This week, I’m taking a closer look at the first minor turning point.

Remember…
The turning points are the events upon which your story hinges. To recall the analogy I used in the introduction, the turning points are the tent poles that support the tent of your story. Without them, the tent–and your story–falls flat.

The first major turning point comes at the end of the first act (about one-quarter of the way through the novel). It launches your lead character into the story. The second major turning point happens at the middle of the book. The third major turning point at the end of the second act pushes the lead into the final conflict.

The major turning points are like books. The two minor turning points are the “bookends” that hold the “books” together.

Today’s Project

This week, I’m working on the first minor turning point for the story we looked at in last week’s clinic. It’s a mystery between drafts. The first three parts of the turning point outline as it currently stands look like this.

• Act 1A Beginning of Story: The lead is in the middle of a much deserved vacation when he’s called back to the office on an emergency
• Act 1A First Minor Turning Point: ?
• Act 1B First Major Turning Point: The lead discovers irregularities in the client’s accounts

How Does it Stack Up?

Moment of Opportunity Rejected: Notice, there is no first minor turning point; no moment of opportunity rejected. That’s not uncommon in a first draft. This manuscript was first written over ten years ago, before I knew anything about turning points. The plot unfolded intuitively. That’s not always a bad thing, but in this case, it produced a poor first act.

In addition, I discovered upon evaluating the manuscript that the first major turning point happens too soon. Not only is there no first minor turning point; there’s no room to squeeze one in.

That’s not the disaster is may seem at first glance. Why? Because I now know what the problem is and I have a place to begin in correcting it. That’s good news!

What Exactly is the First Minor Turning Point?

At the first major turning point, the lead makes the difficult decision and enters the story world (there would be no story otherwise).

You can think of the first minor turning point as the lead character’s first opportunity to make a safe decision. He or she is faced with a decision and chooses the easy thing, rejecting the difficult choice.

The first minor turning point might also be something that happens to the lead. The lead wants to do the right thing, but is blocked. The reason can be internal (fear, rebellion, etc.) or external (scheduling conflicts, weather, other obligations, etc.), but there is something keeping the lead from taking action immediately.

How Can It Be Improved?

Or, as in this case, how can you find the missing first minor turning point? My two favorite methods are:

• Brainstorm minor turning point situations or events
• Consider rearranging the existing turning points

Brainstorm Events or Situations. The first major turning point as currently written is the discovery of irregularities. My lead is going to accept that challenge. That’s a given.

What event could mirror that event and be one he would be able to refuse?

A few options might be:

• The call is from a coworker seeking help; the lead gives advice over the phone but refuses to get further involved
• The call comes while the lead is involved in some long-anticipated activity; the lead refuses to be drawn away from that activity
• The call comes during a moment of family crisis; the lead refuses involvement beyond giving advice or counsel
• The lead is out-of-town and is called by an associate in that town asking for help; the lead does what he can but is kept from offering further assistance by his trip home

Notice what each of these options offer? The lead, who is a conscientious man, is able to reject the call for help and still give assistance. He can reject the call for help without feeling like a heel.  In some of the options, that would be more important than others. No one is going to begrudge someone rejecting a call for help when a family crisis is brewing, after all. Find the right balance of personal interest and outside interest to give the lead a legitimate reason (at least to him or her) to reject the summons.

Does that mean I never consider options that might leave the lead feeling like a heel? No. In some cases, you want your lead to feel bad over the choice he or she made. That might play a vital role in setting up an opposite decision the next time the choice arises. But I know this character well enough to know that isn’t necessary. At least not for this story line.

As you work with story lines and characters, you’ll learn what will and won’t work for each lead character and for each story line.

When you brainstorm, push the list as far as you can. The first ideas are rarely the best, so put as many options on your list as you can. My list for this story currently has eleven options. I add to it as new ideas present themselves.

Don’t discount your writing partners, either. Run the situation past them and ask for input.

Consider the Timing of All of the Turning Points. Take a look at how the turning points line up. Is one of the first major turning point really a minor turning point in disguise?

