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The Write Focus

Author: M.A. Lee

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Successful writing requires The Write Focus. Hosted by M.A. Lee with occasional forays from Remi Black and Edie Roones, we focus on productivity / tools / craft / process for fiction and nonfiction, entertainment and academic writing.
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Here we are with More Techniques from Erle Stanley Gardner. We’re tackling Gardner’s solutions for Writer’s Block. Look to the Show Notes for information about the nonfiction book that is the source for this information. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:11 Unmentioned Unmentionable 01:54 Notes & Rules on Work 07:30 Plotting Machines 12:20 Gardner, THE Plotting Machine 15:16 Flying Buttresses against Writer’s Block 17:10 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 19:17   LINKS Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975.    Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
66,000 words per week 140 titles published ~ novels and short stories. Of that number, 100 of them sold over one million copies EACH. Translated into dozens of languages Used pen names because he was so prolific he had to disguise his output from editors Who is this great Defeater of Writer’s Block? Let’s try one more clue. 271 TV episodes produced with his trademark character Perry Mason. Have you guessed the writer? Erle Stanley Gardner. To write 66,000 words each week and to publish 140 titles, Gardner had to have methods and techniques to Defeat Writer’s Block. In his early days, before he became best-selling, Gardner had to learn story-telling techniques, all the craft skills of character, plot, conflict, and resolution (endings). He discovered practical methods and adapted them, and those served him well over his long career as a professional writer. Let’s analyze the ones we can adapt to super-charge our own Write Focus. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 03:08 Writing Life Work Habits 04:38 Gardner’s 1st Technique 07:48 His 2nd Technique 09:05 His 3rd Technique (& the most important) 10:30 Two Touchstones for Stories 13:40 These Touchstones Defeat Writer’s Block 15:03 Five Guides for any Story 20:05 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 22:48   LINKS Secrets of the World’s Best-Selling Writer: the Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner. Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate. Graymalki Media, 1975. Lester Dent’s Plot Formula (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/322-short-narratives-part-1-mixed-miscellany-summer-series/?token=787f587776d16329864e1540c7138c9e Video on YouTube https://youtu.be/jA6xHr44XMw Lester Dent’s Plot Formula / printable pdf / https://mgherron.com/2015/01/lester-dents-pulp-paper-master-fiction-plot-formula/ Plot 7 (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/504-plot-7-part-a-discovering-plot/ Archetypal Story Pattern / Greatest Plot Structure in the World (1st episode) Audio https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/stages-1-2-greatest-plot-structure-discplot-447/?token=1f886de066cbc760395ba4fc6edb7519   Link to Blog https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/03/defeat-writers-block-how-one-pro-won.html   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
We’re back with more advice from Pro Writers on Defeating Writer’s Block. Let’s launch straight into business. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 00:48 Barbara Kingsolver 03:00 William Stafford (poet) 03:51 Scott McCormick 09:16 Philip Pullman 12:06 Charlaine Harris 14:34 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time:: 16:40   Links None. Quotations came from a variety of internet sites.   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
Defeating Writer’s Block is easy to say, not so easy to do. We writers have to discover the problem we’re having with those pesky little words. 1st, we have to find them—and they do like to hide. 2nd, we have to write them down—whether in a notebook or straight to the keyboard. That’s a whole problem on its own. We can’t count the Block as a simple disruption, a wholesale explosion of our writing time. It’s the Desire and the Initiative to write that’s the problem. In our diagnostic quiz, at the end of the Introduction segment, the weakness of our desire, the weakness of our initiative are driving factors that keep us out of our chair. Type 1 of Writer’s Block is Writer’s Refusal, and I consider it the easiest of the Blocks to diagnose, admit, and defeat. Type 2 is a harder Block to defeat. What is the Type 2 Block? Writer’s Procrastination. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:48 Writer’s Procrastination 07:05 Fear #1 09:35 Fear #2 11:47 Trolls 14:06 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:14   Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added: https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)  
