Haven't Plot a Clue

Morgan Kingston. Author. Geeky Blogger. Small Cup of Sass. Organization and .structure are my brand of tea. Follow me on instagram twitter for updates and other cool things!

[smalltownboymp3]

Reblog if you're a Slytherin.

gryffindor | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

[whateversebastian]

REBLOG IF YOU ARE A WRITER ON TUMBLR

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT KIND OF WRITER YOU ARE YOU CAN BE WRITING: POEMS, FANFICS, IDK NORMAL FICS, NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, IDK ANYTHING!! JUST REBLOG!!!

[mrgankingston-blog]

Handling Perfectionism as a Writer

My names Morgan and I'm a perfectionist.

The first step to overcoming a problem is admitting you have one. Now all joking aside, perfectionism is something I struggle with a lot when it comes to my writing. It hinders me from moving forward some days and even worse scrapping a whole project because it's not "perfect" at the get-go. It hit me pretty had in the last two weeks to the point where just hitting my word count was a slog because I'd have to stop, tweak what I just wrote 50 million times before moving on. It's unhealthy I'll admit and I work really hard to push past this on the daily. Especially since Nano is fastly approaching and Preptober in full swing I figured this might be a good time to introduce this

Now I can hear you saying "Well don't put such pressure on yourself and you'll be fine." If only it were that easy. I like to set ambitious goals to push myself and challenge myself, but even I have to take a step back every now and then and realize that sometimes I’m not able to meet it  Striving to be perfect is something I unintentionally engrained into myself at an early age. Primary years in school were met with "It needs to be the best, prettiest and get the A ( 100%) always" and I would get it all done and get those A's. But after a while, that mentality slowly carried into high school and secondary school resulting in a lot of breakdowns and other not so pleasant moments in my life. But through it all, I learned a few tricks to keep my inner perfectionist's mouth zipped tightly as I type or work on projects like graphics or something another creative outlet like my writing.

So this is for anyone who struggles with this, students, writers, teachers, etc.  Most of these tips are for writing and writers though but I don't see why someone can't adopt them

1. Change colors

If you're working on an English project or rough draft and just trying to get words to a page.  I do this a lot with all my WIPs. Every day before I start, I read the little note I've left myself to give me a jumping off point and everything before that note gets changed to a light grey/off-white color that I cannot read on the screen.

The reason: If I can't see it, I can't read it. And then I can't go back 50 times to make sure it's all perfect and genius in a draft.

2. Set a timer

Set a timer for 25 mins. Write or work without stopping. Then once the timer is up reset it for 5 mins. In those five mins, you may tweak or fix things of what you just worked on. After five mins take a 5 min break then repeat.

The reason:  It's a little of both worlds. I get my writing done and I'm allowed to give in a little to the urge of fixing things. The key is after those 5 mins of editing are up. You walk away. Just do it.

Get up.

Go get water.

Pet the dogs.

Scratch the Cat.

Stretch those legs.

Then come back for 25 mins. it's much easier if you physically get off your butt and move away, to avoid the temptation of working over those 5 mins.

3. Go on a literal walk.

This is a hard on to do, but sometimes it's the best option. When writing or doing a project, the best medicine to defeat your inner perfectionist is to just go away, take a walk and come back in a few hours. Clear head, clear image. It's harder to do then it sounds, it's even harder to come back once you put it down but sometimes it can be just what the doctor ordered

The reason: Giving yourself space with some physical activity can release a burst of creative energy ( and some sciencey stuff I don't know much about) and get you fired up again if you've hit a wall or get that stifling feeling this WIP isn't perfect so why bother.

4.  Tell yourself what you're doing/writing doesn't count. 

It's a Prototype/warm upSit down to write, tell yourself you're just gonna type words and only after you hit that word count can you just delete the whole pile of crap and start fresh with the creative juices already flowing after. No one has to ever see this WIP section. No one has to know you wrote this at 5 AM on the cusp of sleep. There is no pressure for this because it doesn't matter. Hell, you could write watermelon 500 times for all you care!

the reason: when you toss out pressure and terms that box you in you can have fun. You lose that "it has to be perfect because someone will see it and I can't have it not perfect" mentality. You might even find that what you wrote ( unless you actually do write watermelon 500 times, no judgment I have done that too) is actually pretty good.