Let’s say the current first major turning point is really the first minor turning point. The lead takes the assignment, meets the girl he’s going to marry, and sets about being professional and competent as quickly as possible so he’s free to initiate a relationship with her. Things are going great, then he finds irregularities.

Moment of decision. Does he ignore the irregularities in order to close the account fast? Does he settle for the first easy answer that comes along? Does he ignore them altogether?

If he does, this might be considered the “safe” decision. Or, in this case, the expedient decision. Then along comes the first major turning point and he’s forced to make the decision that throws him into conflict with the antagonist.

The same two methods described above work here, too. Make good use of them and don’t throw out any option or idea until you’ve found the right one. You may end up moving all the turning points forward and finding better turning points for the end, but that’s okay. No two stories are the same, so no solution works with every one.

The New & Improved Version

The first part of the turning point outline now looks like this:

• Act 1A Beginning of Story: The lead is in the middle of a much deserved vacation when he’s called back to the office on an emergency
• Act 1A First Minor Turning Point: The lead is called while he is involved in some long-anticipated activity; he refuses to be drawn away from that activity
• Act 1B First Major Turning Point: The lead discovers irregularities in the client’s accounts

I may tweak the first major turning point somewhat, depending on how the first act develops. But I now have to guide posts by which to navigate through the first act. If the rewritten first act takes another route, I can come back to the turning point outline and correct it. No harm, no foul.

In Conclusion

How you solve this problem will differ from one story to the next. It’s worth taking extra time to do this work between drafts so you have a firmer foundation for the next draft you write.

Next week wraps up this Writing Well Story Clinic with a look at the second minor turning point, the dark moment. Join me then.

If you have a story idea you’d like help with, email me.

Related Articles:
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Introduction
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 1
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 2

CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT
Prisoners to their own broken dreams…

After a daring rescue goes awry, the parched north of India grows too hot for nurse Laine Harkness and her friend Eshana. The women flee to the tropical south…and run headlong into their respective pasts.

Laine takes a new nursing position at a plantation in the jungle, only to discover that her former fiancé is the owner…and that Adam has no more to say to her now than he did when he crushed her years ago.

Eshana, captured by her traditional uncle and forced once more into the harsh Hindu customs of mourning, doubts whether freedom will ever again be in her future, much less the forbidden love that had begun to whisper to her. Is faith enough to live on? Or is her Savior calling her home?

Amid cyclones and epidemics, clashing faiths and consequences of the war, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?

PURCHASE ON:
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KOBO

* Review by Top Amazon Reviewer, Diana Flowers–”I have ten authors who are my favs…with Shadowed in Silk–Book One and Captured by Moonlight–Book Two, Christine Lindsay has made it into my top five!”

* Award-winning author Catherine West—”Christine Lindsay’s attention to detail, witty prose and moving story line all blend together to create a treat for the senses, leaving the reader satisfied and completely satiated by the end.”

* Award-winning, multi-published Author Jeanette Windle—”A worthy sequel to acclaimed debut novel Shadowed in Silk.”

About the Author:
Irish-born Christine Lindsay writes award-winning historical novels. In Shadowed in Silk and Captured by Moonlight, Christine delights in weaving the endless theme of God’s redemptive love throughout stories of danger, suspense, adventure, and romance. The Pacific coast of Canada, about 200 miles north of Seattle, is Christine’s home.

Visit Christine’s website.

Subscribe to Christine’s blog for inspiration 3 times a week.

Drop by and ‘like’ Christine’s Author Facebook Page.

Follow Christine on Twitter.

Swap pictures with Christine on Pinterest.

This week, we’ll look at using turning points to improve a story after the first draft. We’ll work on the major turning points this week and take an in-depth look at the minor turning points next week.

Today’s Project

The manuscript I’m using for this exercise is a story between revisions. The basic idea is:

A CPA’s personal and professional life are turned upside down when he discovers irregularities in the accounts of a new client.

