Welcome to the game changer.The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne

The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne should be required reading for all writers who hope to get their books published. Learn what editors know: the key to good writing is good math!

Shawn Coyne explains how this works in a variety of ways including:

-A bell curve graph of book sales can help you decide what to write. The books in the center of the graph (thrillers) have a better chance of getting published.

– Stories that work always break down into a 25/50/25 formula: The Beginning is one quarter of the story. The Middle is one half of the story. The End is the last quarter of the story.

-Word-count matters. There is an average word count per genre. There’s more. Scenes follow a particular order and have an optimum length.

-Scenes must be balanced. Look at the order of the obligatory scenes of your genre. If you miss any of these the equation won’t work.

– Stories that work can be described on a single page known as the Foolscap Map. (Inciting event, Middle Build, and Resolution) and finally

– Stories that work will have all the components of the Story Grid.

There is plenty of valuable information and insight into the publishing business here. The Story Grid itself however will make most sense when you look at it in conjunction with Coyne’s free resources at www.storygrid.com.

Essentially, Coyne is teaching writers how to look at their stories not just as a series of scenes but a progression that must be ordered and balanced. Stories work best when scenes build upon each other towards a resolution. The grid reveals if you have mapped the progression correctly. For example, the story grid has you look at the following for every scene in your book: word count, story event, value shift, turning point, point of view, time, duration, location and characters.

The Story Grid is full of clear and pragmatic advice that is bound to revolutionize how writers think about writing. Accordingly, it is a must read.

To buy this book now, click here!

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