K.M. Weiland lives in make-believe worlds, talks to imaginary friends, and survives primarily on chocolate truffles and espresso. She is the award-winning and internationally published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel, Structuring Your Novel, and Creating Character Arcs, as well as Jane Eyre: The Writer’s Digest Annotated Classic. Her fiction includes the gaslamp fantasy Wayfarer, the historical/dieselpunk adventure Storming, the portal fantasy Dreamlander, and the medieval epic Behold the Dawn. When she’s not making things up, she’s busy mentoring other authors on her award-winning blog Helping Writers Become Authors.
This information is so dense and covers so much (thank you, by the way!), I can't help but think your delivery would be helped by adding a co-host withw whom you could discuss each step of the message in a back and forth manner.
I love the clarity and definition in your answers! You have helped me outline and plot my mystery. Thank you, KM. Just purchased your "Outlining Your Novel" and "Outlining Your Novel Workbook." I'm spending the long weekend of Independence Day 2024 plotting and scheming!
It will depend on what type of arc the protagonist is following. Because the story structure revolves around the protagonist, how the antagonist functions will grow out of the protagonist's arc. See this post: www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-the-antagonist-functions-in-different-types-of-character-arcs/
It depends how the character responds to it in the end. Even a dark Truth may be liberating for some characters. If, however, the character is horrified by it and has a hard time wanting to integrate it, he may be following a Disillusionment Arc. This is a Negative Change Arc that, for all intents and purposes, is the same as a Positive Change Arc *except* that it ends with the character feeling negatively toward the newly learned Truth. See this post for an overview: www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/learn-5-types-of-character-arc-at-a-glance-the-3-negative-arcs-part-2-of-2/
What is a good method to determine if the ending is or is not working? When I write, I often get tunnel vision in order to finish the story and not see the problems it may have.
Zoom out and examine the story's structural skeleton. Every piece should be cohesively leading up to the ending. If not, something is out of whack. See the full post/video about endings here: www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/troubleshooting-your-storys-ending/
Can you talk about how this works in serialised fiction and short stories? I'm not trying to be fatuous with this question, but what is the lie that Sherlock Holmes believes in each story, or for a Spiderman comic, what is his mistaken perspective? In serials and short stories we don't see a lot of character change. Wolverine doesn't have an epiphany every time he whips his claws out in the X-Men comics. It's just fight the bad guys and please buy another comic book next month. I can only see this in Rick & Morty where Morty wants something, he gets it, and he has a learning experience: Morty realises maybe that's not what he wanted at all, or oh boy there is more responsibility involved in this thing than I realised. So Rick & Morty seems to be about Morty's growth but Sherlock Holmes and Spiderman do not. Yet Sherlock Holmes and Spiderman are effective serials.
Not all protagonists will follow a Change Arc. They can also follow a Flat Arc, in which they do not change, but rather change the story world around them. Most serial protagonists fall into this category.
Maybe what Spider-Man and the others believe is that justice is their sole responsibility, that they are indispensable and that others can’t manage without them.
Excellent presentation and articulation of character arc! Exceptional, and a video I will watch more than once. The Lie-Truth spectrum explains so much! Thank you!
The Lie is most effective, IMO, when it is shown how well the Lie worked for the protagonist in the past, before the story began. This helps to show contrast with how it is failing to work now, during the events of the story, forcing the character to adopt a new perspective, one that may (or may not) integrate the Truth. Using the Lie in this way makes it more believable and resonant, as it illustrates plausible reasons for why the character has not yet embraced the Truth prior to the events of the story, ensuring that the audience doesn't reject the protagonist as a dullard who can't see the obvious for the sake of the plot.
I'm a pantser. My characters WANT to get to the plot goal as quickly as possible. I am at war with myself. How do I write my middle without it feeling bloated and contrived, or in my case, non-existent? I was taught a tool for fiction in grade school, the CLOG. It stands for CHARACTER, LOCATION, OBSTACLE and GOAL. It is meant to be the fundamental building blocks for a story. However, I think it applies to scenes as well. If your character doesn't have a short term goal that they believe will lead them to their long term goal, then what is your scene doing on the page?
I’ve really been enjoying your podcasts! My first book is finished and I’m on my second book in a trilogy and would love more of your thoughts on sequels! Especially those with more story to tell, 😅 the middle child if you will (I am the middle child)
I'm so glad I came across your channel. I had seen you featured on another channel talking about the three act structure in movies, which was a really great video . Your knowledge and wisdom is helping me so much. I'm currently writing a script for a play and your help is transferring easily into that format. I have avoided making some mistakes because of your help. You have great way of presenting the information clearly, concisely and in a very watchable way. I will be subscribing and catching up on all your videos here. Thank you.
I am a woman of many hobbies, but I always find myself longing for whichever one I have the least time for. At the moment, this is writing. I have to write for hours for school and my short stories are getting pushed aside. Today, one of the big things preventing me from jumping back into fiction just eased up, and I find myself with an extra three hours a day. I've never been good with time management, so I've kinda been at a loss as to how to get back into the groove. Sorry for such a tangent. In short, thank you.