The Current Turning Points
Most good stories can be broken down into three acts. The first act sets up the story, introduces the story world and leading character, and hints at the conflict. The second act contains the body of the conflict, and the third act tells how the story ends.

There is a major turning point at the end of Act 1, in the middle of Act 2, and at the end of Act 2. Minor turning points appear near the middle of Acts 1 and 3.

The basic outline looks like this.

• Act 1A Beginning of Story
• Act 1A Turning Point Moment of Opportunity Rejected (minor)
• Act 1B Turning Point First Disaster (major)
• Act 2A Turning Point Second Disaster (major)
• Act 2B Turning Point Third Disaster (major)
• Act 3A Turning Point Dark Moment (minor)
• Act 3B End of Story

For this story, the outline looks like this.

• Act 1A Beginning of Story: The lead is in the middle of a much deserved vacation when he’s called back to the office on an emergency
• Act 1A First Minor Turning Point: ?
• Act 1B First Major Turning Point: The lead discovers irregularities in the client’s accounts
• Act 2A Second Major Turning Point: The business partner proposes to the lead’s client
• Act 2B Third Major Turning Point: The lead discovers the identity of the villain
• Act 3A Second Minor Turning Point – Dark Moment: The lead is taken hostage by the antagonist
• Act 3B End of the Story: The lead fights to save his life and professional reputation

How Does it Stack Up?

Notice one glaring omission–there is no first minor turning point. No moment of opportunity rejected, so I need to figure out how to do that to make this story stronger.

The first order of business, however, is to take a look at the major turning points. Each one should present a challenge or a major obstacle to the lead’s being able to accomplish his goal.

Have I done that successfully?

Act 1B The First Major Turning Point
This is where the lead leaves normal life and enters the fray. The lead should face a tough decision. He decides one way and life stays boring and normal. He decides the opposite way and nothing is ever the same again.

At first glance, it might look like the phone call presents the first major turning point. The lead either goes to work or he doesn’t.

But the real first major turning point is the discovery of irregularities in the new client’s account. Why?

Because the lead has two goals. His primary goal is to be seen as competent and professional. But the moment he meets the new client, he has a “this is it” moment and knows she’s the one he’ll marry.

But there is a problem. His personal policy is keeping business and pleasure separate. Therefore, his client is off limits. So he wants to finish the job quickly so he’s free to approach her personally.

The discovery of discrepancies makes quickly closing the file less likely. That’s what makes this the first major turning point. The lead sets about solving the mystery and enters the story fray.

Act 2A The Second Major Turning Point
The second major turning point should be a paradigm shift for the lead. He should learn something that changes everything. What that “something” is will depend largely on the type of story you’re writing. For a literary work, it could be a personal realization. In a mystery, it might be the discovery that the prime suspect can’t possibly be guilty. In a suspense, your lead could get a glimpse of her stalker.

Since this story is a mystery, you might expect this sort of paradigm shift to be directly related to the case. Not so! Up to this point, the lead has been working feverishly, trying to find out who’s doing what and how.

But in the back of his mind is the thought that once the client is no longer a client, there might be more than a professional relationship.

So when the client’s business partner proposes in front of the lead and the entire staff, the lead’s secondary goal is trashed and he finds himself in emotional territory so unfamiliar, it affects him professionally and hinders the rest of his work.

Act 2B The Third Major Turning Point
This is the last clue and it sets up the final conflict. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. The lead stands to win or lose everything.

For this story, the third major turning point is learning the villain’s identity. The lead knows who the enemy is and is able to piece together how the crimes are being committed.

He can also formulate plans on how to deal with this revelation and that sets up the third act and the conclusion of the story.

How Can it Be Improved?

I’ve identified the structural problems with this manuscript. What next?

If I decide to proceed with this novel, the first thing I’ll do is answer the following questions:

• Are the major turning points as strong as they could be?
• Could they escalate more?

I want the story structure to be as strong as possible, so I’ll spend time making sure the answers to those questions are satisfactory. When the major turning points are as strong as they can be, I’ll turn to the next problem.

The minor turning points.