5. Post it/Publish it.

I just heard about 500 of you scream in horror. My inner perfectionist just about fainted. Sometimes just doing it, hitting that button and coming to terms that what you just shared with the world isn't perfect is what you have to do. It'll scare you and hell it scares me but just going for it helps alleviate the pressure. It’s something that you might realize get’s easier with time

The reason: Tough love. It's the reality of the fact that you sometimes need to tell your perfectionist self to shut the fork up and hit enter.  You can't really be perfect 100% of the time. You will make mistakes even in published work. Everyone does. There are a lot of books with a missed typo in them, I bet you've found them too if that proves anything it's it's okay to be imperfect

Which brings me too

6. Be realistic and remind yourself

You are human. You are a person. You make mistakes. It happens. The important thing is you don't let the need to fix those mistakes ruin why you love writing or even make you not want to write. I’ve been there, a few times, and it’s awful. The point is this is something you love and despite your imperfections and your works imperfections someone is going to love it too

I hope this helps someone!! As always if there’s anything I can touch on more let me know. Next week Is my birthday so I hope to have some awesome extra goodies up to go with that so stay tuned!! Happy writing/creating!  XO Morgan

[queen-of-the-merry-men]

When writing always remember… a character flaw is only a flaw until becomes useful. 

Is your protagonist manipulative? Well that’s awful… until they manipulate the antagonist into making a decision that saves the lives of their friends. 

Is your protagonist a skeptic? Well that’s not good… until someone tries to lie to them. 

Is your protagonist overprotective? That sucks… until someone they love is in danger. 

Is your protagonist remorseless? Well that makes them pretty unlikeable… until a hard decision has to be made. 

[thebloodstainedquill-deactivate]

It interests me how many broken people turn to writing and art in general.

Whether it’s to try and heal themselves or just to splatter temporary emotions onto the page, I probably can’t figure it out, but it also shows us interesting.

I don’t mean to call out here, but I’ve noticed that a lot of writers are depressed and/or have anxiety or some other mental illness.

The thing about mental illnesses is that we have literally no control over them. I can’t just wake up and say “Serotonin, please.” Just as how you can’t tell an anxious person to “Calm down”.

I believe that writing gives us a sense of…I dunno…control, I guess?

We can build worlds, create humans and turn them into people, and weave a complex relationship with both its settings and other characters, and some of it (though it may just be me) can be us pouring into the story what we would’ve loved to do or be if we weren’t hindered by such tight shackles.

I’m probably rambling now, so here’s my point:

Firstly, support creators with mental illnesses. Some of us are pushing past our worry of other opinions or our loneliness or our suicidal tendencies in order to get our stories (or other stories) out there, in hopes of connecting with others, to tell others that they’re not alone.

Secondly, if you’re in any way like me, and your mental illness is making it really hard for you to write, please don’t push yourself. Creativity can’t be forced. Take a break if you need to (especially if you’re writing something that’s really close to home), and secondly, please keep making your art (that is, when you have the spoons), because while the trope of the suffering artist is complete bullshit, that doesn’t mean that your art can at least steer you onto the path of recovery.

I love you.

[mrgankingston-blog]

This is just quite lovely, and just what I know a few people need to hear today my self included.

[mrgankingston-blog]

Update

Hello doodlejumps!

I want to be very transparent about things I'm dealing with. I know today is my post day on my blog, but lot of things have come crashing into my life making my anxiety skyrocket over this last week and I wasnt able to really get all I need done. I haven't done much in terms of writing or platform work and that's most certainly on me. Top ot off I'm dealing with about 50 million mosquitoes bites from work yesterday and it's making it extremely hard to sit and edit what I wanted for this week. So long story short my post will come out next Friday!! Along side a new idea I've had and can't wait to show you!!

Thanks for your understanding and happy creating!

Xo

Morgan

[writing-in-the-grave]

Being a writer means having like 5 baby name websites bookmarked, a very suspicious browser history, and a vast amount of knowledge about seemingly random topics like when stop lights were invented or how much blood you can loose before passing out.

[fishy-leedonghae-blog]

I'm the person that reads your tags.

[hashtagloveloses]

reblog to save an author

[leeebo]

This one’s for the writers who get ignored.

