Plot Blueprint

Point of View in film

We've talked about character viewpoint in written fiction. That's pretty fundamental, because fiction is created out of words-- words of description and thought and feeling, and it's usually a character doing the describing, etc.  Now let's examine how POV works in a very visual medium.    You can learn more and enroll here! Building Bolder Scenes with Alicia Rasley              Email me about the course: [email protected] Learn more about the Building Bolder Scenes course...

Character Arc and Ending Questions

  Characters should change-- but gradually, in response to plot events.    You can learn more and enroll here! Building Bolder Scenes with Alicia Rasley                Email me about the course: [email protected] Learn more about the Building Bolder Scenes course:https://bit.ly/building-bolder-scenes_blank Learn more about the Plot Blueprint course-- https://bit.ly/rasley-plotblueprint_blank -- To listen to the Plot Blueprint Podcast: https://bit.ly/plot-podcast_blank...

Interactive Conflict

There are 3 main conflicts in fiction: External (outside) conflict Internal (inside) conflict Interactional (relationship) conflict.   We're talking about the interactional kind-- the conflict that changes relationships in your story.    Check out our Building Bolder Scenes course. You can learn more and enroll here! Building Bolder Scenes with Alicia Rasley          Email me about the course: [email protected] Learn more about the Building Bolder Scenes course:https://...

Point of No Return example-- from Casablanca- La Marseillaise scene discussion

Here we discuss "the most important nod in film". Oh, and "the greatest singalong in film." Same scene!   This is the La Marseillaise scene from Casablanca, where: Rick defies the Nazis Laszlo risks his life to sing a song Ilsa remembers why she loves her husbands The Nazis back down (just for once), then double down Captain Renault says a funny. Watch the video here, and then the discussion will make more sense. La Marseillaise scene from Casablanca We'll talk about why this is so ...

Point of View Basics

POV basics podcast—Plot Blueprint Podcast Main types of POV: -- 1st person Omniscient Third person   More here: POV Basics-- just examples we discuss on the podcast   Questions to ask to help you choose what POV is best for your story Individualizing POV     Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory Get notified of the intensive Revision Mastermind http://bit.ly/revision-mastermind    

Gaming a Game

Gaming a game James, the "game master (GM)" for different role-playing games, discusses building a world and a story in collaboration and in real-time.   Planning a collaborative TT-RPG   World-building on demand/on the fly   Game master—what is role , how much control/responsibility do you have?   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enr...

Found Footage- Epistolary Stories Updated

"Found footage" refers to material, evidence, diaries, cassette tapes-- well, you'll have to listen! For story-writers, found footage can be a clever device to add a "meta" or postmodern layer to the story. Think of "Bridges of Madison County," which is a novel that pretends to be the "found footage" of a mother's journal. We'll discuss some examples and aspects of this complex plot element.   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, al...

Setting as Character

n some of the most popular stories, the setting-- the "where and when"-- is so PRESENT that it is almost another character-- one that causes changes in the plot and grows in response to plot events. Think about the Millenium Falcon, Walter Moseley's postwar LA, Jane Austen's villages.   We're discussing how to make your setting more than just a backdrop where your characters to move around-- but an actual living and changing element in the story.  Are you interested in a comprehensive cour...

Listener Questions 4 acts

A listener asks, what if I don't have a three-act structure? What if I have 4 acts? How do I plot a story like that, with a lot of world-building and then a disaster in the middle? Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters. Lear...

Antiheroes

Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters. Learn more about making your story and characters come to life in the Building Bolder Scenes course.   Sign up for our writing mailing list: Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/A...

Prologues

"The past is prologue," said the Bard. What is a prologue? Why do so many readers love them? Why do so many editors hate them? We'll discuss what a prologue is, what it can do, and when it can be effective-- and how to make it a powerful intro to your story.    New Course! Building Bolder Scenes. here's the link again:  http://bit.ly/building-bolder-scenes Sign up for our email list and get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory Check out our Plot Blueprint website for...

What's in a Name?

