Smile a Day: Breakthroughs

[samanthabryant]

 #smileaday Breakthroughs. 

 

One of my favorite things about teaching is being there when someone has a breakthrough, when you can see the light bulb go off over their head, just like in a cartoon, and feel like you helped to power that light bulb. 

 

I teach for a local community college from time to time. This semester's class is called "Finish Your Novel" and is part cheerleading, part feedback, and part advice about building a writing life that lets you finish things. 

 

Today, I shared a plantser (half pantser, half plotter) outlining/structuring technique I've been using and the response was heartening. Looks like I'm not the only person this approach might help. One student announced that she was super excited to get back to writing now and try this out!

 

It's good to feel like you helped someone move forward. Super good. I still feel all glowy. 

Comments

[johncomic]

I don't suppose we could wheedle you into sharing this technique here?

[samanthabryant]

Sure. I wrote about it some on my blog: http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/2019/02/diymfa-9-trying-new-technique.html

The gist is that for each scene in your work (for me, that's chapters in the book), you make a scene card. You give it a title (even if its not going to have one in the final work, titling it is useful for quick reference). You list WHO is in the scene, what the ACTION is, and--here's the kicker--what purpose the scene serves in the overall narrative. That last bit was especially useful to me in clarifying my structural thinking about the novel.