Writing Plot Tip #2

In this 4 1/2-minute video, Alida describes the relationship between story structure and plot.   How can understanding structure help you craft your story's plot?  What are your biggest questions about crafting plot? Leave a comment below. I'd love your input!

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Writing Plot Tip #1

In this 3-minute video, Alida talks about what plot is and one thing you can - um...should - do at the beginning of your plot's development to smooth the road ahead. You know, that road of rising action that excites the reader all the way to the climax?What are your...

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An Audience of None

An Audience of None

One’s journal is a sanctuary, a space wherein a writer can simply self-express. Its unassuming blankness offers a container for philosophizing, ranting, sentimentalizing, weeping, and creating. It is a repository of one’s truth, if not always of fact. The...

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Do Breaks Break Your Story?

Do Breaks Break Your Story?

I’ve had more trips than usual this past summer and as things wound down, I’ve had time to reflect on the value of taking breaks. When a project is going—well or not—it’s advisable to carry on, full steam and all that. But there is a time to take a break....

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Writing as a Priority

Writing as a Priority

Priorities are a way to set guideposts for a life well-lived.That’s well-lived personally defined. Writing is my declared priority; therefore, I had better be writing no matter the kind of life I’m having. Yet it is sometimes difficult to live up to that declared...

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Ruminations on Writing as a Practice

Ruminations on Writing as a Practice

Writing for me is a practice. I mean practice in the same way people use the word when talking about meditation. It hasn’t always been this for me. Originally, I wrote for fun, because I couldn’t help myself. Telling stories to and for myself was my...

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Crescendo!

https://youtu.be/-YHeWAgskN8   I explain the importance of the crescendo in your story’s structure. Whether writing an action scene or an emotion-driven one, you need to make sure the movement rises…and rises!

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I'm Alida
I help people express their gifts to the world.

I do not believe in formulas. I believe that the stories we are compelled to tell the world make demands on us, and it is our privilege to meet those demands in order to reach the most people in the most authentic and compelling way possible.

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