Last year, I read The Fantasy Fiction Formula, by Deborah Chester. You may have heard Jim Butcher mention her in numerous interviews. She was his writing instructor before The Dresden Files made it big. Her book helped me understand the difference between scenes and sequels, as well as action and emotion. Her two workbooks on plotting and plotting practice were full of helpful how-to examples and worksheets. These resources gave me a gale-strength boost and removed some of the anxiety and mystique I felt about starting my novel.

Now, almost 50K words into my first fantasy book, I crashed into a wave. Not a big one. But, like many authors, you start getting to a point where you are no quite sure where to go. Your writing feels sparse and stale. Motivation is waning. You are in the doldrums.

What do you do?

For me, I needed a gust of inspiration. I had purchased The Ultimate SFF Story Bible, by M.J. Kuhn several months ago and begun to work through it, but set it aside as I got into the thrill of writing. Like I stated in another post, I am more of a Plantser (Plot outlining and then writing by the seat of my pants) and had plotted out the first third of the book. This made it easy to write the first part. As I recently found myself navigating the next part of the book, I was stalling. I picked back up The Ultimate SFF Story Bible and worked through most all of it. As I got to the resources section, I saw where M.J. had provided a link to a spreadsheet. Being a bit of a data nerd, I had already created several spreadsheets: one for the series/themes and one for the first story structure.

Looking at M.J.’s example, I got my gust of inspiration and went back to my spreadsheet. I added a few ideas from her example and began fleshing out more details. This allowed me to move both rows and columns around in order to enhance the story. I am still filling out the spreadsheet this afternoon and see the entire story taking shape before my eyes.

Using Deborah’s tips, I can move action sequences and emotional sequels to help with the pacing and unpack the plots and subplots more elegantly. I feel a fresh wind in my sails!

Thank you, ladies, for the support you have provided me through your resources. I am so very grateful.