Hey! Our claim is that Writer’s Block doesn’t exist? And you say, “I don’t believe it. I’m blocked. I’m suffering with Writer’s Block.” Believe it or not, the truth is that Writer’s Block does NOT exist. Not. No way. Nope. We can write, but something keeps us from writing what we very well need to write. At the end of our last episode, the introduction to this series on Defeating Writer’s Block, we classified 3 types. Knowing the type that’s affecting us, that’s part of the solution to any Writer’s Block . . . for we can make claims, we can repeat a mantra–but something’s blocking us. The other part of the solution to Writer’s Block is our WILL–even if we don’t want to write, we MUST. We NEED to. We gotta! The only problem with saying “MUST and NEED and GOTTA” is that I’m afflicted with bloody-mindedness. As soon as someone commands must / need / have to / gotta–my bloody-mindedness kicks in. “Oh yeah? I think NOT.” That’s where WILL comes in—and that’s our focus this week. Overcoming Type I of Writer’s Block, classified as Writer’s Refusal. [Did I shout enough?] TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:53 Writer’s Refusal 03:25 Overcome with Escape 05:45 Escape Exercise to Try 11:25 Overcome the Over-Schedule 17:15 When Numbers Help Words 22:45 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 22:51   Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added: https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand.  For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
 Can you name a phrase that every writer fears? Try “Writer’s Block”. We writers all have a deep-seated fear when we hear those two words side by side. Writer’s Block—those should be forbidden to speak together. We have quite a number of pro writers who claim there’s no such things as Writer’s Block, and I’m one of them—but I will admit that I find myself refusing to write or avoiding my desk or just stuck on a story. Distractions and disruptions occur, and before we know it, weeks—not days, weeks—have passed. With few words written, our writing plans are blown. Guilt descends—and the clouds of guilt and disappointment and dismay and more disrupters descend and . . . gosh, we don’t even want to think about it. That’s the purpose of this series: we want to Defeat that Writer’s Block. To do that, we have to look more closely at Writer’s Block than we want to. In this February month of love, let’s look at what prevents us from pursuing our love of writing. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Intro 01:46 Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist 08:30 The Truth about Writer’s Block 13:55 Diagnostic Quiz 16:00 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 17:00   Links Links to Think like a Pro, original source with other info added: https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Defeat Writer’s Block, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook Think like a Pro: a New Advent for Writers. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
In the last episode, we began our look at a process method I call Plot 7. This week we finish the Plot 7 and our series on Discovering Plot. Coming up for February are four episodes on Overcoming Writer’s Block. The Plot 7 is wonderful for sparking ideas for a new novel or novella. It’s too deep for a short story. In the Plot 7 are the 7 most important scenes for the novel. We covered the Beginning, the Very End, and the Roughest Moment / the Ordeal. This episode covers the last 4 … and these are the hardest four. By the time writers finish these 7 scenes, we have a great start on the story. The between-scenes and sequels will remain for us to write—but we’ll know our direction and the whole process of drafting the novel will flow easily. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 03:25 Plot 4 04:54 Plot 5 07:57 Plot 6 10:33 Plot 7 12:35 Bringing It Together 14:50 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:32   Link to Lester Dent’s Plot Formula for Short Stories Episode 1 / Short Narratives / Mixed Miscellany https://eden5695.podbean.com/e/322-short-narratives-part-1-mixed-miscellany-summer-series/ Links to Think like a Pro, source for the Plot 7, other info added: https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd Links to the Ebook Discovering Plot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
We’re winding up the Discovering Plot series with the Plot 7, a quick way to launch into story and to reach that story’s heart … and discover if it will fly—or crash like my feeble attempts at paper airplanes. Plot 7 comes from the writer’s guidebook Think like a Pro, by M.A. Lee, designed to turn a hobby writer into a pro writer with the necessary mindset changes. We’ll break the Plot 7 into 2 episodes. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:17 Plot 7 Raison d’Etre 04:18 Plot 1 05:40 Plot 2 06:50 Plot 3 11:58 Last Words / Closing TOTAL RUN TIME = 13:42   Links to Think like a Pro https://www.amazon.com/Think-like-Pro-Advent-Writers/dp/ Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/4AxWAd   Links to the Ebook Discovering Plot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
Welcome to our 200th episode of The Write Focus. Yippee! We made it farther than I ever anticipated, 200 episodes and into Season 5, and we still have more episodes ahead. AND it’s all thanks to our listeners, who motivate us to keep offering more and more. Over our 200 episodes, we’ve covered craft with plot and characters, process with sentence craft, productivity with challenges, and tools for writers. This episode is an update to an old post, a Blast from the Past, with new insights to make it up-to-date. For those of us raised on western story-telling and conflict and characters, this method will seem an about-face. It works best for shorter tales—stories and novellas rather than novels and epics. As we analyze it, you’ll see the reason I say that. The next two weeks will have another look back at a plotting method from the early days of The Write Focus. The Plot 7 is not a plot structure. Instead, it’s a method for writers to develop quickly the skeleton of a novel or novella. Let’s call it a Process. After a season on craft, it’s time we looked at process. Oh, and it’s a strong way to supercharge your productivity after a season of disruptions and distractions, totally suitable after the holiday season. So, without more rattling on, let’s look at our Blast from the Past, Kishotenketsu. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 02:33 Kishotenketsu 06:15 Example 1 from Sanyo Rai 09:15 Example 2 from Nils Odlund 12:50 Analysis 16:30 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time :: 18:15   LINKS Sanyo Rai story = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kish%C5%8Dtenketsu Nils Odlund story = https://mythicscribes.com/plot/kishotenketsu/ Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)  