In Conclusion

Remember no story is finished until it’s published. There’s always room for improvement. Always.

Start with the big things first. Nothing is bigger than the strength of your story’s framework.

Working through a story act-by-act and turning-point-by-turning-point is beneficial whether you have a completed manuscript or are just getting started. Even if you hit a roadblock partway through a story, this exercise can be helpful in determining what might happen next.

In the next two clinics, I’ll narrow the focus further by taking a closer look at the minor turning points for this manuscript.

If you have a story idea you’d like help with, email me.

Related Articles:
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Introduction
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 1
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 3
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 4

The winner of Clash of the Titles’ latest Clash is:

Forsaken Dreams
by MaryLu Tyndall

Congratulations, MaryLu, two-time clash winner!

Special thanks to her competitors for their participation:

Sadie and Sophie Cuffe

Gina Holmes

Christine Lindsey

Noelle Marchand

About Forsaken Dreams:
They Left Everything Behind to Build a New Southern Utopia

Colonel Blake Wallace has seen enough death to last a lifetime. Weary and disillusioned, he slumps beneath the weight of defeat and loss. With his entire family murdered by the North and his name appearing on a list of officers wanted for war crimes, Blake organizes a shipload of southerners who, like him, long to escape the horrors of war and start a new life in a verdant land called Brazil.

Eliza Crawford can barely remember the days of her youth spent in opulence and comfort at her Georgian home. She can’t help but wonder how different her life would be had she not met her late husband, Stanton Watts, a general in the Northern army. Now a war widow, Eliza is rejected by both North and South. Desperate to keep her marriage a secret and escape her past and pain, she longs to start over again in Brazil.

But once the voyage begins, troubles abound. Dangers at sea and enemies from within threaten to keep Blake and Eliza from the new life—and love—they long for.

PURCHASE:

AMAZON

B&N

CBD

Just when I think MaryLu Tyndall cannot write a more passionate, page-turning romance…she does! Forsaken Dreams is a worthy addition to your keeper shelf, melding adventure, love, and spiritual truths in soul-enriching ways. A blessed start to a new series!
- Laura Frantz, author of The Colonel’s Lady and Love’s Reckoning

BACKSTAGE WITH MARYLU:
Several things inspired me to write my new Escape to Paradise series. First the history is so fascinating. I never knew that so many (tens of thousands) Southerners fled the South after the Civil War for greener pastures. Many went to Mexico, some out west, but several thousand went to Brazil. Their descendants still celebrate there today! Secondly I’m a big fan of the TV show LOST, in particular the jungle setting and the spiritual themes that ran through the show.

I love the supernatural and I saw an opportunity to write a story about a group of settlers who are in a sense, running away from their problems and from God, but who end up being part of an eternal plan that involves a battle between good and evil. Forsaken Dreams is the account of their voyage to Brazil, during which the reader meets all the characters and discovers their individual reasons for running away.

Themes of forgiveness, bitterness, hatred, guilt, rebellion and even Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome are addressed as the colonists face several disasters that threaten their mission and their lives. During the trip, hints are given here and there that something much larger is at stake waiting for them in Brazil, something that originated behind the curtain of the natural world.

MORE ABOUT MARYLU:

A Christy Award finalist and best-selling author, MaryLu Tyndall dreamt of tall ships and swashbuckling pirates during her childhood years on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. With over a dozen novels published, she continues to pen her romantic tales while managing a home, husband, six adult kids, and three cats who have decided that her keyboard is the best place to sleep! She believes that without popcorn and chocolate, life would not be worth living, and her sole motivation in life is to bring others closer to God.

For more information on MaryLu and her books, please visit her website at http://www.marylutyndall.com or her blog at http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/ or you can find her on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MaryLu-Tyndall-Swashbuckling-Romance/175344859169475

The Story Tent

Remember the tent analogy? Your story is the canvas or fabric of the tent and the turning points are the tent poles that hold up the tent–your story–and make it work.

The first major turning point can also be called the first disaster or the first door of no return. It’s the point at which your lead character leaves his or her normal world and enters the story world.