This one’s for the writers who get a maximum of two notes, both of them reblogs by you.

This one’s for the writers who feel like giving up. (Don’t.)

This one’s for the writers who didn’t get any messages on the 21st. (or any other time)

This one’s for the writers who don’t get tagged.

This one’s for the writers who don’t get recommended. 

This one’s for the writers who have the courage to keep going even when you get little to no feedback.

This one’s for the writers who don’t get curious anons.

This one’s for the writers who write amazing things and get hate because of it.

This one’s for the writers who are learning English as a second language.

This one’s for you.

[mrgankingston-blog]

Plot This: Brainstorming

There are a million ways on the web, in writing books, writing professors and the like telling you how to brainstorm. How to plot. How to plan. How to outline. A lot of How to's out there. But I personally don't think there's just *one* way to outline, brainstorm, plot, or write a novel. Writing is a deeply personal thing and like most things in art, each person provides a unique take on it. There is no right or wrong way.

In case you're not familiar, brainstorming is a pre-writing step. A necessary step, in my opinion, for story craft and writing. Some people will say it's a braindump or thought dump. But it's so much more.  Brainstorming is the first steps to a story. It's more than just getting snippets and ideas out on to a page. It's creative thinking meddled with problem-solving to create a completely you story.

I can hear all my pantsers in the crowd shouting their protests, but hear me out. Even if you like to write on the fly, figuring it out as you go you still probably brainstorm beforehand a little beforehand. Do some character things? Sketches? Questionaries? Yeah, that's brainstorming, even if it's just a bit.

But brainstorming, at least how I think of it, comes in two parts. The thought vomit and the actual problem-solving. This is how I've come to think of brainstorming. it's not how someone else might but nonetheless could help

So how can you brainstorm?

Well, I'd like to say there's a tried and true method. But there's not. Somethings will work for you. Others won't. And that's totally okay. it's also okay to experiment with different methods or mash a few together.  

I like to break brainstorming into two parts: thought vomit & problem-solving. But any of these methods can be used s either topic.

1) A stream of Consciousness/Freewrite Method

You just go for it. you type whatever you can think of relating to your story in a notebook or a google doc or word doc. You go to town. typing furiously to get it all out of your head. It can include dialogue, scenes, character descriptions, settings, bits and pieces of anything really. This is messy, it's jumbled it's chaotic.  And that's totally okay. it's supposed to be.

Pros: You get a lot of stuff out there You can get some amazing ideas and snippets to incorporate Easiest for Pantsers Cons Time-consuming. You can get sucked into this pretty fast. Easy fix set a timer. ( 10 fifteen minutes) It's not organized so you have to sort things and organizes it

2. Mind Maps

So those silly little charts you learned in Language Arts as a child come in handy.  So these are where you write one big idea in the center and branch out smaller ideas here. This works best if you're doing it analog and not on a computer but I'm sure somewhere there's a program.  There are a few ways to do. Write on notecards, post-it notes, or just a piece of paper and pen. ( I've even tried doing it where I have an image that inspires the story and a bunch of other details stuck around it so it’s liberating to just have whatever you want). You also need a wall, poster board, back of a clean door anything flat where you won't disrupt it. You write everything you think of on said thing of your choice, pop it on to a surface and then connect the ideas or make clusters. Mapping it out.

here's an example of a mind map 

Pros: Visual so great for people who need to see things physically Modable. If you use post-it notes or painters tape it you can rearrange and remix things You can add and remove as you like; leave and come back to it as ideas hit you

Cons Takes space Time, this takes time a lot of it. ( I set a timer for about 1.5 hours) Motion. This is very, up and down and up and down for me. As I write, stand post and etc. So if that's something you want to avoid, this might not be the best thing for you Things can get disrupted or lost. If you do this on a bed, or wall, where there are lots of traffic things, can fall off, move around, shift. It's not fun.

3. The 5 Points method.

This works best with questions. So how is something suppose to work? What does the character want? What crisis do they need to overcome? What is the conflict for this given scene? Etc. Etc.  This is one of my favorite methods because it doesn't feel overbearing but it's also super quick to get some results. So all you do is: have a question. label 1-5 on a piece of paper or word doc. Answer the question with five different answers. The first few answers might be dumb or not so good. so keep going. I usually hit between 5-8 answers before I get something workable and good. That's it. Simple enough.

