Welcome to the world of working your way out of a cozy (or dangerous or adventuresome!) spot that will fall in the middle of your manuscript and sorting out how your characters are supposed to get there and where they should be headed after that scene.
Weird, yes. I thought it was the first time I used it but have ended up doing this a couple times since. And you know what that means?
THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO WRITE A STORY
To simplify things, there are at least three different ways to do a story – starting from the beginning, starting from the end (popular with mystery writers who have a crime to solve) or, as we’ll be considering doing here, doing it from somewhere in the middle.
And there’s always a lot of the middle in a book, isn’t there?
It doesn’t matter whether you are a plotter or a pantser as we’re looking for possibilities and ways to unearth them.
Along the way we'll look at what is in the scene that can tell us what needs to come before it, the scenes that bookend it on either side, and the rest of the story after it that leads to that satisfying finish!
About the Author
Beth Daniels began life as a novelist in 1990 with the publication of her first romantic-suspense story, written under the pseudonym Beth Henderson. Since that time she has worked with editors at Harlequin, Berkley, Simon and Schuster’s Aladdin Paperbacks, Kensington/Zebra, and a number of other smaller publishing houses. She’s written fiction under a variety of pseudonyms and ventured into non-fiction in 2009 writing articles and books about the writing process, particularly the fiction writing process. She continues to spin fictional tales as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, switching from a background in romance (romantic-comedy, historical romantic adventure, romantic-suspense) to focus on mystery, urban fantasy and Steampunk (as Nied Darnell).
Weird, yes. I thought it was the first time I used it but have ended up doing this a couple times since. And you know what that means?
THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO WRITE A STORY
To simplify things, there are at least three different ways to do a story – starting from the beginning, starting from the end (popular with mystery writers who have a crime to solve) or, as we’ll be considering doing here, doing it from somewhere in the middle.
And there’s always a lot of the middle in a book, isn’t there?
It doesn’t matter whether you are a plotter or a pantser as we’re looking for possibilities and ways to unearth them.
Along the way we'll look at what is in the scene that can tell us what needs to come before it, the scenes that bookend it on either side, and the rest of the story after it that leads to that satisfying finish!
About the Author
Beth Daniels began life as a novelist in 1990 with the publication of her first romantic-suspense story, written under the pseudonym Beth Henderson. Since that time she has worked with editors at Harlequin, Berkley, Simon and Schuster’s Aladdin Paperbacks, Kensington/Zebra, and a number of other smaller publishing houses. She’s written fiction under a variety of pseudonyms and ventured into non-fiction in 2009 writing articles and books about the writing process, particularly the fiction writing process. She continues to spin fictional tales as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, switching from a background in romance (romantic-comedy, historical romantic adventure, romantic-suspense) to focus on mystery, urban fantasy and Steampunk (as Nied Darnell).