The second major turning point is in the middle of the story. It’s often the event that changes everything for the lead character.

The third major turning point can be thought of as the final clue, the second door of no return or the third disaster. It’s at this point that the lead character is forced to put up or shut up.

The minor turning points mirror each other. The first one comes before the first major turning point. Dr. Stanley D. Williams refers to it as a moment of opportunity rejected, and that’s the description that helps me most. It’s usually roughly halfway through the first act.

The second minor turning point happens about halfway through the third act, and it’s the lead character’s dark moment. At this moment in the story, everything looks hopeless.

The three major turning points and two secondary turning points look like this:

• Act 1A Turning Point Moment of Opportunity Rejected (minor)
• Act 1B Turning Point First Disaster (major)
• Act 2A Turning Point Second Disaster (major)
• Act 2B Turning Point Third Disaster (major)
• Act 3A Turning Point Dark Moment (minor)

Today’s Project

Today’s project is a potential mystery still in the planning stages. We developed a tagline (aka single sentence summary in a previous Writing Well Story Clinic post, which you can read here). This is the tagline we came up with:

A history professor who is afraid of heights researches a defunct railroad in the Appalachian Mountains and uncovers a long-buried secret and a recent murder.

The Turning Points
Because I have a good idea how this story is going to develop, I also have an idea of what most of the major turning points are. Let’s walk through the thought process that revealed them.

The professor’s story goal is to learn everything he can about the old railroad.

Once I established that story goal, an obstacle immediately suggested itself. Someone knows something about the railroad or connected to the railroad that they don’t want discovered.

The turning points are the points in the story when the antagonist’s actions have a direct impact on the professor. As I see the story at this moment, major turning points are:

1. An injury to a crew member
2. The death of a crew or team member
3. The discovery of sabotage

How Can it Be Improved?

There is escalation through the major turning points. The last one is worse than the second one, and the second one is worse than the first. That’s good.

But are they the best they can be?

Whether you think the turning points are the best possible or not, it never hurts to consider options. The first ideas are rarely the best, so keep digging. Keep asking, what’s the worst thing that could happen?

Also keep in mind that the best solution might be moving around the turning points relative to each other.

In this example, the three current turning points are a critical injury, a death, and a discovery. What if I shuffled those so that the critical injury was the second turning point and the death was the third turning point? Those two events are naturally escalating. Working backward from the second turning point, what event could happen that might be less serious than the second turning point, but still significant?

How about an attempt to derail the journey by setting fire to the private rail car?

Or maybe an attempted robbery or vandalism or a threatening letter?

It doesn’t matter whether you work from front to back through the turning points or from back to front. You can even find the middle and work toward each end. What is important is that you raise the stakes through each of the turning points.

The Minor Turning Points
Once the major turning points were established, I could think about the minor turning points.

It was at this point that I decided setting fire to the private rail car might work. The antagonist hears about the professor’s trip and tries to keep it from happening by setting fire to the rail car. The professor has the opportunity to halt his research, but he rejects it. Therefore, it becomes the moment of opportunity rejected or the first minor turning point.

Now, what about the second minor turning point; that dark moment?

I found myself once again going back to the third major turning point. As currently written, the professor discovers the identity of the saboteur at the third major turning point. But what if he discovers the secret that’s being protected? He thinks he’s found the reason for all the problems, but he’s only half right.

The other half of the equation–the identity of the saboteur–is yet to be discovered. If that person is close to the professor, someone he’s come to trust or an old associate, then learning the piece of information is going to be a heavy blow. It will, in other words, be the professor’s dark moment.

The New & Improved Version

The story outline now looks like this.

• Act 1A Turning Point (minor: moment of opportunity rejected): A fire on the personal rail car
• Act 1B Turning Point (major: first disaster): A crew or team member is critically injured
• Act 2A Turning Point (major: second disaster): A crew or team member is killed
• Act 2B Turning Point (major: third disaster): The professor uncovers the secret of the saboteur
• Act 3A Turning Point (minor: Dark Moment): The professor discovers the identity of the saboteur

In Conclusion

I now have a good framework for a story. Is it perfect? No.