It’s the last official episode for Discovering Plot and the final 2 stages of the greatest plot structure for writers, the Archetypal Story Pattern. While many of us have our favorite plot structure, all the ones that I’ve analyzed and taught cannot match the adaptability and flexibility of the ASP. Hopefully, with the variety of discussed plots, many writers will see the value of the ASP. In this episode, we have Stages 11 and 12. Stage 11 is the Resurrection of the Evil (and of our Protagonist). This is the culminating battle between the protagonist and the antagonist, and we writers have four tasks in this stage to give our readers a satisfactory ending. For readers, endings lead to the next story—which is our writing goal. Yes, even in romantic comedies or literary fiction, we have battles. We’re writers; think metaphorically! Stage 12 is called Return with the Elixir. This is our triumphant protagonists drinking with the gods to celebrate victory. We’ll have three more episodes before we call this Discovering Plot series complete, done and dusted. For now, it’s on with the episode. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Introduction 02:05 Stage 11: Dual Enemies of Evil and Self 02:58 Three Examples with Three Lessons 09:55 Four Points of the Resurrection 16:35 Stage 12: Drinking with the Gods 17:20 The Return / The Elixir 21:52 Final Points 22:50 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time: 24:31   LINKS to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
Welcome to the 5th season of The Write Focus, the podcast for writers of all types, newbies and veterans and everyone in-between. Our FOCUS is productivity, process, craft, and tools. We are justifiably proud of achieving this 5th season. We started in 2020, that dreadful year, so good things do come from bad ones. Apart from our yearly hiatus in the hectic Decembers, we haven’t missed a weekly episode. This week, we officially open this season with Episode 198. How is that for meeting deadlines? OOO, OOO, OOO We start our 5th season with the first of the last episodes on the greatest plot structure in the world, taken from our host M.A. Lee’s craft guide Discovering Plot. In this episode, we delve into Stages 9 and 10 of the 12-Stage Archetypal Story Pattern, Greatest Plot Structure in the World. Stage 9 is the protagonist’s Reward for surviving the trials and the dark ordeal. Our main characters still have a difficult journey ahead, yet Stage 9 gives a respite. Then we descend to Stage 10, the Road Back, seemingly straightforward but still tricksy, still twisty, still dangerous. This wave-like up-and-down pattern of events all through the Archetypal Story Pattern creates pacing and tension. The writers offers rewards to keep the readers from tumbling off the journey. The troubles continue to offer angst and suspense for reader engagement. Don’t make the mistake of cheap thrills and unthinking, uncaring sacrifices now that you’ve brought the reader this far. Love has an emotional reward. Danger and death have consequences. Justice cannot be totally blind. Not for the reader. AND Not for us, the satisfied writer who wants to keep writing, not burn out and burn up our love of story-telling. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Introduction 03:03 Stage 9 / Joy after Darkness 07:44 Ordeal vs. Reward 09:20 The Difficult Reward 11:53 Stage 10 / Driving to Destiny 13:04 Driving with the Old Desired Dear 19:28 How to Find the Right Road Back 25:20 Last Words / Closing TOTAL TIME = 27:00 Examples from Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter series), Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice, 13th Warrior by Michael Crichton, The Crown, Castaway film with Tom Hanks, and Tolkein’s Return of the King. LINKS Invocation of Blood, from 13th Warrior :: https://youtu.be/qQekqWha7fg Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Link to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
Genre expectations are reader expectations of the plot they will encounter. With all the books on the electronic and physical shelves, a classification system more than Fiction and NonFiction is necessary. Here comes Genre to save the day, like the famed Mighty Mouse. We have 10 major genres of fiction and countless subgenres within each category—and then we have stories that fuse genres or bend the genre boundaries. As long as we writers interest, amuse, or instruct our readers, that’s all that matters. Timings 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Opening Words 01:23 Genre Expectations 4:02 Major Genres of Literature 09:33 All Genres and the 1st 4 12:18 The Last 6 of the 10 17:05 Closing Total Run Time 18:06 Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, see below or visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.) LINKS Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk  
“Amber Dreams”, chapter 5   Sailing with Mystery is available as an audiobook from M.A. Lee and Writers Ink Books. Visit M.A. Lee (maleebooks.blogspot.com) for more information.
