Young Writers Society

This project is an exploration of morality and how the right choice can often become gray in certain situations [a topic that's been a fascination of mine], and it's all about the complexities of truth.
Conversely, I intend to simultaneously weave in the message of Christ-that the real truth can set you free, and there's hope if you give up you're your 'flesh' self, accept love, and change your current path.
Also, I just wanted to write about a rivalry between two villains lol

Goals
-Write more than 6000 words
-Flesh out characters
-exercise my novel structuring ability
-Practice incorporating subtext, and subtlety
-Develop my writing voice [hopefully]
-Improve description

Ahhhhh! I love all the complex themes, along with the Christ-centered message. Best of luck to you!

I love your goals!! (and if you're interested in any craft books/resources about novel structure, lmk) Very cool themes that you're exploring here too!! <3

@Carlito yes, I'd very much appreciate some resources, thank you <3

Zyria wrote:@Carlito yes, I'd very much appreciate some resources, thank you <3

So first of all, there are a LOT of ways to structure a book. These work for me and the stories I like to write, but it's not the only way. I personally love:

1. Save the Cat -- I've never actually read the book, but there are tons of free resources around the internet about the ideas. Essentially, it divides a book into three acts with different "beats" that happen in each act. A "beat" is just a specific note or moment for the story to hit, such as the midpoint or the dark night of the soul. You can hit the beats however you want and it provides some structure to get from beginning to end (and not get lost in the middle).

I personally like to think of books in four acts rather than three so act two doesn't feel so long. If it's four acts, act two ends after the midpoint and act three ends after the dark night of the soul. I also don't personally follow save the cat religiously, but I keep the beats in the back of my mind when I draft.

2. Specific beat sheets for your genre -- if the concept of story beats sits nicely in your brain, you can also find "beat sheets" around the internet for your specific genre. I write romance and use "Romancing the Beat" more than save the cat at this point because it breaks down the beats into what they look like to propel a romance forward rather than any story. I've seen people mention beat sheets for other genres, but I don't know what/where they are so it might take a little digging.

3. Story Genius -- this book was a game changer for me and I use it with everything I write now. It takes you through the very development of an idea and going from your first idea spark for a book and how to shape it into a fully fleshed out idea that will support an entire novel. My little pantser heart uses those resources for fleshing out ideas constantly. It also goes into how to take that fleshed out idea and build scenes that will build off of each other and get you from beginning to end. I don't personally use that aspect of it as much because it's not how I personally like to draft (but I've used it for revision and found it helpful!)

If you like to learn in video format rather than book format, Abbie Emmons on Youtube has a lot of craft videos and a lot of what she teaches is based in Story Genius concepts. (not everything she says about traditional versus self publishing is accurate, but her craft videos are usually pretty good!)

Wonderful goals! And oooh the title!!! I love it! Wishing you the best as you grow in authorship abilities this camp!!

I love Story Genius so much!!