Inspiration

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The Writer’s Bookshelf

If you’re like me, you treasure your writing bookshelf, the volumes that have survived the onset of the Internet and stand loyally by, ready to be perused or referred to. Below are some of the titles I treasure most. Are they on your shelf? If not, they’re worth checking out. The Chicago Manual of Style: [...]

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Category Fiction: What’s Hot?

In my Marshall Plan® books I have always recommended writing the genre you love to read. It gives you several advantages. First, the passion you have for reading a particular genre carries over into the writing. Second, you’ll already have a good idea of what’s been done and what hasn’t. But what if you read several [...]

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Writing the Action Section

In The Marshall Plan®, a novel consists of “sections.” Sections can be either action sections or reaction sections. In simplest terms, in an action section, things happen. In a reaction section, people react to the things that happened. In this post I’m going to review the basics of structuring an action section. I’ll cover the [...]

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Stranger Than Fiction

“Where do you get your ideas?” It’s the classic question readers ask authors. Many authors dislike the question because there’s no one answer—they get ideas from literally everywhere. For me, the richest source of ideas is real life. Here’s a fun exercise. Go to your favorite online news site and copy the top six headlines. [...]

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Limbering Up for Novelists

Musicians often limber up by playing music different from what they’re used to. It keeps them fresh, gives them a new perspective on what they’re doing. Novelists can do the same thing–limber up by trying different forms of storytelling. I’ve recently done this, and enjoyed it immensely. Here’s what I tried and how I felt about [...]

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The Story Idea Machine

Here it is, back by popular demand . . . The Marshall Plan® Story Idea Machine! Just fill in the blanks, click the button and you’ll have a brief, high-concept story idea ready to be developed into a novel. The Story Idea Machine is based on concepts in The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software by [...]

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