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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Find the Magic - How to Plot in 10 Easy Steps by Alicia Dean

I make no bones about being a pantser--writing by the seat of my pants. Eventually, usually around chapter 8, I need to know where the story is going. In other words, I need to plot. My friend Alicia Dean has written an easy how-to book. No matter where you are in your writing career, you'll find something you can use. I did. The best part is it's on sale until Saturday.



Award winning author and editor, Alicia Dean, shares her process of creating a story, along with bonus tips in Find The Magic – How to Plot a Story in 10 Easy Steps.

*** ON SALE - 99¢ through November 15, 2014 ***


How to write a novel? That is the question. There are probably as many answers to that question as there are people who ask it. 

Wanting to write and actually doing it are two very different things. I am well acquainted with the sometimes grueling process of churning out a story. Over the years, I have tried many methods for creating and completing manuscripts, and have tweaked and honed it down to a workable (for me) process. 

Using specific examples from one of my own novels, Without Mercy, I share my method in this mini how to book. The first eight steps actually deal with plotting while the last two are designed to help expand your outline into a well-developed draft. There is no one, perfect way to create a story, but there will be a method, or methods that work for you. I’m not sure if this is the one, but it works for me. Only you can decide if it also works for you. Fingers crossed that it does! 

Kindle:

Nook:

Find Alicia Here:
Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.
In addition to being an author of more than twenty published works, Alicia is both a freelance editor and an editor for The Wild Rose Press, under the name, Ally Robertson, in their suspense line.
Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few.

Find Alicia here:


10 comments:

  1. This sounds like a fabulous how-to book. Thanks for sharing, ladies! :D

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  2. Thanks for sharing. I grabbed a copy. Maybe I'll find a pearl within. :)

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  3. Thank you for the lovely intro, Diane. And, thank you, Chris and Cher. I certainly hope you find something helpful in my book if you check it out. I am in awe of panters, I have to have a road map or I'm totally lost (sometimes I am even WITH a road map, literally and figuratively :))

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    1. What is so weird (about being a pantser) is that on a road trip I MUST have a map and MUST know where we are and where we're going.

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  4. I got my copy a while ago. Some excellent advice there. As a confirmed pantser, I still got a lot out of it.

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    1. Wonderful, Margo. I'm so happy you got something out of it. My intent was to provide some tips on 'loose plotting' that might help panters and plotters. :)

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  5. What can I say, Alicia Dean? I just bought, FIND the MAGIC. Sounds like great help. All the best, Annette

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