{"id":1230,"date":"2022-04-06T16:27:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T16:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2022-04-09T07:51:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T07:51:46","slug":"my-novelling-journey-a-story-in-3-acts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/06\/my-novelling-journey-a-story-in-3-acts\/","title":{"rendered":"My Novelling Journey – a story in 3 acts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ACT ONE – The Setup<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Act One is all about setting the stage: readers should get an idea of who your protagonist is, what their everyday life is like, and what\u2019s important to them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EXPOSITION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2003<\/strong>: I stepped down from a very stressful and time-consuming job as a director of a medium-sized company, and became a computer technician in primary schools. As a by-product of this, I now had the time and \u2018head space\u2019 to be able to seriously think about my writing again. I had dabbled in the years before, but my prime focus was on developing my career and earning money<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I began by joining a new discussion group, Get Writing, on the BBC website. We discusses short stories, and I began to concentrate on those. It was a great way of \u2018learning the ropes\u2019 of writing craft. You could write a new piece each week and get feedback on that. Giving feedback to others helped with my own writing, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I entered a few competitions, submitted my stories to a number of literary magazines. I had a little success, here and there, but nothing substantial. But what I was able to do was to build up a collection of short stories, with the intention of self-publishing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same period, I was enjoying National Novel Writing Month each November (NaNoWriMo – write 50,000 words in a month). The \u2018things\u2019 I produced weren\u2019t novels. They were nowhere near, and most of them weren\u2019t even completed stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INCITING INCIDENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the catalyst that sets the protagonist\u2019s adventure in motion.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2009<\/strong>: I began thinking about my stories, and what I should do with them. Although they might not have been good enough to win a subjective competition, they still had some value as entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a conversation with a neighbour, she told me she never read short stories. She only ever read novels. If I was going to self-publish my writing, with the intention of gaining readership and maybe earning royalties, maybe I should think about actually working towards finishing, editing and publishing novels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I need to consider taking novel writing more seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLOT POINT ONE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s full speed ahead now! Think of the First Plot Point as the springboard that launches your character into Act Two.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2010<\/strong>: I publish my collection of short and micro-fiction, and turn my attention, full time, to writing novels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked at the long-form fiction I\u2019d written, but couldn\u2019t face rewriting them and then completing them and editing and polishing to a publishable standard. And besides, I had several really great ideas which would make novels worthy of being published. Maybe I should just carry on, and actually write and finish and edit some of my longer-form fiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow – Act Two!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the Reedsy Blog Three Act Structure<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have just completed my one-minute pitch for the Efficient Novelist course! See below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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