Don’t be scared to get silly answers.

It might look something like

“HOW CAN CONFLICT ALPHA MEAN MORE TO MR.X?”       1. The conflict unleashes dinsaurse and X has a spot for them and must now find a reason to solve problem + keep them safe       2.  He loses control for the first time in his life       3  the consequences of the conflict have him re-evaluate his life choices       4. he’s forced to pick between  need (internal) and want (external)       5. His hopes and dreams ride on this turning out okay

Pros: Can be done in a short amount of time Allows you to be less constricted by  perfectionism Gives you wiggle room fires off the creative part of your brain as well as singles to the logical part organized

Cons Can be easy to lose track of time ( timer is helpful here as well) Can be hard to think of good questions or question phrases Can get a little disorganized if you don't keep it neat

4. Starburst Method/Cubing Method

This method is another visual one. This method has you look at a certain thing and ask the 6 basic questions ( who, what, when where, why, and how) Frist find a topic. Example: Fae Culture. Then begin to generate questions about this topic. Who in charge? Who knows about it? What is the class system like? What does this topic make you think of? Where can you find more information? Where does it originate? Why does x event happen? How does x work? etc, etc.  Most people put this into a 6-pointed star ( but I find those super hard to draw so I often just make a modified mind map). Once you've got these down, go ahead and answer them

Pros: Good for world building Gets the basics done Visual Aid

Cons Might get stuck on questions/coming up with questions might not solve all plot holes

5. Snowflake Method

This method is really popular with some people, I am not one of them.  Crafted by Randy Ingermanson [ you can read more on this method and a step by step how to here ], the Snowflake method works small and builds large.  Starts with a sentence then moves into a paragraph, a page. Until you have a larger picture at hand.  This method is great if you don't want to spend like 900 hours on brainstorming or outlining at all.

Pros Can be relatively fast Gets macro and micro Great for Pansters Helps if you're struggling/typing aimlessly Timeline/Deadline compatible.

Cons A bit involved Uses a lot of paper ( or pages) 10 steps is a lot but can be worth it for people

Now, these are just a handful of methods but there’s plenty of other ways to go around brainstorm. Some of these work for me ( 5 points, mind mapping, scream of consciousness) Others not so much. Experiment, play around. Mesh two together. Dissect parts of them and create franken-brainstorm method uniquely you. If you don't brainstorm, then I challenge you to try some of these methods out. Who knows maybe you'll find that even as a pantser, your writing goes a bit more smoothly.

As always if there's something in this post you want more information about, more details about let me know!! I'm happy to help. I hope this inspires you to try something new or maybe it'll help you unstick that story.

Happy writing & creating! XO Morgan

[owl-mug]

Reasons to Keep Writing

•everyone starts small. just because you’re not big now, doesn’t mean you’ll never be. and if you’re just starting out, keep in mind those bigger blogs have been writing for much longer than you. building a following takes time. 

•there will always be someone who enjoys your writing. every like, reblog, and comment is one person who enjoyed what you wrote and i can assure you they want more! and remember, not everyone remembers to leave evidence that they liked your writing or they might just be too nervous to interact with you. invisible fans exist, and you’ve got them.

•going along with that last one, your writing has the potential to help others! you could write about a minority, or maybe you could publish a little something comforting at the exact time someone else needs it. and most of the time, when you affect someone like this they’ll tell you, whether it be through tags, or a private message or whatever. that’s an amazing feeling.

•getting a compliment from someone becomes a sure-fire way to make your day better. nothing feels greater than seeing a comment from someone saying how much they love something you worked hard on. maybe write down these comments somewhere, so you can look at them when you’re feeling negative about your skills as a writer.  

•writer’s block is not the end of your writing career. it sure feels like it sometimes, but everyone, even the popular writers you look up to, suffer from writer’s block. everyone puts out work they’re not 100% satisfied with sometimes, and that’s okay! when you get out of this slump, your writing will be better than ever before and you’ll enjoy it again. keep writing through a block so you can get there sooner.

These are the things I think about when I feel bad about my writing, so I hope they can help someone else too.