Stage 8 is the second of the two most important stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern, the greatest plot structure in the world. Many would say that it is the most important stage. We’ve reached the Ordeal, the Dark Moment, the greatest trial for our protagonist, the point closest to Death—the near loss of a love, a goal or dream almost destroyed, a job or status at an explosive moment that could prove fatal if one more horrid mistake occurs. While the Ordeal is not the ultimate battle, it is all-important, for our protagonist and our antagonist. Before we delve into Stage 8 a word on the rest of December. With all the hectic holiday events, The Write Focus takes December off and will resume on the first Wednesday of the New Year. Our Discovering Plot series has two more episodes to explore the last 4 stages. We’ll start the New Year and Season 5 with those. It’s hard to believe this little podcast is entering its 5th season. Thanks to all of our listeners who keep us going! Do stop by after Christmas for a little audio Christmas gift from our host M.A. Lee. Now, let’s face the Ordeal. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:30 Introduction 02:12 Stage 8 04:09 Persuasion as an example 07:10 13th Warrior as an example 09:09 Antagonists 11:27 Deathly Hallows as an example 13:07 Key Juxtapositions 15:05 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time = 16:47 Examples from Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Michael Crichton’s 13th Warrior, and JK Rowling’s Deathly Hallows   Direct Link to the Blog https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2023/12/stage-8-greatest-plot-structure.html   Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
For many writers, Openings and Closings aren’t the problem with story. We all have problems with the Messy Middle—or the Saggy Middle—or that long slog between fantastic Opening and stupendous Ending. It’s the Middle that causes the most groans. In the Archetypal Story Pattern, the Greatest Plot Structure in the world—that troublesome Middle is Stages 4 to 8. It’s not Stage 4 that creates the problems. It’s not Stage 8 or Stage 7. Nope, what causes the most angst for writers is our focus in this episode—Stages 5 and 6. Follow along for clues that will change your approach to Stages 5 and 6 and hopefully keep them from turning into the Messy Middle Mire that causes angst for so many writers. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Introduction 01:47 Stage 5 03:30 Thresholds 04:47 Four New Things in the Story 07:05 Analysis through Example 09:16 Crossing the First Threshold 10:43 Stage 6 12:50 Purpose-Filled Examinations 15:50 Thresholds are Tests (and are Try/Fail Sequences) 16:47 How Many Tests? 19:50 Last Words / Closing Total Run Time:: 21:33   Examples from Patricia Briggs’ The Hob’s Bargain, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice   Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
This week’s episode continues our deeper and richer analysis of the stages of the Greatest Plot Structure in the World for Writers: the Archetypal Story Pattern. Stage 3 is the Refusal of the Call, which is just as necessary as the destruction that occurs in Stage 2, Call to Adventure. Stage 4 presents one of the most intriguing and labyrinthine characters in the story realm: the Mentor. Got those loins girded? We’re delving ever deeper into ASP. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Introduction 01:13 Stage 3 / Only Fools Rush In 03:44 Don’t Neglect the Evil 04:07 Jobs Not Yet Done 05:05 Five Psychological Stages to Maturity 08:02 Analysis of ROC through Example 11:20 Stage 4 / Wiser Eyes 16:47 When Mentors Become More 19:22 Initiation and Transformation 21:12 Last Words and Closing Total Run Time: 22:53 Examples from Dorothy Johnson’s short story “A Man Called Horse”, the film Taken, the Star Wars canon, the Harry Potter series, and Jane Austen’s Persuasion. LINKS BELOW  Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters series. Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.) LINKS Link to “A Man Called Horse” by Dorothy Johnson (various pdfs are available online. This is a link to the story online.) A Man Called Horse ______ Dorothy M. Johnson – My Favorite Westerns Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
In this episode, we begin our in-depth analysis of the individual stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern, the greatest plot structure for writers. Highly adaptable and flexible, the Archetypal Story Pattern, or ASP, allows the creative muse to fly. Our focus is the first two stages: Stage 1 / Ordinary World and Stage 2 / Call to Adventure. With a deeper and richer analysis of each stage, writers will hopefully gain insights that were never before contemplated. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Introduction 01:22 Stage 1 Opening 02:28 Start with Duality 05:07 Build with the Latin 7 09:21 Stage 2 Opening 10:35 First Consideration 12:26 Second Consideration 15:59 Three More Takes 18:43 Last Words and Closing Total Run Time :: 20:25   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)   Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