Is it permanent? Again, no. As with all other parts of the writing process, nothing is permanent until the story is published. I may discover during the writing process that the story and characters want to do something else.

But I have given myself a basic road map of the story’s journey. I know the stations where this story train needs to stop, and that allows me to play with the step-by-step route between each station. And at this point, that’s a good start.

Now It’s Your Turn
If you have an idea for a new story, take time to play with turning points, major and minor. Come up with a naturally escalating series of turning points for your lead character, then see how you can make them better.

Next week, I’ll show you how to use turning point structure to analyze a story that’s already been written.

If you have a story idea you’d like help with, email me.

Related Articles:
Introduction to Writing Well Story Clinic on Turning Points
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 2

Tents and Novels
Think of your story like a tent. The story as a whole is the canvas or fabric part of the tent. It’s bright and beautiful, embellished with ruffles and flourishes and all the fun stuff. But it’s just lying there. Maybe a wind comes along and makes it flutter a little, but it just never seems to get off the ground.

Now put up some tent poles. Big, strong tent poles. One at each end and one in the middle. Each tent pole is well anchored and can bear a significant amount of weight. Together, they can hold up a tent.

Your tent.

Your novel.

The tent poles are the turning points. The turning points support the story like the tent poles support the tent.

Just like tent poles, turning points have ideal locations. One in the middle to hold up the middle part of the story (the part that sags the worst, incidentally) and one toward each end to support the beginning and the end of the story.

Basic Structure
Most good stories can be broken down into three acts. The first act sets up the story, introduces the story world and your leading character, and hints at the conflict awaiting. The second act contains the body of the conflict and the third act presents the resolution of the story.

The initial framing of your story will have seven components: A beginning, an end, and three turning points. Something like this:

1. Beginning of Story
2. First Minor Turning Point
3. First Major Turning Point
4. Second Major Turning Point
5. Third Major Turning Point
6. Second Minor Turning Point
7. End of Story

Different writing instructors refer to the turning points by different terms. In Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake method, they are called a disaster.

For Larry Brooks, the turning points are plot points (Story Engineering).

Dr. Stanley D. Williams uses a different name for each turning point (The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success).

Regardless of the name, these turning points signify places in the plot where the character either faces a major decision or must make a major course correction.

What The Turning Points Look Like
Here is a basic outline of story structure as defined by Dr. Stanley D. Williams with some personal variations that help me keep things straight in parentheses.

• Act 1
  • Act 1A Turning Point: Opportunity Rejected (or inciting incident)
  • Act 1B Turning Point: Opportunity Accepted (or first major turning point)
• Act 2
  • Act 2A Turning Point: Moment of Grace (second major turning point)
  • Act 2B Turning Point: Third major turning point (or final clue)
• Act 3
  • Act 3A Turning Point: Dark Moment
  • End of Story

Two Types of Turning Points
Notice I’ve identified two types of turning points: Major and minor.

The major turning points are the big three (hence the name). These are the big events upon which the story hangs.

The minor turning points are also important, but are less significant. They mirror each other, with the first coming about halfway through the first act and the second generally about halfway through the final act. The first minor turning point may go unnoticed but you can think of it as the moment of rejected opportunity. The second minor turning point is that moment in the story when all looks lost, otherwise known as the dark moment.

Do I Really Need Turning Points?
Can you write a novel without knowing what the turning points are or without a list like the one above?

The short answer is yes. How do I know? Personal experience. I wrote six complete manuscripts before learning about turning points. I wrote stories that kept me personally engaged and that had rising peril. The plots worked themselves out intuitively.

When I did start learning how to write, I didn’t think any of my old stories were worth taking another look at because they were almost certain to be train wrecks. Guess what. They weren’t. I found the turning points when I started looking.

So you don’t need to go through all this trouble before you write, and you don’t need to know the terms or purposes, either.

But knowing both terms and purposes will be helpful at some stage in the process.