[nyese3529-deactivated20191206]

I know someone needs this

[formerlyupsidedownparker-deacti]

Words that describe someone’s voice

Adenoidal: adj: if someone’s voice is adenoidal, some of the sound seems to come through the nose

Appealing: adj: an appealing look, voice etc. shows that you want to help, approval or agreement

Breathy: adj: with loud breathing noises

Brittle: adj: if you speak in a brittle voice, you would sound as if you’re about to cry

Croaky: adj: if someone’s voice sounds croaky, they speak in a low rough voice that sounds as if they have sore throat

Dead: adj: if someone’s eyes are dead, or if their voice is dead, they feel or show no emotions

Disembodied: adj: a disembodied voice comes from someone who you cannot see

Flat: adj: spoken in a voice that does not go up or down

Fruity: adj: a fruity voice or laugh is deep and strong in a pleasant way

Grating: adj: a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying

Gruff: adj: a gruff voice has a rough low sound

Guttural: adj: a guttural sound is deep and made at the back of your throat

High-pitched: adj: a high pitched voice or sound is very high

Honeyed: adj: honeyed words sound nice, but you cannot trust the person who is speaking

Hoarse: adj: someone who is hoarse or has a hoarse voice speaks in a low rough voice

Husky: adj: a husky voice is deep and sounds hoarse often in an attractive way

Low: adj: a low voice or sound is quiet and difficult to hear or deep sounding

Matter-of-fact: adj: used about someone’s behavior or voice

Monotonous: adj: a monotonous sound or voice is boring and unpleasant because it does not change in loudness or become higher or lower

Nasal: adj: someone with a nasal voice sounds as if they are speaking through the nose

Orotund: adj: an orotund voice is loud and clear

Penetrating: adj: a penetrating voice or sound is so high or loud that it makes you slightly uncomfortable

Plummy: adj: this word shows that you dislike people who speak like this

Quietly: adv: in a quiet voice

Ringing: adj: a ringing sound or voice is very loud and clear

Rough: adj: a rough voice is not soft and is unpleasant to listen to

Shrill: adj: a shrill noise or voice is very loud, high and unpleasant

Smoky: adj: a smoky voice is sexually attractive in a slightly mysterious way

Silvery: adj: a silvery voice or sound is clear, light, and pleasant

Singsong: adj: if you speak in a singsong voice, you voice rises and falls in a musical way

Small: adj: a small voice or a sound is quiet

Strangled: adj: a strangled sound is one that someone stops before they finish making it

Strident: adj: a strident voice or sound is loud and unpleasant.

Taut: adj: used about something such as a voice or expressions that shows someone is nervous or angry

Thick: adj: if your voice is thick with an emotion, it sounds less clear than usual because of the emotion

Tight: adj: a tight voice or expression shows that you’re annoyed or nervous

Thin: adj: a thin voice or sound is high end unpleasant to listen to

Tremulous: adj: is it not steady for explained, cause you’re afraid or excited

Throaty: adj: a throaty sound is low and seems to come from deep in your throat

Wheezy: adj: a wheezy noise sounds as if it’s made by someone who has difficulty breathing

Wobbly: adj: if your voice is wobbly, it goes up and down, usually cause you’re frightened, not confident or you’re going to cry

[mrgankingston-blog]

Excerpt Tag Game

I was tagged by the lovely @natalienider to do this Excerpt Tag Game for my WIP Cost of Defeat. Thank you for the tag!! I'm tagging @strawberryspaceship @writebruh @shadowofawriter @odd-dog @blueisawriter2k18

This is still in Draft One, but have at thee! Its sorta mid scene, and a bit of a take on Pandora’s Box myth, mixed with other things so here we gooo!!!

“How about I just use your face? You’re late,” it came out on a breathless snap as her tongue poked out. Conceding defeat, she turned back toward the room.

Seated at one of the tables in the room her makeshift family awaited whatever breaking news had sent their worlds spiraling out of control. Trying to make sense of what was going on. And what the hell it had to do with them.

“Now that you're all here…” the calm voice of Olivia broke the budding silence. A few glares were pointed to Theo who simply shrugged. Her lip twitched.