Love your books, and I love that you're posting writing advice to RU-vid. There are too many channels on here just regurgitating your work and the methods of others.
Thanks for this repetition. Her lie is that you never associate with bad people. She just ruined everything by associating against her better judgment with a devil and she too-blithely calls her up again for help. It's logical to do it but it should be so easy.
I begin my story by introducing the main character as a side character. It starts with a villain observing a filthy tavern, and first he notices a sloppy waitress interacting with the cheap criminals he plans to hire. Later in the scene, he finds out that she's a horrrible cook, but a talented mechanic, who also claims to be a skilled driver. A couple of chapters later she reappears as a member of his team, we learn about her criminal background and she comes close to being eliminated by the good guys, as she is just some random henchperson, some obstacle to remove. It takes time for her to take matters into her own hand and eventually succeed where others, who looked like more important characters, failed.
Fantastic advice. Thank you, kindly. Also, I’m currently reading your book on archetypal character arcs. Brilliant work. I know it’s going to be dog-eared on no time (from my constantly referring to it)!
I was listening to this podcast for two reasons. 1. I love the way you present and explain your many tips so concisely, and 2. I'm procrastinating editing a long scene that didn't thrill me. Now I know why -- it didn't add to the story and reducing it to three sentences made all the difference to pacing. Brilliant tips as always. Thanks K.M.!
Hey KM! =] Just curious, are there specific beats that need to be included in each scene or sequel? As I write a scene or sequel, sometimes I feel like they are missing parts. And are these parts (or beats) individually specific for either the scene or the sequel? Say... A scene could include A, B, and C. However, a sequel should contain 1, 2, and 3.
Yes, each part is further divided into three beats. The scene features Goal, Conflict, Outcome/Disaster. The sequel features Reaction, Dilemma, Decision. More here: www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-structure-scenes/
Thanks K.M. for you videos. I have a question relating to opening scenes in novels. So much attention is given to making sure that the opening scene ticks all the necessary boxes. Ie : introduces the protagonist in action, at a pivotal point in their story, whilst preferably using engaging dialogue. I haven’t seen anybody address the situation I find myself in with my first person pov story. The scene I have ticks the boxes, but it has been taken out of the chronological flow of the story - which makes it more of a prologue. Now I am looking for alternatives to use when the story comes back around to this specific time and scene, without repeating it again verbatim. My solution to this has been to lead into it with a portion from the protagonists diary and modify the scene by making it shorter, with some extra dialogue. I am wondering if you or others have come across this situation before and how they have approached it? J
Pat Rothfuss is a hardcore 5. These are such killer videos, as always, Professor Weiland! As I get deeper into the Enneagram, I think it's less practical to think of "weaknesses" of each type. It's really a paradigm about stress... When you get stressed out, what's the loudest part of your amygdala: anger, embarrassment, or paralysis? Fight, make friends, or flight? That places you into your triad. Now, what's next in the stress stack? There's your type. Thinking of it as a stress circle has made it so useful, not just for characters, but as a writer, because everyone gets stressed out, and the amygdala is one of the oldest designs of the human brain. Stress stretches across cultures, transcends language, and can even connect us to other animals. Getting away from "weakness" and "lie" and other judgmental terms helps to remind me that each response is actually there as a coping mechanism, and is in fact there because... sometimes it works. Sometimes, those coping mechanisms are what can save a person's life. Also, "an enneagram that doesn't move is a dead shape." The goal is to be able to go to each type, and THAT, for me, is what health actually looks like. Just some thoughts...
Really good breakdown of this topic and love your site too! If I may pose a question it´s about a narrative technique. I´m unsure on what it is called, but if the story only tells the reader and not the in book character about the danger/obstacles of the protagonist to create suspense. Let´s say Psycho. If we (instead of the movie) meet the heroine on the way to the motel, when she checks in and everything seems normal followed by a scene where Norman Bates talks to the remains of his mother. Now we have suspense as the motel owner is a *drumroll* psycho and we start to worry about the heroine who is oblivious to this. The good part is we immediately have a high level of suspense, but the bad is that we have 'spent our powder'. If you could elaborate on this types of narrative I´d be grateful. Thank you for a great channel/site.
Structurally, every action scene is followed by a reaction scene, which is followed by another action scene, and so on throughout a story until the end. An action scene has a goal, a conflict, and a disaster. A reaction scene has a reaction (duh), a dilemma, and a decision. The key to ensuring that your scenes work is to include all of the elements, and to make sure that the next scene is the inevitable consequence of the previous one. If an action is missing its goal, or a reaction scene is missing its decision, then they aren't going to work, and your audience isn't going to be satisfied, even if they may not be able to explain why.
Thanks for this posting. I'm in the midst of a final edit of my mystery which has benefitted from all of your books and this post continues that support. Though a small part of the post the idea about using a word from the ending of the last scene in the beginning of the next scene is really subtle and a neat idea.
