near ready to submit your story, it weighs on your mind and prevents you from finishing.

The idea that after doing all that work, you might face rejection, is stifling. How do you get past that?

Maybe you're afraid of putting your book out there. You just keep wanting to do one read-through after another. It's never good enough.

Maybe your greatest fear is that you'll let yourself down.

In today's episode, we're breaking down 4 common fears that may be keeping you stuck.  Then we'll replace those fears with mindset shifts to get you unstuck. So you can shift your writing from dream to reality.

Also Listen To:

Episode 108: 3 Things Published Authors Do Differently

Episode Website

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

In this episode, I'm sharing takeaway ideas on the writing craft from 6 Writer Unleashed episodes.

I'll share:

• how to inject conflict and surprise in your opening sentence;
• the difference between plot and story, and how to integrate both;
• why desire is the engine of your plot; 
• show vs. tell, and what to show;
• what backstory you need to know vs. what your reader needs to know, and;
• how to connect emotionally with your main character. 

Quick Links to Episodes:

Episode 73: Beyond The First Draft: 5  Storytelling Techniques For Better Structure

Episode 87: Four Writing Myths Holding You Back

Episode 90: Four Ways to Master Show, Don’t Tell

Episode 50: How Much Backstory Does Your Reader Really Need To Know?

Episode 89: What Plotters and Pansters Both Get Wrong About Story

Episode 109: Your Top 5 Character Questions Answered

Episode Website

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

When it comes to writing memoir, or even autobiographical fiction, writers often stay awake at night worrying about the possibility of being sued.

Writing about facts and events of our own lives will inevitably require writing about the private lives of others who were part of our journey.  These are often stories about addiction, abuse, homelessness, or just plain dysfunction. And real people are intertwined with that story. But writers often feel restricted in writing the truth about their story when it involves other people because, what if they sue?

In this episode, we'll go over 2 main legal issues to be aware of, and 5 things you can do to avoid litigation.

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

Every story since the beginning of time has involved conflict. 

Somebody wants something, goes out to get it, and has trouble getting it. That’s what story is in a nutshell.

Conflict is essential because it creates narrative tension that keeps your readers invested.

But conflict is not just on the plot level.

Every scene is a reconstruction of the main conflict. Each scene will contain some adversarial relationship as your character goes after the thing he or she wants.

So, to keep readers engaged, you'll want to bring some element of conflict to each scene.

But it doesn't have to be epic or high drama. Conflict is not always a fight or a battle.  

Even an ordinary exchange can contain conflict. It can be subtle, complex, big or small. 

In this episode, learn how to bring conflict to every scene in your story.

We'll cover:

• What we mean by conflict and why high drama does not equal dramatic; 
• 3 common mistakes writers make with conflict;
• 5 different types of antagonists, and;
• How to mine story conflict, both big and small, from your everyday life. 

Also listen to:
Episode 112: 3 Tips For Writing Dynamic Dialogue

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

How do you write a great introduction for your story? An opening that draws a reader in, establishes the voice of your main character, and whets your reader’s appetite for more? 

Whether it’s an agent,  publisher, or the person browsing Barnes and Noble, readers will likely make the decision to keep reading based on your opening paragraph. 

So, you want to make that initial introduction as enticing as possible. Something the reader hooks into that refuses to let him or  her go.

In this episode, learn 4 types of story openings that capture readers' attention and have them wanting more.

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

How do you  take an idea from its nebulous beginnings and turn it into a story?

You may have a feeling about what you want to write, but you don't know where to start. Or, you've already started writing something, but you can't keep it going. Maybe you have an outline, but you're having a hard time getting the words initially on the page.

In this episode, learn a 2-step process for generating and developing  writing that's meaningful to you. We'll talk about how to take your raw material, and start to find the focus and structure within it. So you can eventually see the  shape of your story, and produce a finished, powerful piece of writing.

This method is ideal for writers who want to write, but don't know how or where to begin. It's for writers who have a constant flow of ideas, but who have trouble harnessing those ideas into a focused, finished story. It's also for writers who want to breathe fresh life into their outline or work-in-progress. 

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

 It's a new year.  Fresh start.  Clean slate.

So, let's talk about  promises we make to ourselves.

Write more consistently.
Finish the book.
Publish the book.
Sell x amount of copies.

Maybe you just want to start writing the story that's been in your head for the longest time.

But how do we keep the fire burning so we achieve those goals, or even surpass them?

In this episode, we'll talk about why most resolutions fizzle out within  a couple of months, what's missing from most goals, and a three-pronged approach to making goals stick.

We'll also cover:

• Why focusing on the outcome may be holding you back, and what to focus on instead;
• Underlying fears that can sabotage writers and how to move past them, and;
• How to make both internal and external changes that keep your writing moving forward for the long term.

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me

First-person is a highly versatile point of view. And there's always an implied audience. In today's episode, we'll explore 3 varieties of first-person narration, with a focus on who the first-person character is addressing. 

We'll cover:

• Interior Monologue;
• Dramatic Monologue, and;
• Subjective First-Person

We’ll also cover what makes a first-person narrator more unreliable than third-person, and why unreliable narrators are irresistible to readers.

Episode Web Page

📚 Get the character-led method to shape your story from start to finish, without the overwhelm, second-guessing, or endless rewriting. Enrollment closes Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm ET. → https://3actstory.me