Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt

I hope you liked last week’s inspirational post. As I was looking for another one to post today, I came across this one

When I saw it, something clicked in my head. After working a bit with the 7 point story system I ended up with two stories, one of which draws many elements from my country’s mythology. Turns out that system helps me a lot to get my head around the main points of a plot. I only took notes for that one but I completed the first draft of the second story and although at first I thought there was something missing, the more I tweaked, edited and revised the more I came to like it.  So, in a month’s time since I finished the first draft of The Darkening, I have managed to finish 3 (!) short stories.  Now I need to have it critiqued somewhere. If only I could find a critique partner…

I hope the image proves as much help for you as it did for me. Let me know if it sparkled something interesting.

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompts

I’d like to start a new category, one that will (hopefully) inspire you to write more or at least evoke something inside.

I’m very much a visual person, in that I’ll see an image and a story will pop into my mind. Well, maybe not a whole story, more like a scene but the point is that things will start stirring in my head. I know that for others this happens when they read something or when they put together certain words or when they hear something.

So I want to start this new category called “Inspirational Prompts” where I’ll be posting a picture, a string of words, a full sentence etc, that hopefully will motivate you into writing something. It could be a completely new story or it could be a new take on a scene for something you’ve already written and want to reword.

Write down your stories or scenes that spring from it. If this idea of mine has helped you, write a comment and let me know. I’ll share your enthusiasm. Don’t send me your stories; they are for you, to help you if you’re in need of it or to simply increase your daily word quota. This is me trying to help the community by giving something back. Feel free to reblog whatever you think others may find beneficial.

I should also point out that since I write mainly horror, fantasy (dark fantasy mainly) and sci-fi, a good deal of the images I’ll be posting will be related to that. Of course I’ll have others, non-fantasy related.

So, this is the first image.

(Where possible, I will mention where I found each image from and who owns it. In this case, the pinterest image simply says Found in twitter.com)

What thoughts go through his mind? Why is he in the background? What about her? What could they say to each other if the image showed them in the exact same place but in a futuristic setting?

Let your imagination run wild!

Oh, yes, this is from my pinterest page, I started solely for these blog posts. If you have any more images to share with me or wish to give me a quick tour of how pinterest works, please do so 🙂

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 1 Comment

7 point story system

Today’s post deals with another way to structure a story and it’s called 7 Point Story System. According to writer Dan Wells, who made a presentation of it a while back, this particular structure system can be applied to almost any story. He doesn’t take credit for it (nor do I), instead he said he found this structure from the Star Trek RPG (trekkie fans, rejoice!). Without any further ado, here it is:

Hook
Plot Turn 1
Pinch 1
Midpoint
Pinch 2
Plot Turn 2
Resolution

The interesting thing about the above structure is that it works backwards (you’ll see that when you watch the video). For this structure to work, it is essential to know how your story or character arc ends, in other words you need to have a Resolution first. I should stress here that the Resolution isn’t the end of your book but rather the tidying up of your arcs (character and story) and in the case of a novel it may well span more than one chapters.

Once you have that, you then move to the Hook of the story. Mr Wells says that what the Hook and the Resolution show in terms of the story or the character are usually directly opposite to one another. For this example he uses the first Harry Potter book and compares Harry’s initial state (Hook) with what Harry has become (Resolution).

Once these two points are established, the writer then identifies the Midpoint. In my mind, the Midpoint acts as a transition between the character of a story being reactive (from Hook up to Midpoint), then changing to active (from Midpoint to Resolution). When I first saw that, I thought the Midpoint and the inciting moment are related but once I started working with this system a bit, I realised I was wrong. The Midpoint doesn’t also need to be in the middle of the story. The Midpoint is that one thing that connects to your Resolution and gives meaning to the story. It is the one thing your protagonist finds out about something and propels him/her into doing something about it, using everything he/she has picked up along the way (from Hook to Midpoint).

