The Structure of Story

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Getting ready to put a project on paper can be as easy as 1-2-3. Yeah, right! It’s not so easy putting your project to paper. Most of us don’t outline or write down the ideas we have about our stories beginning, middle and end. Some of us feel it will mess with the creativity of our story. I thought that at first. I’ve been stuck on a project more times than I can count only because I didn’t jot down the important parts of the story arc. So now, to remedy that I work on an outline. I get to know my characters and their personalities.

I visited K.M. Weiland’s site and she has some interesting words she has shared in regards to story and structure. I always love to visit her site. She has such great insight on the craft of writing. Her words always guide me and help me to better understand the process of writing.

The Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 1: Why Should Authors Care?

What’s the single most overlooked, misunderstood—and yet most important—part of storytelling? If you cheated and looked at the title, you already know the answer is structure. Most uninitiated writers have two different reactions to the idea of story structure. Either they think it’s great, but too mystical and lofty to be understood by common mortals, or they think it’s formulaic hooey that will sap the art right out of their books.

I started out somewhere in the “huh?” camp that didn’t even realize there was such a thing as structure. From there, I progressed to reading complicated outlines that left me shaking my head. If that was structure than my story was practically written for me before I even came up with a decent idea. Thanks, but no thanks.

What I didn’t know—what most writers don’t know—is that even as I subjected the idea of story structure to ignorance and ridicule, I was actually structuring my stories without even realizing it. In the years since, I’ve been introduced to many theories of structure, all of which bear out the inevitable components found in all good stories, whether their authors deliberately structured them or were just lucky enough to wing it on their own good instincts.  Read more here.

 

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The Writing Dream by Terri Forehand

I love stumbling across posts by writers. We all share the sames dreams and concerns of reaching those dreams that at times can seem so far away. Today Terri talks about her story and path to writing.

Following the writing dream sounds so simple. However, there are certain things that have to happen as you are following those dreams and all of that can be very overwhelming.  Did any of you think that all you had to do was write from your heart and a writing career would unfold?

In my very younger days, yes I believed that if I wrote from my heart there would be a publisher who would scoop up those words and make my name a household brand in the world of children’s books. Oh how wrong I was. First of all, no one liked my words without changing many of them and sometimes changing the entire idea. And so my journey began.

The thing about writing and writing dreams is that it takes work, hard work. There is the work of learning the craft, that in and of itself can take years.  Then after learning the basics of the writing craft, there is a continuing education aspect that every writer must remember so never to loose site of honing the craft. I am finding new learning experiences with every assignment.

READ MORE HERE.

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Steve Karol: The Taste of Chocolate

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I am proud to share some great news about a good friend. Steve Karol is a writer, poet and artist. He has finally finished his play “The Taste of Chocolate” a story of how chocolate is introduced to the New World. Steve, a chocolate lover himself, wanted to share a story of chocolate and its marvelous history.

When I spoke with Steve about his play he was very excited. He is doing a fund raiser for the Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary. The play will be read by 11 actors playing 22 different characters on Thursday February 16^th, at Belvoir Winery in Liberty, Missouri.

Interview

TNW: When did you first start writing?

SK: I originally started writing poetry in the 1980′s. When I first got inspired to write plays it was for children. It was in 1996 when I wrote my first play for the Sunday school kids at my church. The Taste of Chocolate however started as a children’s play. There was much more of the story to tell that’s not appropriate for children.

TNW: What motivates you when it comes to being creative with your writing or art?

SK: What motivates me is a desire to express myself. I want to inspire others to look at life in a different perspective.

TNW: What advice do you have for new writers?

SK: To new writers I say, write what you love. Write what you feel. Your writing should be as much a part of you as your eyes are to your soul.

TNW: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

SK: My dream is to on the big screen, screen play by Steve Karol.

TNW: What’s coming down the pike for you next?

SK: The Taste of Chocolate was performed by children in 1997. It is now being performed by adults on February 16. It took 15 years for me to get it finished the way I saw it in my mind. I’m finally able to tell the full story! It is being done as reading theater during a fundraiser for Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary. I have 5 more ideas on my list of stories to tell. Two of them are for children. I haven’t decided yet which one to pursue.

