Comments on: Turning Points Handout from RWA National

By: JC

JC — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:12:27 +0000

ah lighten up, we loved it.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:16:24 +0000

I like it Micki! The He Wrote, She Wrote Blog was SO helpful to me that I nearly creid when the site was taken down. I’d buy the Companion Books…

By: AgTigress

AgTigress — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:42:40 +0000

I think it is very generous of Jenny to share the details of her writing processes and concepts in the way she does. Knowing how she approaches her work enriches our perceptions and enjoyment of the results.
I can see the logic of this particular structure, based on the framework of turning points, though the lesson I would draw from it if I wrote fiction would not be that this is the only right, or necessarily even the best, structure, but that some kind of rational underlying structure is vital in any serious writing for publication, however dry and factual.
The one thing that never works well is lack of structure.
I won’t get into the ‘prologue’ argument again (unless anyone invites me to, of course!), except to say again, ‘I LIKE prologues.

By: Deborah Blake

Deborah Blake — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:27:11 +0000

This workshop was the single most useful thing I took away from the convention–even more so than the two editor requests for fulls, since whether or not those work out, my writing will be permanently improved from what I learned. In fact, I had originally planned to come home and just send out my 2 mss, and ended up doing major surgery on #2 because of what I learned in your workshop. [I did a beat analysis, and any scene where I had a note that read: "action?" got slashed. That scene where everyone sat around and ate dinner is history ] Hopefully, it is a much better book now.

And I just got off the phone with one of my CP’s, who called to say “Tell me what you learned from that workshop.”

Thank you so much for sharing your hard-won knowledge. Guess it was worth stalking you

Deborah, The Chocolate-Bearing Stalker

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:15:41 +0000

A fan all the way from Belfast! Just came across site when browsing for more j.crusie books to fill my summer hols (im a teacher so lots of days to fill!) and realised I have read them all but have lost (more likely lent and not got back) Bet Me and Faking it and theyre out of print here in the UK! Have ordered from amazon marketplace! My fave book is Welcome to Temptation – always thought it would make a great movie! The Dempseys (and the gorg Phin) are great characters, did you ever consider an Amy and Wes book or a Return to Temptation (not like the movie in the book! or maybe..) ie: Sophie and Phin part 2?! Cant wait for the next book, thank-you for all the great characters so far and a great website too.

By: Reb

Reb — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:02:40 +0000

I had a thought about this question of where the story begins. Maybe it’s the first scene that couldn’t be much different and leave you with the same story. Maddie has to find the underwear; Tilda doesn’t have to be painting the mural. What do you think?

By: Micki

Micki — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:25:44 +0000

(-: Thanks. No Excuses. Don’t Look Down. (Even though I just discovered someone is releasing a DVD called “Aliens in the Attic” and here I am, writing about aliens in the basement. I won’t think about it. Power On!) I do think the five points will work very well for this — one of those crazy co-incidences of finding just what you need at the very moment you need it (-:. Thanks again.

By: Sure thing

Sure thing — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:57:48 +0000

A report about an RWA workshop about Firefly…
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/firefly-shines-brightly-for-writers/
Like, dude, I am so geeking out right now!

By: Meredith B.

Meredith B. — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:36:48 +0000

Innocence: that’s a great analogy! It reminds me of the people in my college English classes that shouldn’t have been there. You could tell because they would say things like, “But I don’t want to analyze everything so much. I just want to enjoy it!” It always astonished me. I really, truly have nothing against people who want to read that way– my mom does, and she’s an avid reader and loves the books she reads. But then those people shouldn’t have been taking a 200-level English class.

People who say things like that might as well be complaining that we stole their innocence. We probably did! Oops.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:08:50 +0000

Micki, a short story is written in fewer scenes (yes, I know, duh) so the end of each scene may be a turning point. And there’s no rule that says you need five turning points; a short story might have three (inciting incident, point of no return, climax). Also, as always, if this stuff doesn’t work for you, just discard it and go on. There are many roads to Oz, yadda yadda.

Katie, I know people who title each act as if it were its own book. I remember when we were doing Agnes and the Hitman, the title of the third act (the one following Agnes’s meltdown on the lawn) was “Agnes Unleashed” because that’s the act she went nuts in.

And thank you all for the much appreciated compliments, especially about the presentation in DC. SO glad to know it was useful.

By: Micki

Micki — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:15:44 +0000

I wonder how this applies to the short story. (-: I guess I’ll find out this afternoon. Right now, I think Struggle and First Complication are going to be bang-bang right on each others’ heels. Thanks so much for the inspiring post!

By: Micki

Micki — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:13:27 +0000

(-: I know I’m not going to change any minds, but Richard Yates (?)’s “A Good School” had a foreword that was extremely useful. And I think “A Persian Bride” could have used a much longer, explicit prologue, because when he’s writing as an 18-year-old, things are very scattered and confusing (which is what you’d expect from an 18-year-old, but it was pretty hard to slog through, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together).

For every good prologue I’ve read, though, I’ve probably read five crappy ones that I could skim through and not have missed.

By: Micki

Micki — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:08:54 +0000

You know what would be cool? Companion books. And then everyone you’ve ever collaborated could do one, and all of your sales would be boosted by the next one and the next one (-:. It could be a whole network of writing books . . . .

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:06:30 +0000

Yay! *happy Snoopy dance*

By: Katie Mack

Katie Mack — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:51:18 +0000

Wow, really useful information. I’ve always been intimidated at the thought of writing an entire book, but looking at it from the turning point perspective makes it seem more manageable and clear. Like a poster above said, I think it would help to think of a book in sections rather than one huge mass. So, if I ever write a book, I’ll be coming back here for advice.

By: LaTessa Montgomery

LaTessa Montgomery — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:30:29 +0000

Thanks for sharing this info. Very helpful

By: Sara C

Sara C — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:34:59 +0000

Thanks for the analysis of TML. It is too hot here to think hard enough to try analyzing any more but once it cools off, I’m there.

By: Bonnie C

Bonnie C — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:11:37 +0000

THANK YOU, thank you! I was about to ask if you would pretty please set the TPs in context. This spells out perfectly what the “handout” above gives us in theory.

By: JulieB

JulieB — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:51:06 +0000

Wow. I loved Tell Me Lies. And, yes, you stole my innocence too, but I think it’s even more fun to know what’s working and why. Have you always written with turning points in mind, or would you say that a particualar story was one that solidified the idea for you?

By: Dharmagirl

Dharmagirl — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:44:49 +0000

i’d like to echo what an earlier commenter said: your presentation/workshop was *the* best one at RWA. i’m eager to use your turning points approach both in writing my own novel *and* in analyzing others’ novels (say, your very own. say, when i polish up my talks/presentations and turn them into an article on the use of food in your novels:)

thanks again for your dynamic presentation:)