Mik, lovely human! Thanks for another great video. I looooove the deep dive analyses. Is there anything in particular that you want to steal (like an artist, of course) from this prologue and first chapter for Project House of Stone? Something I'm taking away from this analysis is the beautiful, almost poetic, use of language to really create the atmosphere of a scene. Also, those first sentences are great!
Thank you for watching!! and always engaging with my content it does not go unnoticed. I love this question! Honestly, I am also writing a prologue and so I think seeing how this prologue and first chapter really go hand in hand and work together to launch the story forward is something I want to emulate. I think right now as I am writing the first draft I take a bit too long to get to the "why now?" and on my next draft I'd love to try to get to the action as quick as possible without losing anything
Awww, thank you ❤ I'm enjoying the writerly community that's developing and I always look forward to your videos! Oh, snap! The "why now?" question is actually such a good one to keep in mind. In the process of producing a chapter by chapter outline for my WIP I realised that I needed to introduce the main conflict waaaay earlier on. I'd made a mistake that I think a lot of new writers (or sometimes even experienced writers!) make: making the "ordinary world" too "ordinary" without making the stakes clear enough from the get go. On the topic of prologues, it might be cool to analyse a few types side by side in a deep dive sometime.
@@lic3d127 oh believe me, I know 😂 comparison can be eeeeevil. On the other hand, looking at something that you think is good can help you figure out ways to make your own work better (or figure out why something feels 'off'). For myself, I've found there's a time for ignoring the heck out of anyone else's stuff (when I'm actually writing/drafting) and then there's a time to be in editing mode, actively comparing and trying to improve my work. I find the problem comes in when I'm comparing at the wrong time (while trying to write, for example) or with the wrong mindset ("my work is so sh*t compared to this author's finished work" and leaving it there). Of course that's just my experience! Did you manage to get unblocked in the end? Hope you did and are happily writing again!
Wow, this was so helpful! I only recently found your channel but I'm already binging all your videos... You've pointed out a lot of stuff I already knew (theoretically), but hearing someone say it aloud and actually put these vague concepts into solid advice is invaluable!! I would be really interested to hear your take on 'Show Don't Tell'. I think I fall into this trap of thinking I am showing when actually I am just...descriptively telling. I definitely overuse action phrases, ie. "She frowned" and "He smiled" and "He said angrily" and it makes my writing feel very mechanical. Like 'she did this' and 'he did that' and 'blah blah blah'. But when I try to be more poetic(?) in my prose, like using metaphors/similes/more description of what my MC is actually feeling, I think it comes off as cheesy or melodramatic. I hope I am explaining myself alright! Like I said, I would be really excited to hear your take on this, but if not, know I will eagerly watch all your videos anyway
Thank you so much for watching!!! And I love that you are talking about show don't tell it is one of my FAVORITE topics! I am definitely adding that to the list 🤗
The in depth videos are amazing, can you do an analysis of the plot structure of The Raven Boys? Like all of the subplots and at which point they are introduced Thanks!
dude! i first saw your channel a couple of days ago and heard you talking about the kind of books you like. i was going to recommend the raven cycle to you if you hadn't already read it! its my favourite series of all time, i'm rereading the raven king rn :)
Regarding the scene structure mentioned at the end of this video: People have different perspectives on what a scene is and what it should contain. For some, it´s enough if there´s an emotional change (beginning > end). You also often hear about the structure: beginning, conflict/decision, change/consequence. Others differentiate between proactive (goal, conflict, setback) and reactive scenes (recovery/reaction, dilemma, decision). I´m already struggling with consciously integrating those three points (reactive/proactive) in each scene , and honestly, I find it restricting and hate following these "rules". Perhaps some of the points you mentioned are part of the other structures too (implied or automatically), but even thinking about all those steps one "has" to integrate takes out all the fun of writing for me.
Like i mention in the video, everything I say is not a rule and an opinion. I also preface the scene structure section by saying this is in fact just one way to look at it! And also stated, story grid is mainly best for analyzing and not something that is going to necessarily happen consciously when writing. A lot of the "rules" that happen in writing will come with editing and usually by a professional editor who is more trained to look for the rules and when to implement them. By analyzing story, the "rules" are a great lens and tool to look at structure and to better understand certain concepts, not something you're going to do right away with writing. My advice would be to not follow rules when writing the first draft, I know I don't! In my current zero draft I am truly just writing and even though I made a chapter by chapter outline, I'm already "breaking the rules" of it. This fine tuning is going to come sooooooo much later.
