When I said I hate Worldbuilding I mostly meant the trap of making up facts and never actually writing a story. How do you beat the trap?
Just learn how to tell a story. Don’t fear structure. Commit yourself to it.
Here are some resources I like for studying story structure.
Probably the most famous true formula is Lester Dent’s for a 6K word pulp story. Dent’s is a great starting point bc it’s plug n play.
Write 3-5 shorts w this and really examine how it works. The pacing, the actions, the revelations, building and releasing tension.
Write 1K word short stories for as many of the 36 as you can get thru. Notice where the actions and reveals end up to ‘turn’ the scene. https://t.co/enOEYjZQMo
Georges Polti made this book which is freely available online\u2014i strong recommend as a reference tool. Not just for writers but for anyone using rhetoric. If you can boil your narrative down to a clear narrative statement like this it will be very persuasive. pic.twitter.com/QY1VBEqsle
— Conan the Summer Conqueror (@conan_esq) April 9, 2022
But Screenwriting books have pretty good crossover for fiction, so…
I liked Screenplay. I group it as theoretical because it’s better as a discourse on why things work rather than a ‘tutorial’ to follow. I find the diagrams helpful aids to thought.
Use his method to outline 10 stories with as much detail as possible.
https://t.co/48ppQJkvrE
You have to practice. I gave you short exercises to do that will jump your skill efficiently, much faster than muddling through 100k word of a novel that doesn’t work.
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Mr. Patrick, one of the chief scientists at the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., held five classified US patents for the process of weaponizing anthrax.
2/x
Under Mr. Patrick’s direction, scientists at Fort Detrick developed a tularemia agent that, if disseminated by airplane, could cause casualties & sickness over 1000s mi². In a 10,000 mi² range, it had 90% casualty rate & 50% fatality rate
3/x His team explored Q fever, plague, & Venezuelan equine encephalitis, testing more than 20 anthrax strains to discern most lethal variety. Fort Detrick scientists used aerosol spray systems inside fountain pens, walking sticks, light bulbs, & even in 1953 Mercury exhaust pipes
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https://t.co/sHqSaTSqtB
5/x Back in Time
In 1949 the Army created a small team of chemists at "Camp Detrick" called Special Operations Division. Its assignment was to find military uses for toxic bacteria. The coercive use of toxins was a new field, which fascinated Allen Dulles, later head of the CIA
Mr. Patrick, one of the chief scientists at the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., held five classified US patents for the process of weaponizing anthrax.
2/x
Under Mr. Patrick’s direction, scientists at Fort Detrick developed a tularemia agent that, if disseminated by airplane, could cause casualties & sickness over 1000s mi². In a 10,000 mi² range, it had 90% casualty rate & 50% fatality rate
3/x His team explored Q fever, plague, & Venezuelan equine encephalitis, testing more than 20 anthrax strains to discern most lethal variety. Fort Detrick scientists used aerosol spray systems inside fountain pens, walking sticks, light bulbs, & even in 1953 Mercury exhaust pipes
4/x After retiring in 1986, Mr. Patrick remained one of the world’s foremost specialists on biological warfare & was a consultant to the CIA, FBI, & US military. He debriefed Soviet defector Ken Alibek, the deputy chief of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://t.co/sHqSaTSqtB
5/x Back in Time
In 1949 the Army created a small team of chemists at "Camp Detrick" called Special Operations Division. Its assignment was to find military uses for toxic bacteria. The coercive use of toxins was a new field, which fascinated Allen Dulles, later head of the CIA