• In the beginning, to help you set up the story in the best way possible (if you plan first)
• Between first and second drafts, to help you figure out what’s wrong and fix it (if you write spontaneously)
• When you polish, to help you make sure you have the strongest story possible (no matter how you write)

How Do I Find the Best Tent Poles…I Mean Turning Points?
That’s what this clinic is all about.

Each of the next four weeks, I’ll walk you through the process of developing turning points.

In the first clinic, I’ll show you how to find the best possible turning points during the pre-planning stages.

Clinic 2 will be all about identifying the turning points in a story that’s already written, beginning with the major turning points.

I’ll devote Clinic 3 to the first of two minor turning points, the moment of opportunity rejected. The clinic will wrap up with the second minor turning point, the dark moment.

If you have a story that doesn’t seem to have much life and you’d like help with it, or if you have an idea and you’d like help finding the turning points before starting to write, leave a comment in the comment box below.

If you’d like, we can even use your story or idea as the subject for one the clinics.

Wherever you are in planning or writing your current work, I hope you’ll join me on May 4 for the first clinic.

P.S.:
The links to books by Larry Brooks and Stanley D. Williams in this post include my Amazon affiliate code. If you follow the links and purchase either of these books (or both of them), I’ll earn a commission on the purchase. If you decide to do so, thank you very much.

If the idea of affiliate codes and commissions bothers you, all you have to do is head to Amazon.com directly, look for Story Engineering or The Moral Premise and make your purchase that way.

Related Articles
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 1
Writing Well Story Clinic – Turning Points, Clinic 2

Introducing Thomas. If you’ve been following the series, Writing Lessons from the Cat, you already know about Thomas.

Thomas loves to sit in the windows on fine days and survey the surroundings.

Or watch the perimeter for intruders. I’m never quite certain which is the case.

This is our second cat, Thomas’ litter mate and companion, Bro. Bro passed on last October and this picture of him is among my favorites.

With warm weather approaching, the days of open windows are approaching, so I thought I’d share these photos as the week’s writing prompt.

Your Assignment, Should You Choose to Accept It…

Write a flash or short story (800 words or less) based on either of the images above (or both, if you wish).

Sharing The Results

Readers are encouraged to share their short stories (800 words or less) with other readers in the comment box below.

Entries will be subject to administrator discretion, but keep it clean with no gratuitous sex, violence or language, and you should be fine.

A Bonus

On May 31, 2013, I’ll pick a winning entry and will give the winner a free line-by-line crit of two pages (approximately 500 words) of a current fiction work-in-progress.

A Reminder

If you write your entry in a word processing program, don’t copy and paste directly. Use a program like Notepad, WordPad or Text Edit. Those programs remove all formatting and help the blog program do what it’s designed to do.

You’re also welcome to type your entry directly into the comment box at the bottom of this post.

Summer’s just around the corner, which means you, dear reader, need to be thinking about which books you’re going to get lost in while lounging at the pool. Today, Clash of the Titles offers you a few excellent suggestions.

Fresh from the editor’s desk, these five new titles are some of our favorites this month. They’re hugely diverse. Set in exotic locations such as India and Brazil, and ranging in time period from the 1800′s to present-day, at least once of them is bound to catch your fancy!

So have a quick virtual browse, then vote on which you think will most likely make it into your beach bag.

How do you start a new life when you don’t know who you are? Lydia doesn’t have a clue, but when she discovers the man who identified her in the train wreck has been lying, she must decide whether to listen to her heart, or her head.

Wings of Glass tells the story of Penny Taylor, a young wife who feels trapped in an abusive marriage until two women from two very different worlds help open her eyes to the truth of who she is, what she deserves and lend her a backbone until she can find her own.

Two women, one Indian, one English, flee to the tropical south of India only to be captured and imprisoned by their respective pasts—Eshana by her traditional Hindu uncle for her faith in Christ, the other, Lieutenant Laine Harkness by her former fiancé who crushed her heart years ago. Amid cyclones and epidemics, tigers and tiger cubs, clashing faiths and consequences of war, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?

