Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

This hilarious, 1 minute and 46 second video explains the concept of story.  You don’t have one unless you have zee drama.

 

So, to sum up:

1. Push the button (inciting incident).

2. The characters shouldn’t see this coming.

3. Without ordinary people to be shocked by what happens… everyone’s in on it.  You need ordinary people.

4. Make it worse and worse.

5.  Emotional reactions are key.  Tempers should flare.

6. Marry shirtless men and lingerie-wearing women with action.  Why?  Action is drama.  Clothes and lack of clothes are just interesting.

7.Bad people doing bad things have the upper hand.

8.  You need allies.  It’s good to have someone (or a team of someones) do the right thing.

9. When it’s over, you should leave the reader in a state of WOW.

10. Drama is messy.  It’s not linear and well behaved.  It doesn’t care if you’re ready or not.   Each character has his own goals, and these goals overlap and explode against the goals of others. 

BONUS: Story, drama, life….  It’s theater.  Well-staged theater.  If you  do it right, you’ll leave your audience breathless, shocked, and thoroughly delighted.  You’ll leave them wanting more.

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Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.