@@mikwrites I´m currently in the first-draft phase, and writing was more fun when I didn´t know about scene structures at all. Now that I know about it, I constantly get stuck thinking, "I´m doing something wrong." Hopefully, I can go back to ignoring the "rules" like you said, and do the fine-tuning much later. (Honestly, many on Authortube loves informing about rules, but the tiny information that it´s often nonsense to follow them in the first draft is left out. It seems logical, but to me-a people pleaser who tries to do things "right" the first time-it was not as clear) Thank you.
@@juliab3326 I totally get that! I love studying writing craft, so I love just analyzing the final forms of stories but I try to preface a lot that this is the final form and it's not something inherently writers do!! It can be so hard in an art form where there does seem to be a lot of "rules" but I promise that the only rule is to have fun and get your story out there!!!!!!!!! I'm so sorry - these videos are definitely not meant to stress and more meant to dive deeper into the nuances of the craft. I hope you can just ignore the rules and write because that's the best part!
@juliab3326 I totally get how having a very switched on "inner editor" (the piece of you that's thinking about writing "rules") can hinder creative output, especially when you're writing a first draft. I know I struggle to write the most when I'm busy worrying about the "correctness" of what I'm writing - whether that's "correctness" in terms of "good writing" or in terms of an element of my story being historically accurate or making sense in the real world. This leads to analysis paralysis and long research detours 😅 Something I find useful as a tool for getting my inner editor to take a backseat is word sprints, which shift the goal from writing something perfect to just getting what's in my head onto the page as fast as possible. It can always be edited later.
Woohoo, thanks for another awesome video! I’m definitely excited to learn about how each scene is supposed to play a role in the overarching story and have it’s own mini story arc. That’s really cool and makes SO much sense. I also have long admired Maggie’s writing style so I am really glad to see her gaining some appreciation. The way words hit her pages, it gives me the impression she’s a very sarcastic and witty individual. I love the edge to her words, and I love that it tells you about the characters too. I felt like the Raven Cycle, each POV had a slight change in writing style that lent to that character’s personality- Blue and Ronan are spiky, Gansey is calculating but goofy and flighty, Adam is putting on his best performance at all times. It’s so interesting. I wish more authors did this. As masterfully as Six of Crows was written, I found it easy at times to lose track of whose perspective I was reading from. Lastly, I hope this isn’t annoying but I have a vivid memory of a video Maggie uploaded where she is playing the guitar and sings “Steve like the name, otter like the animal. Steve Otter. Stiefvater!” PS: 28 pages 😆
You are so correct - I feel like Stiefvater is really good at changing voice and really allowing readers to *be* with the characters. I love Leigh Bardugo, but she doesn't change voice as much as keep her own narrative voice throughout. I think both can be correct but it is an interesting thing to compare side by side!!!!!
Hi Mik, I really enjoyed this video. I'm an aspiring writer myself but I had never realised all these things... I feel a bit put off now, as if my writing or my story will never be as good as the one you've analysed. Do you ever feel that way? Do you think all books should be at that level? I feel like my story is so simple and messed up. Anyway, I really enjoy your contents and I'm learning a lot following you 😊
@@irenegentilini5607 I think when starting to analyze story it’s easy to start overthinking, but as I say in the video: your first draft is not going to be anywhere near this polished. This polishing comes from redrafting and editing!! Also - when analyzing not EVERY thing I say is something the author is consciously doing if that makes sense. That’s why studying story, reading as much as you can, and practicing as much as you can will ultimately make you a better writer!!! Writing is definitely a skill that take practice and time - I hope these types of videos can be uplifting of what your stories CAN be! Instead of scary! You got this!!!!! 🙏💘
I once attended one of Maggie Stiefvater's writing lectures, and she said that because of the way she writes her drafts, all of the personality and emotion often don't show until the very last draft she has to turn in, and if she had to show any other draft to her agent or editor, they would think she'd forgotten how to write (and I believe she said this did happen while writing Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the 3rd book in this series). So there's always room to add more and improve your writing, and it doesn't have to be perfect right away :)
Also... It's the JOB of a first draft to be kind of rubbish. It's much easier to add layers of complexity and depth and tinker with structure at sentence level AFTER there's something basic on the page. Don't compare your first draft to someone else's final draft - so much happens between "first" and "final"! ❤
