| Introduction |
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1 | (1) |
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PART I INVENTING CHARACTERS |
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3 | (44) |
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4 | (10) |
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2 What Makes A Good Fictional Character? |
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14 | (11) |
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The Three Questions Readers Ask |
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You Are the First Audience |
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Interrogating the Character |
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From Character to Story, from Story to Character |
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3 Where Do Characters Come From? |
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25 | (16) |
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41 | (6) |
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PART II CONSTRUCTING CHARACTERS |
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47 | (78) |
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5 What Kind of Story are you Telling? |
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48 | (11) |
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The Contract with the Reader |
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59 | (9) |
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Walk-ons and Placeholders |
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7 How to Raise the Emotional Stakes |
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68 | (7) |
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8 What Should We Feel About the Character? |
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75 | (18) |
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9 The Hero and the Common Man |
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93 | (6) |
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10 The Comic Character: Controlled Disbelief |
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99 | (6) |
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11 The Serious Character: Make Us Believe |
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105 | (14) |
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119 | (6) |
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PART III PERFORMING CHARACTERS |
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125 | |
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126 | (8) |
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14 Presentation vs. Representation |
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134 | (6) |
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15 Dramatic vs. Narrative |
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140 | (3) |
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16 First-Person Narrative |
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143 | (12) |
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155 | (18) |
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Omniscient vs. Limited Point of View |
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18 A Private Population Explosion |
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173 | |
| Index |
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174 | |
| Introduction: The Story in Your Head |
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1 | (1) |
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5 | (54) |
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1 The Very Beginning: Your Opening Scene |
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6 | (26) |
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2 The Later Beginning: Your Second Scene |
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32 | (20) |
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3 Help for Beginnings: Early Revision |
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52 | (7) |
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59 | (44) |
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4 The Middle: Staying on Track |
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60 | (20) |
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5 Under Development: Your Characters at Midstory |
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80 | (12) |
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6 Help for Middles: Getting Unstuck |
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92 | (11) |
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103 | (61) |
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7 Satisfying Endings: Delivering on the Promise |
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104 | (16) |
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8 The Very End: Last Scene, Last Paragraph, Last Sentence |
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120 | (12) |
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9 Help for Endings: The Last Hurrah |
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132 | |
| Introduction Coming to Plot the Hard Way |
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1 | (1) |
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5 | (14) |
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19 | (11) |
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Chapter 3 Would You Trust A Viewpoint With Shifty Eyes? |
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30 | (13) |
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Chapter 4 "Shut Up!" He Explained---Handling Exposition |
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43 | (15) |
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Chapter 5 Early Middles: New Directions and Subplots |
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58 | (11) |
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Chapter 6 Building the Big Scenes: Set-Pieces |
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69 | (12) |
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Chapter 7 Harnessing Melodrama |
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81 | (13) |
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Chapter 8 Patterns, Mirrors, and Echoes |
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94 | (17) |
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Chapter 9 Pacing, Transitions, Flashes, and Frames |
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111 | (9) |
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Chapter 10 When You Come to the End, Stop |
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120 | (24) |
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144 | |
| Index |
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164 | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (1) |
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Chapter One Details, Details |
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6 | (12) |
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How Details Drive the Story |
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Adding Details in Later Drafts |
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Chapter Two Showing and Telling |
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18 | (20) |
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When to Use Narratives, When to Use Scene |
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Chapter Three Description and Forward Motion |
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38 | (28) |
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Forward Motion and Physical Description |
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Flashbacks and Their Problems |
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Chapter Four Description and Dialogue |
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66 | (18) |
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Chapter Five Description and Point Of View |
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84 | (35) |
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First-Person Point of View |
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Second-Person Point of View |
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Third-Person Omniscient Point of View |
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Third-Person-Limited Point of View |
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Chapter Six Description and Style |
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119 | (15) |
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Choosing Description Style |
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When Content and Style Contrast |
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Avoiding Sentimentality and Melodrama |
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Chapter Seven Description and Setting |
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134 | (12) |
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Details that Tell a Story |
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Problems with "Actual" Places |
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Chapter Eight Special Description Problems |
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146 | (14) |
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Chapter Nine Tips and Tricks |
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160 | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (4) |
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1 The Nuts and Bolts of Drama |
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5 | (14) |
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The Need for Confrontation |
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19 | (16) |
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35 | (16) |
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Sometimes Dialogue, Sometimes Narrative |
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When the Ending Comes First |
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51 | (14) |
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To Complete or Not to Complete |
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5 Building Through Dialogue |
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65 | (14) |
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6 Building Through Mood and Atmosphere |
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79 | (14) |
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Physical Description Plus |
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7 Building Through Character Development |
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93 | (14) |
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8 Building Through Point of View |
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107 | (14) |
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9 Subtlety and Misdirection |
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121 | (14) |
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135 | (16) |
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The Crunch of Time Limits |
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151 | (16) |
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167 | |
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Keep Surprise and Delight Coming |
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Chapter 1 The Structure of Modern Fiction |
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1 | (4) |
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Chapter 2 Strategy: How to Start Your Story and How to End It |
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5 | (7) |
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Chapter 3 Structure in Microcosm: Cause and Effect |
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12 | (11) |
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Chapter 4 Structure in Larger Elements: The Scene |
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23 | (8) |
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Chapter 5 Structure in Macrocosm: Scenes With Results |
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31 | (10) |
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Chapter 6 Planning and Revising Scenes for Maximum Effect |
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41 | (9) |
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Chapter 7 Linking Your Scenes: The Structure of Sequel |
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50 | (13) |
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Chapter 8 Scene-Sequel Tricks to Control Pace |
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63 | (9) |
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Chapter 9 Variations in the Internal Structure of Scene and Sequel |
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72 | (11) |
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Chapter 10 Common Errors in Scenes and How to Fix Them |
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83 | (9) |
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Chapter 11 Plotting With Scene and Sequel |
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92 | (13) |
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Chapter 12 Specialized Scene Techniques |
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105 | (11) |
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Chapter 13 The Structure of
Chapters |
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116 | (4) |
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Chapter 14 The Scenic Master Plot and How to Write One |
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120 | (11) |
| Appendices |
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131 | |