TNW: What are your thoughts on the new technology available to authors?

SK: As far askew technology I say go with the flow. 80% of what I read is on my IPhone.

Thanks so much Steve for sharing with us this week. I wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors.

To Learn More:

Kansas City Community News

Steve Karol Fine Art

Manifest Juicy, Juicy Love Today!

Manifest Juicy, Juicy Love Today!

By Lisa McCourt

JuicyFeels are the guided processes I teach in Juicy Joy training for shifting your energy to attract desired circumstances. In honor of Love-Month, I offer you a powerful JuicyFeel for establishing a deeply intimate connection with a lover. It will work for you whether you already have a romantic partner, or you’re simply ready to attract one. Enjoy!

JuicyFeel for Romantic Intimacy

• Start by taking whatever steps you most enjoy taking to deeply relax. Purposefully switch out of mental head-space by gently stroking your skin and placing all your attention and focus on that pleasurable sensation.
• Imagine you as your most ideal self, in a beautiful, serene nature setting. Wear something sexy and give yourself time to get totally pumped with the full-on recognition of your own wonderfulness.
• In your completely private, lush, natural setting, spread a soft blanket on the ground and relax on the blanket, knowing your ideal lover is about to join you. You’re so excited, thinking about how much you thrill each other, feeling the rich energetic connection between you even when you’re not physically together. Relish the waiting, deliberately amping up your anticipation until the scrumptious tingle of sexual chemistry fills your whole body.
• Imagine your lover approaching. If you already have a real-life partner that you want to increase intimacy with, imagine that person. If not, focus on the feeling of your lover’s energetic presence instead of trying to visualize any physical features.
• Embrace your lover however feels best in your imagination. Breathe in your lover’s essence. Feel the electricity of your lover’s skin against yours. Sigh deeply. You are home.
• Your lover has brought you a gift—the perfect gift that demonstrates a profound understanding of who you authentically are and what would most please you.
• Accept this gift and allow yourself to be swept away with the flood of appreciation you feel for this person who sees you so clearly. Passionately express your appreciation, in whatever sensual manner feels best to you. Taste God in your beloved.
• Wrapped in your lover’s arms, recognize how utterly free and alive you feel. You could do or say anything at all in this moment, knowing this person cherishes you, is irresistibly drawn to you, is curious about you, and is eager to witness the ever-evolving, full spectrum of your you-ness. You feel the same exhilarating intrigue about your beloved and every moment you spend together offers thrilling new aspects of one another to explore.
• Your lover gazes adoringly into your eyes and whispers words to you—the perfect words you’ve always longed to hear.
• You share a final, soul-igniting embrace, and your lover leaves, having been inspired to go do something exquisitely meaningful for you that again demonstrates a poignant understanding of your most uniquely authentic desires.
• Blissed-out on the blanket, you bask in the joy and appreciation of having this amazing person in your life. You now know the love you’ve always dreamed of is possible. You can’t stop smiling.
• While you’re still immersed in the yummy juice of this JuicyFeel, take a moment to answer these questions in your journal:
  • What was the gift your lover brought you?
  • What were the words your lover whispered to you?
  • What did your lover leave to do for you? 

The Truth about Your Ideal Lover

There’s a prerequisite for having the kind of Juicy-Joyful love relationship you just imagined. In order to love anyone else, you must first love yourself. And to have big, big, love in your life, you have to love yourself in a big, big way. Now that your subconscious has told you what the perfect gift for you would be, what the most perfect words you could ever hear would be, and what you’d most like done for you . . . guess who needs to take care of those things. 

You do. To attract your ideal lover, you need to become your ideal lover. Go buy yourself that gift. Write those words on your mirror, and say them to yourself daily. Whatever you’re waiting for a lover to do for you, go do it. Do all of these things for yourself in the spirit of big, big love—for you! Not because you aren’t going to get the real-life lover, but because the best way to attract that kind of relationship is to treat yourself, right now, the way you most want to be treated. 