“Titans have escaped Tartarus,” Olivia announced breathlessly. The knowledge had been simply speculation but her statement confirmed all of their worst fears.  With all the commotion there had been little time for them to even get together. Until now. With Kirios off risking their safety and his own, things had only grown worse in the last five days. The night terrors that plagued her at night had grown worse. The voices an ever-present murmur in her head. Beckoning her to them.  Things had calmed down ever so slightly, a calm that wouldn’t last Kaia knew.

Frowning, Kaia plopped herself in the last open chair. What did that even mean for them? For the Greeks? — and why did it smell like smoke suddenly?

Looking about she spotted none other than Theo, fingers held to a cigarette. A muscle in her jaw ticked. With a swift flick of her finger, she knocked it from his mouth.

“What the fu—”

She opened her mouth to retort something witty but snapped it shut at the glare Elous sent her direction.

“Focus, you two. You two can go a few rounds another time. Let Olivia talk.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled dragging a hand down her face, a soft exhale leaving her. “You said...Titans?”

Ever-calm, that describe the woman’s cold demeanor perfectly. Mortal, she possessed the greatest gift the gods could bestow upon her kind. All-sight. The gift of visions into heaven, hell, the realms thereof. It was a heavy burden no doubt and had caused her to have a tight lock on her emotions. Olivia nodded.

[mrgankingston-blog]

Plot This: Story Shapes

So in my last post, I talked about a few plot structures to diagram a novel. To give it that bone structure all us girls would kill to have. Now I want to address story shape. No, I don't mean genre, not really, I mean story. I mean the basic "x many stories" that scholars like my Creative Writing Profs like to quote a bunch of times but never explain past a pretty visual.

In general, there’s a lot of argument on how many story “types” there are. Some say seven ( all my workshop profs did), some say 10, 20 even 36.  So what's the right number? Yeah, no one knows a good solid answer, some research points to six ( Universtiy of Vermont Labs, you can read their findings here ) other disagree and say more. I've always been a simple kind of gal, so I tend to stick with the seven/six but I can understand and appreciate the need for more diversity and complexity for different things.

Now there are countless diagrams, picograms, snazzy graphics about these basic story shapes, and I'll link some [ here and here,] that I often use but I want more overarching things at my disposal when I write. 

Like the plot structures, I like to dabble and experiment with story shapes. So this one is for anyone who wants to know about their story shape, and it should have one. Anyone who wants to know about the emotional trajectory of their piece. Anyone who wants to understand their story to challenge it a bit more. Or anyone like me who finds this kinda of stuff really fascinating.

1 ) The Six Core Story Shapes ( based on Kurt Vonnegut's rejected thesis)

1. Rags to Riches  ( aka Boy Meets Girl) follows a rise of happiness.  

MC (the main character) comes across something great, gets it, loses it then gets it back forever.                 Ex: Jane Eyre

2.  Man-in-A-hole  follows fall - rise

MC gets into trouble then gets out of it and end up better off                Ex: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

3. Icarus ( aka Old Testament) follow rise- fall 

MC/humanity receive gifts from a deity( or technology or something) but it suddenly ousted from good standing into the fall of enormous proportions               Ex: Myth of Icarus; Great Expectations

4. Tragedy (aka Riches-to-rags ) follows a fall in happiness. 

MC/Characters are well off, things go from good to bad, to really bad.               Ex: King Lear

5. Cinderella ( aka New Testament) follows a rise, fall, rise.  

Somewhat like Rags-To-Riches, MC/humanity get gifts from deity/entity and is ousted as good, receiving off chart bliss              Ex: Great Expectations ( with Dicken's alternative ending); Cinderella

6. Oedipus follows fall, rise, fall.  

MC starts off badly, is giving opportunity or something wonderful, loses it and things go from bad to worse, MC ends up worse off.            Ex: Oedipus; a lot of Greek myths

7. Creation Story ( this was not included in the study because it only covered Western Narrative. Creation Story Shape is not common in Western Lit but can be found in cultures across the board.) follow a rise to happiness

8. Which Way is up? ( this was also not included in the study. this narrative shape is a story that includes a lot of ambiguity that keeps readers from deciphering if developments are good or bad. Think Hamlet)

There are a lot of parallels between certain shapes ( Cinderella mirrors Oedipus etc). This is a great starting point and the link to analysis is kinda fun to play with.   These also sort of help you define the genre by the emotional slope and valleys then by setting. That alone can give you a bit more insight into certain story aspects.  These six and the two from Vonnegut's shape theory could offer more insight into your story which a plot structure ( like the Plot Embryo) won't.  You can watch Vonnegut's discussing these here in a less than five-minute video which is great.

