Story Plan Checklist: Story Sparks

[ladyseishou]

It’s that “aha!” moment when a writer thinks up something that completely
captures his imagination, and he must see how it unfurls and concludes.

- Karen S. Wiesner, on Story Sparks



So Nano Writer, what gets you fired up about your story?

Also called "candy-bar" scenes (love that image) by Holly Lisle in her web article: How to Finish A Novel, story sparks are "something intriguing that ignites a story scenario and carries it along toward fruition."

Ms. Wiesner also write:

Most novels up to 75,000 words have three story sparks: one for the beginning, one for the middle and one for the end. The beginning spark sets up the conflict. The middle spark (or possibly more than one middle spark) complicates the situation. Finally, the end spark resolves the conflict and situation.

This advice aligns well with the three-act story: the set-up, the confrontation, and the resolution as well as the second step of Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method: "Take another hour and expand that sentence [the one-sentence summary] to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel."

For Nano Writers that write from an outline, this is a great step towards delineating the structure of your story - three sentences (or more) that describe where your story starts, what happens to get in the way, and how it all comes out in the end - three sparks!


And a quick reminder: this Sunday (October 11) is the last day to post your cover artwork [ here ] to be eligible for the Cover Up! contest!

Comments

[angryoldhag]

Elizabeth took a wrong turn a few miles back, which causes her to accidentally drive through a dimensional rip and end in a world beyond her wildest imaginations. Word of the outsider entering their world spreads until it reaches the ears of Count Monty, who sees this as the perfect time to prove that, damn it, he is a capable ruler and the best way to prove this is by hiring the ninja lemmings, among other things. When one of Monty's final plans goes horribly, horribly wrong Elizabeth and Monty have to race time to keep both their worlds from merging.

It... err... made sense in my head?