A couple of authors that you can find this with are Anne Tyler and Jack London. With Tyler I would look at The Accidental Tourist (absolutely love this book), with London the short story ‘The Mexican.’

Another way of looking at things that has helped me is that a story is a character pursuing a goal and through his actions the situation gets worse (you can definitely see this in The Accidental Tourist). If it gets better the story is over pretty quick. The name Disaster might make things sound melodramatic (setback or complication might be better in this case), but a good writer can be so subtle that we aren’t aware of the overstructure. But it’s there, just less overt.

I got a little too excited when the family watched “The Shooter” recently… I SAW it! Scene and Sequel, laid out in near perfect, textbook formation. It got me death glares from everyone in the room. I’m banned from movie night until well after Die Hard 4 comes out on video.

I have a question about this Scene/Sequel model that I can best ask with an example.
Let’s say we have a story with only two characters of consequence. In keeping with current events, let’s call them Obama and Hillary. Now we’re writing this story entirely from Obama’s POV. Must every Goal/Conflict/Disaster be Obama’s, or can some be Hillary’s as seen from Obama’s POV? Or is there something I’m not seeing and this is a stupid question?

A million thanks for this ongoing education you provide with your dedication to this blog! May you and your family celebrate the best Thanksgiving ever. (You might even unplug the computer until Sunday midnight.)

J Parker Haynes

Yet, I love many classics (Gone with the Wind, Screwtape Letters, Flannery O’Connors short stories, many other short stories by famous authors that I can’t think of right now) - so are all classics literary?

I thought literary dealt more with inner conflict, flowery writing, and less on physical action. I thought literary works were about the growth of the character, developing his or her worldview in such a way that the reader questions his or her own worldview. I thought literary works were more about philosophy, and the collision of the characters’ different philosophies. Now I am confused.

I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who taught himself to read by copying books by hand. Also, Thomas Jefferson (who wrote our Declaration of Independence in the USA) and Abraham Lincoln, as well, In fact, it was also a method used in early colonial schools because they only had so many books available to children.

I am going to do this myself. What authors are you using? Are you using authors who have more of your own writing style? Or are you using people that don’t write anything like you?

I did something interesting awhile back with a book that kept my interest — I outlined it. I wanted to see what it was about the book that kept me riveted. (This was before I was introduced to you and your snowflake.)

Thanks for the great ideas! Oh, but to have endless hours in which to practice the craft and write!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone on this list!

I’m learning so much.

Plus, now I can almost forgive you for liking HP, since you’re also a P&P fan. (kidding! relax you voracious HP fans!)

You just never can tell with people, can you?

Daan ~ any help you need with trivial Canadiana, I can fix you right up

I have a sanguine personality without any analytical cells in my brain, so outlining and such are useless exercises in frustration. Because of this I thought if I typed someone else’s excellent writing I could possibly pick up the rhythm and flow of good writing, along with learning proper punctuation and structure.
I stopped doing it when someone told me I was wasting time I should be spending on my own story.

Wow, look how much I could have learned in two years! I might even have understood this Scene/Sequel stuff by now. Guess you have to be careful who you listen to (or is that to who/whom you listen?).