INTRODUCTION

 

ONE THING I always stress to writers is the importance of writing subjects you’re passionate about. Most of the time, this advice is aimed at novelists, but it applies equally when I’m writing non-fiction how-to books like Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story, on which this workbook is based. In fact, when it comes to structure, “passionate” may be too small a word to describe my feelings.

The concept of story structure has led me to some of the greatest discoveries and epiphanies in my journey as a writer. Even today, I can’t begin to describe how excited I continue to be by the whole idea.

Once you understand the common elements in all good stories, a veil lifts from your eyes. You’ve always seen the stories; you’ve even understood them to some extent. But suddenly you’re viewing story from a whole new dimension. It’s like an X-ray machine. Where once you only saw the surface skin and hair, now you get to see the story skeleton.

Like most authors, I’ve done my share of battling with recalcitrant first drafts. Even with a solid outline, some stories just didn’t want to cooperate, and I would spill my quart of blood and pound of flesh, working my heart out to make them better. Many of us think that’s the only way.

But it doesn’t have to be.

 

Why Structure Will Make Your Writing Better and Easier

Too often, writers get hung up on the idea that writing is supposed to be this airy-fairy, instinctive feeling that flows out of us. We mess with that, and, pfft, forget artistic genius. Like so many writers, I spent my early years in the craft struggling along, pounding out my brains against my keyboard, writing stories that almost worked, but that just weren’t quite there.

Back then, I liked to compare writing to digging myself out of a hole. I didn’t know what was in the hole. I didn’t even know what the next shovelful was supposed to look like. I just kept digging, trusting I would eventually reach the bottom, where it would all make sense.

This is how many of us write. We know there’s a checklist of “story must-haves” necessary to make the story work. As long as we’ve incorporated a strong hook in the beginning, characters with pronounced arcs, and rising suspense, then we’re supposed to be able to reach the end of the story (the bottom of the hole) where everything will suddenly fall into place.

But you’ve probably written at least one story that didn’t work out quite that way. You did everything right (as far as you knew), and yet the story still bombed. And you had no idea why. Talk about frustrating. You checked all the “must-have” elements off your list just like you were supposed to. But something went wrong. Those elements just didn’t hang together the way they were supposed to.

That is where structure comes into play.

The first time I heard structure explained to me, point by point, a light bulb practically exploded in my head. I was ready to get up and jump on the bed and turn somersaults and kiss the cat. It, quite literally, changed my life.

In my book Structuring Your Novel, I have broken the basic principles of the three-act structure into a fundamentally simple approach. Piece by piece, the book examines each important element in your story: the Hook, the First Act, the First Plot Point, the First Half of the Second Act, the Midpoint, the Second Half of the Second Act, the Third Plot Point, the Third Act, the Climax, and the Resolution. More than that, it also discusses the smaller building blocks of the story—particularly the intricacies of scene structure.

 

How to Use This Workbook

In this workbook, you will discover all of these principles, via step-by-step guides for crafting each important structural element and specific questions for narrowing your focus. If you’re an outliner, you can use this workbook to help you plan a structurally sound story before you ever begin your first draft (the methods discussed here work hand in hand with those I teach in Outlining Your Novel and the Outlining Your Novel Workbook). You can also use this workbook to analyze an already completed manuscript, confirm its structural strengths, and identify its weaknesses.

Each chapter offers an introduction to the concepts discussed in the exercises, as well as examples from popular books and movies. I have also included a page-number guide to help you locate the associated chapters in Structuring Your Novel. I recommend you start by reading that book—just as you would a textbook—before embarking on the workbook. You will understand the principles and their applicability better in context.

Each chapter of the workbook builds upon the next, in a series of steps that will help you move from your story’s big picture to the smaller details and back again. The more thorough you are in responding to each question and filling in each blank, the more prepared you will be to write or revise your novel. But don’t hesitate to skip around. Some of the sections (such as those on foreshadowing) can’t be completed until you’ve finished all the other steps.

I was determined to offer the workbook as an e-book as well as a paperback, since I knew it would end up being a much more cost-efficient option than the hard copy. However, it is a bit of a different take on a workbook, since you won’t be able to write in your answers as you would otherwise. You’ll need to grab a notebook and write your answers to the questions and exercises there (which makes the workbook totally reusable!).

Since this is a bit of an experiment, if you purchase the e-book version and decide it’s not working for you, for whatever reason, please feel free to request a refund. Amazon and most other sellers will provide a full refund if you make your request within seven days of purchase. If you’ve missed that window, email me and I’ll be happy to refund your full purchase price myself. My goal is to make the workbook as accessible and useful as possible. If the e-book format isn’t working for you, then it’s not doing its job!

Throughout the book, you’ll find graphics illustrating various points. To view the images outside of the constraints of your e-reader, visit my site. You can find all the graphics in this book (and more!) here.

The beauty of story structure is that it’s ridiculously simple. Once you visualize your story as made up of these precise building blocks, you will suddenly be able to understand what makes stories work. You won’t feel blind anymore. You will be able to approach your story from a place of knowledge and empowerment.

From now on, you get to be the master of your story, instead of its slave.