STRUCTURE.

My book Gold Dragon Haiku is now out on Amazon. Yeah!

Structure

In most books, structure is traditional. Beginning, middle and end. The three act structure. It’s there in the earliest fairy stories we heard as children as well as in myths and legends worldwide.

Why do we follow this structure? Because it works. In the constructed worlds of fiction, we create tension through conflict which grips people and they want to know what happens next. If your most exciting event takes place in the first few pages and the rest of the book is a slow downhill cruise, there’s a reasonable chance people will end up comatose instead of enthralled.

In the beginning your reader suspends belief and enters the imagined world of your story with an introduction to your character(s) and setting whether that be in an historical, futuristic, fantasy or modern world. (And of course, one of my favourites, magic realism....)

Another way to start is in medias res which means starting in the middle of an action, and immediately you’ve given the reader a character, time, place and situation. You will have to – at some point – say how your character arrived in that particular position, but if done well, it’s a brilliant hook.

If as a writer you’ve done your work, the reader is invested in your character and they should continue with your book.

The middle is where an arc of ever increasing dramatic events builds to a climax. By now the story is living in your reader’s imagination and, even if they’re one of those people who can predict where a story is going, they continue to read because to leave now is to leave the table before the end of the meal. They all know what the dessert, tarte au chocolat topped with raspberries and cream, tastes like, but that encourages rather than stops them.

The conclusion, I always say, should be like the ending in the film, High Noon. The film doesn’t end when the bad guy hits the ground after the shootout on Main Street, it ends when the hero disappears into the sunset (or in this case, the Marshall climbs aboard the train and leaves). However, once the main conflict is solved, you do need to wrap things up sharpish because your reader knows it over and will be out the door looking for their next book. A satisfactory conclusion should give readers that extra bit of fulfillment – like the coffee and mints following your dessert.

Note to self: try to find metaphors/similes unconnected with food, specifically chocolate.

My book Gold Dragon Haiku is now out on Amazon. Yeah!

Today’s haiku:

COFFEE HAIKU

baristas prepare

stimulants to titillate

precise urban tastes

My new book Gold Dragon Haiku is now out on Amazon. Yeah!

If you’ve enjoyed reading my daily haiku, I’m pleased to let you know, after a nightlong marathon of preview, correct, preview etc., Gold Dragon Haiku is available as an ebook at the Amazon Kindle Store. It will make a fine gift for a friend – even I do say so myself!

 

Here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GOLD-DRAGON-HAIKU-ebook/dp/B00CLJ0RGK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1367505326&sr=1-1

(My apologies for the repetition of this message – I’ll only be advertising it once in future blogs - it’s just ‘cos I’m so excited that my book Gold Dragon Haiku is now out on Amazon. Yeah! )

Here is a link to a blog I hope you find interesting and informative:

http://booksbywomen.org/forty-one-years-of-writing-by-kathryn-meyer-griffith/

To all story lovers out there, good reading, and to those who write, good writing.