January 6, 2019 Facebook post
My latest young adult fantasy tangent is “The Crystal Sword.” Brainstorming characters and plot points.
Yay! I just picked up “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel” by Jessica Brody based on Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat!” book on screenwriting, which I already have. Brainstorming with help.
Some time ago I had the brain burp that humans must be hardwired for stories from prehistoric times. Stories told around the campfire were the means to convey and preserve history and family lineages, teach children, and share the story about the wooly mammoth that got away.
Low and behold, Lisa Cron wrote “Wired for Story,” explaining that very thing. Since caveman days, we’ve developed an expectation of how stories will progress.
Which brings us to “Save the Cat!” in which Blake Snyder shares the beats (scenes/events) common to successful movies. A framework that makes stories work for our primitive minds. And Jessica Brody’s application of this to novel structure.
One of the best classes I’ve ever taken was Cynthia Whitcomb’s screenwriting course (which she had taught at UCLA). Works for novelists as well as screenwriters — and she plays scenes from various movies to display the lessons in action. Highly recommended for writers in the Portland area.
My homework is to read Brody’s book and keep “The Crystal Sword” in mind as I work through it.
My kind of fun for 2019
Mary S. Potter 