Once that’s done, Plot Turn 1 needs to be addressed. This is a another transition, one that exists between the beginning to Midpoint. This is the part where you have to introduce the conflict. It’s also the part where something happens that changes things around your main character. In the two short stories I’m writing at the moment, this is where my protagonist realises how important a waitress is for him (for the first story) and for second one it’s where the main character gets debriefed by his superiors and thus telling us what has happened.

Following that, Plot Turn 2 needs your attention. This is the point where everything leads to the Resolution. If your story is about your character having to do something, then this is the point where he/she will decide to do it. It’s what launches things towards the Resolution. In Poe’s short story Tell-Tale Heart I recently read, this is the point where the main character still hears his victim’s heart beating. That will propel him to the Resolution. If your Resolution is tragic and negative for the protagonist (as is the case with one of my short stories), this is the point that enables that tragic ending.

You then have to deal with the two Pinches. Pinch 1 is something that forces the character or the situation into action. It’s what leads to the Midpoint. Sometimes a villain is introduced or a problem inflicts the character that will push him/her forward. In the first Harry Potter book, that something is the appearance of the troll and that there’s no one around to deal with it, so the kids have to gain enough confidence in their abilities to deal with it.

Pinch 2 is all about applying even more pressure to the character. Either the problem will look impossible to solve or a supporting character will die or the character will realise he/she is left completely alone. Whatever you make it to be, it has to up the stakes significantly in order for your Resolution to have the maximum impact on the reader. It doesn’t matter if your story is going to be a sad one or a happy one (I prefer the first), as long as the stakes have gone so high that the Resolution is satisfying.

Naturally, there’s a lot more to a story than just this outline, things like well-developed characters, good environment set up, using all the senses for the reader to be fully immersed in your story and of course subplots (if you apply the system to longer works).

I have only used it twice so far, both times for short stories, one of which I’m in the process of writing and appears very difficult even with this system. But I’ll make it work one way or another. For my longer works I prefer to work with the snowflake method BUT the 7 point system can help tremendously in identifying the key elements of a story and space them properly before using a more detailed structure system. I find it very handy and very helpful in arranging my thoughts in the right order and I like having a guideline when I write.

Next week I’ll either start giving writing prompts or, if I’m still stuck with my second short story, beg for your help. I’m really stuck 🙁

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 2 Comments

Transition from novel writing to short stories

This past week I decided to start working on a new short story. I hadn’t written one in a long time, since I was occupied solely with my novel The Darkening. If I remember correctly, the last short story I wrote was right before I started working on the novel, so it was late May or first couple of days of June; a bit less than 6 months. I figured I’d be slightly out of shape for a short story, since there’s more space to explain things in a novel, but boy was I out of shape!

Not only did I start adding more and more details about my main character’s life, not only did I expand on his thoughts and feelings but I almost ended up writing a completely different story than the simple idea I had in mind. Even though I used the 7 point story system and the story made sense as I outlined it, I reached a critical point when I started writing a scene where things couldn’t get contained in 500 words the scene was supposed to have. I reached 5000 words in no time and I still wasn’t anywhere near resolving the story. If anything, I had opened two more arcs! 😛 If I didn’t stop, what started as a short story would have ended up as a novella and that was not what I wanted. So I had to delete more than half, rewrite about 60%, make a note to cut down on a dialogue that stretched too long, cut down on emotions and thoughts shared by the main character and figure out all sorts of ways to get my point through indirectly and in ways that conveyed more than one thing. Basically, I tried to make use of the rule “less is more.”

Around the same time, I read my first Alan Poe’s work, a short story called Tell-Tale Heart. In that story, Poe uses no more than 5-6 pages to convey a full story with an arc, full characterisation and so many more that I failed to notice, (since I’m a newbie). When I finished it I was in awe. Somehow I had to find a way to convey my story (which at the time was apparent it was going to end up being a novella, and not a short story) in a such a way that it would make sense.

My current draft (the new, rewritten one) sits at 3160 words, which is good. My only concern is now whether or not the story is coherent and if it flows smoothly without too many holes. Once that’s done, I’ll start editing and then see what else needs to be done.