Archetypes invaded the world of writing decades ago. Just as an artist has her drawing box and a cook accesses her pantry. new writers—and experienced ones needed a refresher—need the archetypal frameworks in their writing kit. Explorers will find multiple versions of archetypal charts, for plot and for characters. Social media and webinars abound with them. Numerous videos and blogs cover the basic information. The Archetypal Story Pattern—ASP—is genius for the 12 stages of essential story scenes. We have many more scenes than these, of course, but the ASP gives up the story guidance so lacking in other types of plot structures. In this section, we offer an introduction to Archetypal Story Pattern. In the next, we launch into the individual stages. Gird your loins. The information is becoming intense! After this episode’s overview, we’ll cover each stage in deeper and richer detail in later episodes, all the way into the New Year. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Introduction 04:02 Joseph Campbell’s 17 Stages of the Hero’s Journey 06:47 Christopher Vogler’s 12 Stages / the Archetypal Story Pattern 09:10 Beginning / Middle / End 12:28 Last Words and Closing Total Run Time :: 14:11   BOOK LINKS are to Amazon because I’m working quickly. You can also find these at Worldwide Distributors Everywhere. Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-Anniversary-Mythic-Structure/dp/1615933158/ Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a 1,000 Faces https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell-ebook/dp/B08MWW2VDL/ Carl Jung :: Gary Bobroff’s Knowledge in a Nutshell: Carl Jung https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Nutshell-psychoanalyst-unconscious-archetypes-ebook/dp/B082VJLVXR/ George Fraser The Golden Bough https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Bough-James-George-Frazer/dp/1692144219/   Links to M.A. Lee’s Discovering Your Plot, ebook format. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk   Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.)
In our previous two episodes, we looked at 4 plot structures that are inadequate ~ Basic Beats and Freytag’s Pyramid, both of which are reductions of Aristotle’s Plot Requirements and Shakespeare’s Dramatic Structure. None of those have enough to help writers with their own stories. In this episode, we’re close, so close, with the Complex Plot Structure … but it’s still not the greatest. We end with a strong hint of the Best and tell you the reason it’s the best … and always will be. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Opening 1:41 Complex Plot Structure 9:55 Plot Structure for Writers 15:5 Last Words and Closing Total Run Time: 17:00 Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.) Links for the Ebook of Discovering Your Plot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer for DiscPlot https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
In this episode, The Write Focus examines the plot structure taught to everyone. It’s basic. It’s common. It’s great for students. That’s all it is. Not good for writers. Nope. We only bring it up because everyone starts here. It actually is a reduction of Shakespeare’s dramatic structure. Yeah, that old dude. Another old dude. Let’s move beyond, and get started. TIMINGS 00:00 Welcome 00:39 Opening 1:07 Freytag’s Pyramid 6:45 Shakespeare’s Dramatic Structure 18:48 Last Words and Closing Total Running Time: 20:29 Thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away. Our current focus is Discovering Your Plot, from host M.A. Lee’s guidebook of the same name. Support the podcast with a cup of coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/winkbooksr You can find workbooks and templates at Buy Me a Coffee. Available is the Enter the Writing Business Workbook and templates from the Discovering Characters Available Now: worksheet templates and a video trailer script for Discovering Your Author Brand. For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com  . Write to us at winkbooks@aol.com. If you find value in this podcast, please share with your writing friends or write a review. (We’re small beans. We don’t have the advertising budget of the big peeps. You can make a difference.) Links to the Ebook https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838PTN49 https://books2read.com/u/bOJK6K Links to a paperback 8 x 10 bundle for plot / characters / branding / sentence craft, called Discovering Your Writing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08691892S Trailer https://youtu.be/hTVQn92kNBk
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