story structure – K. A. Excell

May 28, 2022

Revising With a Plan

One of the questions I see a lot (especially from writers coming out of NaNoWriMo) is how to write a second draft. I can’t answer this for everyone, because everyone has their own process which works for them. I can tell you about my process, and the process I recommend to clients.

June 4, 2022

The Debate Around Story Structure

If you’ve read my post on revising with a plan, you know I’m a big advocate of using story structure and plot beats to whip your […]

August 17, 2022

Question of the Day: Starting Over

Today's question goes like this. I've sunk over a year of my life into the draft of a novel. It's changed so much since it started. Now I'm to the point where I hate almost everything and want to take the world in a completely new direction...

August 31, 2022

3 Tools to Control Pacing

Pacing is the rate at which your reader progresses through the story. If the pacing is so fast you have a hard time following what's going on, you start to get confused. When the pacing is slow, you ware waiting for the writer to get to the point. We don't read books just to wait around while the writer gives us pages and pages of scenery. We want action. We want change. We want plot.

September 9, 2022

Narrative Lens and Narrative Distance

Narrative lens and narrative distance are two of the tools a writer should always have on their tool belt.

September 19, 2022

Dos and Don’ts of an Amazing Hook

The hook - the first line of your novel - is the single most important sentence in your story. Here are 2 don'ts and 1 do which will help you write a killer opening sentence.

October 22, 2022

Question of the Day: How to Find THE END

I used to struggle with my endings a lot. Part of that was because I didn’t have a really good idea of what I wanted to write, and the other part was because I had absolutely no grounding in story structure. Here’s the process I now use to figure out a good ending to my story. ...

October 26, 2022

A Guide to the Dark Night of the Soul

Dark Night of the Soul. One of the most emotionally devastating, yet brilliantly fulfilling moments in any story. Done correctly, this moment will move your readers to tears, then scoop them back up and fling them to untold emotional heights...

November 2, 2022

Question of the Day: How to find THE START

I have my major story plots pretty much set out, however I am having trouble with the opening scene. How do I decide which idea to use?