Using Story Beats To Increase Writing Speed

Agatha Christie wrote some 422 books and had sold 4 billion books. Writing speed? What are you talking about? After all, books are written because, in Philip Pullman’s words, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world”. However, if it is the speed which matters more than the quality of the output, the casualty will be the reader, to be sure. And you don’t need personal trainer courses sydney to testify that. There is a way thought to have speed and to have quality. Have Five Beats of Storytelling always in mind and you will see your writing speed hardly ever flagging.

Introduction
This is the beat wherein you let your readers know what you think they should know about the characters, their idiosyncrasies and the story itself. This is the beat where you might have a summary if you want to have one.  For example, if the story about to unfold is about a World War II hero, you could appraise the readers on the war itself, how the hero came to be present in the situation that led to his performing his commendable feat etc. Only, be careful not to stretch it too long.

The incident
Bring the central theme to the fore. Perhaps the incident that forms the core of the narrative, the reason why the book is getting written at all should be given a fair treatment here. The vulnerabilities that the character sports, the impact such a trait is going to have on the future should all be given expression by employing proper descriptive methods.  This is the right time to introduce romantic interests if any.

Beat 3: Raising the stakes
Next, try to justify or deride the central incident by lending weightage or lightening it, as the case may be. The context in which the conclusion has been arrived at should be explained earnestly. Give as much interesting details as necessary and possible in order to make the story memorable. Make the flow natural, taking care never to make it look forced. Maybe your hero wanted to sail the seven seas to see the world but how ended up saving dozens of lives on board the battleship Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack. And, how he was all the more happy not getting his wish fulfilled.

Main Event
Your narration has now reached the culminating point. All your efforts at making people understand and get a vibe with them have come to the point of fruition. Do not hold anything back and go all out to prove your point.  If you had planned on a monumental twist, give it to the readers like a bolt from the blue. Make it snappy and leave them struggling to get a breather.

The resolution
Here is where you emphasize the uniqueness of your story.  By now, a reader should have gotten into the groove and be malleable to anything you say.  The conclusion of the story should leave no one doubt that they are looking forward to your next.

9 Signs You Are Writing In A Wrong Way

There are dozens of articles on the Web with different tips on how to become a good writer, what tricks to use to attract a new audience, what words and word expressions to use for your stories to sound better, etc. But why no one tells you how NOT to be a writer? Are you sure, you write all your articles and stories in a right way? Do your readers ALWAYS like the results of your writing? Do publishers always accept your works?

It is very easy to find the information about how to become a good writer. Everyone who writes a couple of words at least is proud to call himself an author already, and he believes that he has a right to advise others how to write like a pro. Maybe it would be better to tell about some signs, that will tell you are writing your stories in a wrong way and have a wrong idea about what a good author looks like? Well, we’ve tried to gather all these signs, and we are here to share them all with you.

So, you are NOT an author, if:

1. You do not write.

No comments. A writer should write. Your Twitter or Facebook posts do not work here, neither does your personal blog, where you share your thoughts about weather and mood. Certainly, a writer writes for himself first of all, but an author writes for people.

2. You write when you are in mood only.

Certainly, it is always better to write when you have inspiration and mood for it. But you will never become a writer, if you just sit and wait for this inspiration to come (it may not come at all actually). Your task is to train your creativity, and sometimes it means just sitting in front of your computer and forcing yourself to write something at least. The more you train yourself – the better results you will see soon.

3. You write for money only.

Writing is not about money actually. We doubt, that J.K. Rowling or E.L. James thought about millions of dollars to get out of their writings. They just wrote and shared their stories with people. Certainly, some chances are that your novel will become a bestseller, and you will have a chance to quit your job and rest at the Maldives for the rest of your life. But let it happen when it happens, and do not be in a hurry to leave everything for your writing. If you start thinking of writing as a way to earn money, your best ideas will be killed, as you will try to write only about something potentially commercial. It is not good for the process of creativity, is it?

4. You want to become the next Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or E.L. James at least.

When you focus on someone’s success and try to do everything to repeat it, this is a wrong goal to focus actually. Even the worse thing is your attempts to copy the writing style of other writers and use the same ideas with a hope to become famous in such a way. This approach will never make you a good author, and the only thing you’ll get will be a degree of a plagiarist, or a lack of energy and ideas to continue your writing at least.

5. You do not read much.

Stephen King, a guru of all writers for sure, says that he can’t spend a day without reading. It inspires you, helps you understand the writing styles of other authors better, improves your own writing, gives you new ideas, helps you learn something new… Reading is just like food for a writer, and if you do not like this process, you have probably chosen the wrong occupation.

6. You always follow the rules.

Every genre has its rules of course, and when you write your story, you always try to follow them. But it does not mean you should be stuck there! Some rules exist to break them, and if you feel that your story will sound much better without some necessary aspects of a genre, do not be afraid to change something the way you feel it.

7. You can’t bear any critique.

The biggest mistake you can make being a writer is to ignore critique and think, that you are genius enough to write a perfect story without any critics at all. Yes, critique hurts, but if your ego is too tender to bear it, you will never be a successful writer. Only the strongest authors will survive, so, learn to accept critique and analyze it in a right way.

8. You talk about your writing more than you actually write.

Certainly, it is not bad to share some your ideas with your friends or family, but talking is still not writing. One can not be called a writer for his ideas only: we all have some imagination and ideas in our mind, but not all of us write books anyway. So, it would be better to write a page per day at least, than tell everyone about how cool your future book will become one day.

9. You believe everything people say

So, your uncle Fred likes your protagonist much. Your best friend Mark can’t help admiring the end of your story, but he would change the protagonist for sure. Michelle says, you would better make your protagonist a girl and change the end of your story completely…. Do not listen to all of them! There is no story in the world, that all people would like! Just listen carefully to all their remarks, and write your story the way you see it.
Do you recognize yourself here? If two or more items are about you, maybe it is high time to change your approach to your writing, and start doing it the way it will be better for both you and your readers? Good luck, and happy writing!