by Jacque | May 15, 2024 | Genre, strong connection, Structure, Uncategorized
Do you remember when you first started writing? What drove you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)? For me, like for many writers, it was a story that just wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d always been a daydreamer, coming up with different scenarios or events,...
by Jacque | Oct 13, 2021 | Essential Scenes, five requirements, Powerful Stories, Self-Editing, Structure, Uncategorized
Mystery or Romance? Sci-Fi or Fantasy? Literary or Non-sense? The single most important question asked is, “What’s my genre?” This can be a confusing topic for most contemporary writers. Your story is set in the future, contains a murder, and the protagonist gets...
by Jacque | Jul 8, 2020 | Character, Genre, Powerful Stories, Self-Editing, Structure, Uncategorized
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I believe genre guides every decision you make while writing your story. This is especially true when it comes to fulfilling the Five Requirements and finding your controlling theme. Have any of these go...
by Jacque | Sep 25, 2019 | Genre, Powerful Stories, step 1, Structure, Supersets, Uncategorized
How would you describe a dog? Four legs, a nose, and a tail, right? Easy enough. But that can also describe a cat, a horse, or even an elephant! Because a dog is such a common animal, we don’t think twice about the difference between a dog and a cat, we just know. We...
by Jacque | Dec 18, 2018 | Essential Scenes, Self-Editing, Structure, Uncategorized
For a piece of fiction to work, several elements must be present. Most commercial and genre fiction, those works of art that general audiences read and buy, follow the three-act structure. Not surprisingly, those acts are the beginning, middle, and end. But to have a...