2) The Seven Basic Plot by Christopher Booker

1. Rags to riches 

MC gains power, money and or a relationship, loses it, gets it all back. ( notice this is more over arching and includes BOTH Rags-to-Riches and Cinderella from Vonnegut’s story shapes)       Ex: Cinderella, Aladdin, The Emperors New Groove

2. Overcoming the Monster

MC sets out to defeat the monster ( evil force, antagonistic being or the likes) who often threatens MC or MC and their home. ( the success of said goal is dependent on a lot of things, but MC normally ends up on top)        Ex: Beowulf,  The Magnificent Seven 

3. The Quest

MC & co. set out to acquire a thing or find a location, face temptations and pitfalls along the way.       Ex. Lord of the Rings, The Odyssey, King Solomon's Mine

4.  Voyage and Return

MC goes to strange land, faces foes and comes back with knowledge and/or experience.      Ex: Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, Mad Max: Fury Road, Gone with the Wind

5.  Comedy

Light and humorous MC/Character(s), dramatic work where central motif. Comedy is more than humor, the conflict gets more and more confusing until it's made simple in one simple final act that clears it all up. ( Pretty common set up for Romances and Rom Coms)      Ex: Twelfth Night, Bridget Jone's Diary.

6. Tragedy

MC's character flaw or great mistake is their undoing. Usually MC is a good person but is unable to overcome internal factors that lead totheir down fall, evokes pity.       Ex: Macbeth, Bonnie and Clyde,  Picture of Dorian Grey, Jules and Jim

7.  Rebirth.

MC is forced to change ways because of an event or past happening, ultimately becoming a better person       Ex: Beauty and the Beast, The Secret Garden,  The Princess and the Frog ( "Frog Prince)

It's important to note that all the "story shapes" will have some overlap whether you say there's three or seven or thirty-six.  And that's plain here.  These bad boys are the ones everyone has seen a million and ten times. And they're a great place to start when understanding the story you have before you. These story shapes are also used in marketing strategies for companies so they can be pretty useful across the board.

3. Overview and Wrap Up

 Even at a glance, you can tell that they all have something in common. One is more simplistic than the other and adheres better to post-modern and modern works.  Even if I were to dissect the other 10, 20 or so story shapes, that would be clear.

I like to boil things into their simplest form, that's why I only went over the seven. I like things where I can see the bones of a project without over complicating it. The Seven is what I use constantly when plotting and structuring. But  I encourage you to take a look at Blake Snyder ( 10 Plots ), Ronald Tobias (20 Plots) and Georges Polti  (36) if you're curious and see if those aren’t more helpful for you.

It's this type of thing that you don't see a lot when talking about story craft and structure. And yet, this is another great tool for you to have at your disposal. It helps with so many things if you’re struggling. It’s also really good knowledge about story craft in general. 

So why do you even care? I'm so glad you asked you smart cookie you.

Uses:

X Tracking emotional highs and lows for more engaggin content X Discovering/Crafting story themes X Understanding your story after it's written ( the editing phase) X Understanding your story idea and giving it more definition and body ( like volumizing shampoo it helps what’s already there) X Good when you need to analyze the crap out of a story for a paper

Not so good for

X Giving you an actual plot ( that's all on you doodlejump) X Making you a best seller ( I mean these are certainly a good step but let's be honest there's not a lot to that) X Making you lots of money ( again this is a building block) X Using as an excuse for not getting your shit done ( research, creative other things) because it's a STEP, not a miracle worker

I hope this helps anyone out there, and as always if you want something more detailed or a compare and contrast sorta thing, feel free to ask! I love to talk about this stuff and help any way I can!!

Happy writing/Creating XO Morgan

[natalienider-deactivated2018092]

A Normal Person: Goes about their day like any other day before.

A Writer: Thinks about at least a thousand scenarios that happened in their day that should be in their book…like now.

[fathoming-it-all-deactivated202]

For a bunch of people who claim to be all about words, Writeblr sure is *suspiciously* interested in visually pleasing aesthetic posts.

[nightskywriter]