This is the first time I used the 7 point story system and I had no experience with it. It makes sense and I’d like to work with it again in the future for short stories until I get to master it. Perhaps next week I’ll talk about the system a bit more. I’m also thinking of adding a new section with prompts using images. Would you like something like that?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 2 Comments

And the end came at last

Yes, dear readers. The end of the first part of this journey has come to an end. I’m proud to announce the end of the first draft of my first novel, The Darkening. Allow me a moment for this to sink in with me ’cause I still find it hard to accept. *Chris breathes deeply*

If you’re in the same boat as me and you’ve just started writing or are about to finish your first novel, I can tell you for a fact that the feeling is strange. For me, there was a lot of joy but at the same time, a lot of emptiness, since the thing I had spent 5 months of my life on was now over. I need to find something else to work on for the next 1-2 months, as I intend to leave the story alone and not even think about it. That’s going to be VERY hard ’cause I need to know I finish things as soon as they get my hands on them. I can’t stand knowing I have things undone. That’s something else I have to re-educate myself. In a way one could say I felt like those people who are obsessed with something for many years and when they finally get what they want, afterwards they are left empty inside. I won’t say it’s not daunting. Quite honestly, it’s scares me. What really freaks me out is that feeling of emptiness. Perhaps at a deeper level I saw this project (being the first completed novel-length work) as the dearest of them all. I’m somewhat emotionally attached to it. Perhaps in a deep unconscious way I always thought I’d be working on it, even though I wanted to finish it. It may sound strange to you but it’s like when parents know they have to let their kids fly out of the nest yet they find it very hard to do so.

Yesterday I wrote two alternative endings for the story, one of which will entail changing a great deal of the book and the main character. So, technically, I wrote The End three times in total. The fact however remains: after five months of writing, I finally scribbled down The End. I wrote Scene 1/Chapter 1 on 9 June 2014 and finished it on 8 November. The original plan was to spend 3 months on it, expecting that writing on my cell phone instead of my PC, wouldn’t interfere too much. I was wrong. At that time, as some of you may remember, I could hardly write 1000 words per day. Which meant that the book took 2 more months to finish.

On top of that, the book was supposed to end at no more than 120k words, from which I was hopeful I’d be able to cut around 15k-20k words during revisions. Alas, the book now stands at a whooping 149k words! That’s VERY bad, as I don’t think many agents would invest the time into something as big from a newbie. Even if I do manage to trim it down by 20k words, I’ll be left with 130k words, which is still not good enough. There’s always the possibility that I will need to squeeze the first 10 chapters/scenes into 2 in order to bring the inciting moment of the story closer to the beginning. If that’s the case then I’ll have to condense 30k words into no more than 8k at best. The thought makes me laugh but, make no mistake, it’s a not a happy laughter 😛

One thing’s true: the book is over! I like the characters and the complexity the main character has (madness and everything). I like the world a lot, which is probably what made me so eager to expand the similarly titled short story into a book.

Wow! I finished a book… Sometimes I catch myself pondering on that and it seems too overwhelming. I mean, it’s been a year and a half since I started writing. In that time I wrote half of my fantasy book, thought my writing skill was inadequate for the story (and pretty much everything else) and the world I had in mind, put it on hold in order to get more experience, started a new book and now… it’s finished. Even writing these words is hard, as my mind goes back and forth on that. To those of you have finished more than a book these words may read as too corny or too self-centred but to me this is huge. So bear with me please. I think I’ll be alright by next week. I think. I hope.

Some of you will be utilising this month to write as much as you can, thanks to NaNoWriMo. Whatever you do, no matter when you choose to do it (during NaNo or any other time in the year), just make sure you finish your book. That’s all that should matter. If you’re as passionate about it as I am (and most of you have started long before I did, so chances are you’re more passionate), then the rewards you’ll reap will be so many and so overwhelming 🙂

I’m going out to celebrate. I’m taking the day off. On Monday I’ll start working on a new short story and perhaps start outlining the next book 😉 It’s going to have a light cyberpunk theme to it, so it’ll be sci-fi. Too many ideas are floating in my head right now.