Your book needs a theme. A theme is closely aligned to your plot and often the words are used interchangably. I see them as different however. A theme is more of a feeling your book has, a message, or a arc your character will undergo. Your plot is the step by step way in which you are going to tell story. Of course they are closely aligned. But building a plot takes a more practical method of working out how your character is going to move from A to B.
The list below is from 20 Master Plots & How to Build Them (Ronald Tobias 1993). See if you can identify your plot in one of these. It may give you focus. It may give clarity to a story goal you are battling to lock down.
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So many writers get stuck at the very start. They simply cannot get off the starting block. Either they get stuck with the very idea of their book, continually thinking about writing, plotting and planning, but not able to actually sit down and write the book. Or they do actually start the book and then just can’t get beyond the first few chapters (or few thousand words).
So here are my tips to avoid getting stuck before you even start: Are there... in fact, writing and marketing tips specific to YA fiction. The elements of what makes a great story are the same across genres, aren’t they? And marketing tips such as you might find here on the blog apply to all types of fiction books, don’t they?
After pondering for quite some time, my answer to these questions is yes – and no. There is a difference between a YA novel and a novel written for adults. YA author Natalie Wright gives us some tips on writing and marketing in the genre. |
About SarahSarah Bullen is a writing coach, agent and book editor. She is a structure fanatic and coaches writers on how to write and get published. Archives
January 2019
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