  Some of us can't easily come up with character names. Some of us can't start a book without names for the character. What is in a name? Let's talk about how and when and what to name characters.   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! http://bit.ly/plotblueprint Wanna try it out first? Here's a free...

Choice of Games

There are all sorts of new ways to publish these days. Here's one that is a combination sort of == games and "choose your own adventure" books. It's called Choice of Games, and you can read more about it at: https://www.choiceofgames.com/ Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here...

Epistolary Storytelling: Letters, Diaries, Found Footage

Found footage, letters to a loved one, and many more are discussed in this episode about this classical but nontraditional method of storytelling.   Here we discuss different ways storywriters can use “found footage” and the “epistolary” (letter, journal) formats. It’s hard to describe, but novels, film, games—one innovative technique is to use environmental materials (like invented newspaper excerpts, letters, tapes) to give an interactive experience within a story. We’ll go into several ...

Character Arc Questions

Listener Questions

A listener asks about four-act plots.  This is the structure of most disaster films.   Sign up for our email list and get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory Check out our Plot Blueprint website for more articles about the craft of writing. https://www.plotblueprint.com/ Join the Plot Blueprint Course!  http://bit.ly/plotblueprint   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points,...

What We Wrote today- One of us just starting, one revising

Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! http://bit.ly/plotblueprint Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters. https://bit.ly/character--sympathy   Sign up for our writing mailing list: Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory  

Foils

"Foils" refers to a pair of characters who have similar traits but different fates, like Hamlet and Laertes. You can use a foil to emphasize how a character's experiences, actions, and decisions change the resolution. New Course! Building Bolder Scenes. here's the link again:  http://bit.ly/building-bolder-scenes Sign up for our email list and get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory Check out our Plot Blueprint website for more articles about the craft of writing. htt...

What We Wrote Today- Timed Exercise

What We Wrote Today is just that-- we do a writing exercise and then discuss what we wrote.  Sign up for our email list and get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory  Check out our Plot Blueprint website for more articles about the craft of writing. https://www.plotblueprint.com/  Join the Plot Blueprint Course! http://bit.ly/plotblueprint

Character Goals 2- Ending

This is the second part of the Goals discussion-- about how you can use goals to shape the ending of the story.

The Goal of Goals- beginning of stories

We discuss the goal of goals-- to give the character something to do, to deepen the characterization, to give structure to the plot.   We'll talk about the beginning of goals here, and in the next episode, we'll talk about how to use the goal to structure the ending of the story.   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Y...

SPICE: Starting your story with Emotion

This episode discusses start with an emotion like "grief" and how to develop a full story from that.  What character feels this emotion? How does this experience change the character and plot?   Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic ch...

SPICE: Starting the Story with Character

Where can you start your story? SPICE-- Setting Plot Idea Character Emotion This episode discusses how you can start with character, and build the story around a character or group of characters. Many of us writers will start here-- with a person who's taken up residence in our head. We want to write to discover more about the character's psychology and journey. So join us as we discuss the perilous pleasures of living (or at least writing) someone else's life. Sign up for our email list an...

SPICE: Idea

We thought this would be our shortest SPICE episode! But once we got started, we kept thinking about the importance of idea and theme to starting some stories, especially speculative fiction like SF and steampunk. Sign up for our email list and get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory Check out our Plot Blueprint website for more articles about the craft of writing. https://www.plotblueprint.com/ Join the Plot Blueprint Course! http://bit.ly/plotblueprint If you want inf...

SPICE: Where do I start my story? PLOT

Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters.   Sign up for our writing mailing list: Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory   If you want information about the new Building Bolder Scenes course, sign up her...

SPICE- Where do I start my story? SETTING

Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters.   Sign up for our writing mailing list: Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory   If you want information about the new Building Bolder Scenes course, sign up her...

Episode Zero

EPISODE NOTES Are you interested in a comprehensive course to help you plot your story from start to finish, all three acts and nine turning points, along with the major character developments? Then enroll in the Blueprint Your Plot course! Wanna try it out first? Here's a free course in creating sympathetic characters: Get a free plotting article! http://bit.ly/AliciaRasleyStory