For Ellie O’Brien, finding the perfect partner for other people is easy, but now the townsfolk of Peppin want to return the favor by matching her with Lawson Williams who Ellie deems least likely to court a tomboy with a guilty secret. Lawson doesn’t see marriage with anyone in his future, but what if his childhood friend has become the woman who can chase away the clouds of his past?<

After witnessing the death and destruction caused by the Civil War, Colonel Blake Wallace is eager to leave his once precious Southern homeland for the pristine shores of Brazil and the prospect of a new utopian community. Harboring a dirty secret, Widow Eliza Crawford seeks a fresh start and passage on Wallace’s ship, but will dangers from the sea and from man keep them from the peace and love they long for?

The Race horse….

A race horse spends its early days alone with its mother. All of the basic lessons are learned in this one-on-one relationship. Standing. Walking. Running.

After a time, the little race horse and its mother join other mothers and babies. The youngster learns to play with others in its natural environment. It learns to do what it does best; run fast.

Then it’s separated from its mother and learns how to be a grown up race horse. It still runs and plays and grows and matures, but it’s still mostly untutored, learning with its band of buddies.

Finally, it enters training. It learns about bridles and bits and saddles. It learns to carry a rider. Life seems pretty regimented and it doesn’t do much running.

When the young race horse has learned all these things and is reasonably good at them, then it goes to the track. The first time it sees a track, it doesn’t know what the track is for, but let the rider give the horse a little rein and tell it to go and the race horse knows what to do. Run! Oh boy!

But there are rules to learn. Rules about running with other horses in close quarters. Rules about not running all out all the time. Rules about listening to the rider and about the starting gate. Rules about standing quietly before the running begins.

It can take a good trainer with a good student up to two years to get the race horse ready for its first race. A lot of time spent learning things that seem counterproductive to the purpose the race horse was born with…running fast.

But a good, solid race horse that’s well trained steps onto the track for the first time with natural ability AND a knowledge of the rules basic enough to get the job done and, if the race horse is good enough, get the job done faster than any other horse in the race.

It might even find itself in the winner’s circle with a blanket of roses over its shoulders on Kentucky Derby day.

The Writer…

When I started writing, I wrote to please myself. I did what came naturally and I did it over and over and over. I learned about words and how to use them. How to put sentences together that said what I wanted to say. How to string enough sentences together to create a story.

I finished four manuscripts, learning something new about writing and about myself as a writer with each one.

Then I went to a writer’s workshop.

Then I joined a writer’s organization and learned about crit groups. I learned about rules. Rules about passive voice. Rules about POV. Rules about grammar and punctuation. Rules about dialogue tags, formatting, and polishing.

There didn’t seem to be much creative writing going on at that point, but everything I learned contributed to the purpose for which I was created. To be a writer.

So What’s the Point?

Human beings are the only part of God’s creation that aren’t able to care for themselves within a short time of birth. That race horse I mentioned earlier can stand and walk within minutes of being born. It can run within hours. We humans, on the other hand, need years of care and instruction before we can do the most basic things for ourselves.

So it’s only natural that when we decide to write, the first thing we do is seek out the help of others.

But if we haven’t taken time to play with our talents, we’re a blank slate. Everything we hear affects our writing and the way we see ourselves as writers. We try to make everything work, even when one piece of advice directly contradicts another. We end up with no personal voice and no distinguishing characteristics.

We sound like no one because we sound like everyone.

Writers (and most creative people) need the same kind of time to play with their talents, to explore, and to learn and grow that the baby race horse needs. In my opinion, writers should already have a solid knowledge of their writing voice and what they can do BEFORE attempting to learn the rules.

This is, however, only my opinion; based on personal experience. Each person is different. But don’t be so eager to jump into training that you forget playing. Whether you learn by playing first, then seek training, do both at once, or something else altogether, make sure you take time to learn about yourself as a writer and about your own, unique writer’s voice.

And wherever you are in your writing journey, don’t forget to play!

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