The point I’m making here is not that you should do those things for yourself so that you won’t need the lover after all. I am a card-carrying believer that big, big love is your birthright and is available to anyone who’s willing to hold out for it and do the self-love work necessary to pull it in. The point is that everything in your life—most especially your romantic relationship—is providing a crystal-clear snapshot of how you’re feeling about you. If you’re in a lukewarm relationship, you have a lukewarm relationship with you. If you’re in a horribly unfulfilling relationship, you have a lot of work to do—on loving yourself. To my mind, the promise of the possibility for big, big love is the very most compelling reason to get serious about your authenticity and self-adoration. 

If you’d like the audio version of this JuicyFeel, embedded with powerful, subliminal self-love messages via Eldon Taylor’s patented InnerTalk technology, you can access it free (along with many others) when you pre-order Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self. Details are at www.JuicyJoy.com. 

Happy Love-Month, my juicy friend! 

About the Author: Unconditional love expert Lisa McCourt is a dynamic speaker, seminar leader and author whose 34 books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Her new book, Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self, teaches people to embrace “radical authenticity” to fully experience unbridled joy in life. Lisa lives in South Florida with her two children. For a free Juicy Joy audio program, visit www.LisaMcCourt.com.

Let’s Get Naked for Valentine’s Day

Let’s Get Naked for Valentine’s Day
By Lisa McCourt

Not that kind of naked. Okay, maybe that kind, too. But Valentine month is also a perfect excuse to get emotionally naked with everyone you love. Most of us have a number of comfortable, pleasant relationships that suit us but do nothing to deeply nurture us. Emotional transparency is the key to upgrading those relationships to the level of juicy, juicy joy! 

The fact is: you are a tribal creature by nature of your humanness, and the more deeply you can connect with your fellow humans, the more you’ll thrive. Our society doesn’t foster transparency—quite the opposite. We’re taught from a very early age to put our “best face forward” and to hide or deny any traits we fear will make us less attractive to others. We’re taught that our success in life depends upon the image we project and manage to uphold. How often have you been told “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression?” or “image is everything”? My friend who works in sales for a large publishing company likes to quip, “Anybody who says you can’t judge a book by its cover never tried to sell one.” The cover is all we judge by! And all of us want us our covers to be the shiniest, most impressive covers we can manage to project. 

But where does that really leave us in terms of self-love and genuine connection with our fellow human creatures? Hiding and denying genuine aspects of your precious self creates an energetic declaration that those pieces of you are unlovable. Having too many of these unlovable bits will prevent you energetically from being able to receive love. People can only truly love you to the precise extent that you’re loving yourself, and to the extent you’re willing to hold your complete, authentic self up to be loved. Ergo, more transparency equals more love. 

A happy bonus is that your own transparency will invite others to be more transparent themselves when they’re around you. We think hiding our “negative” traits will make us more likable, when the opposite is actually true! Since we all share a longing, deep down, for the freedom to live life as our most uncensored, real selves, most of us are irresistibly drawn to transparent people! They give us permission to let our own guards down, which feels really, really good. 

To honor Love-Month, try being more transparent with the people in your life. If you’re blessed to have a significant other, do frequent check-ups to see how transparent you’re being with your beloved. To a large degree, the success of our intimate relationships depends upon our level of transparency with one another, as well as the degree to which we’re matched in our capability and determination for transparency. We all want to be seen, fully, by our partners and loved for who we are. But it’s not up to our partners to make that happen. It’s up to us to show up as our most transparent selves, and only when we’re able to do that will we be capable of truly exchanging love. 

Transparency . . . it’s not just for negligees anymore! 

About the Author: Unconditional love expert Lisa McCourt is a dynamic speaker, seminar leader and author whose 34 books have sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Her new book, Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self, teaches people to embrace “radical authenticity” to fully experience unbridled joy in life. Lisa lives in South Florida with her two children. For a free Juicy Joy audio program, visit www.LisaMcCourt.com.