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Here is the outline, We will cover one point per hour.

The 5 C’s   Character/Conflict/Clock/Crisis/Conclusion

1. 1. Character

Every story has a protagonist (the good guy), yes at some level even non-fiction

And an antagonist (the bad guy or thing…your past, fate, the weather) what keeps us from our goals.

Every good character has both good and evil (or at least flaws). Humans are conflicted.

When you build a character it helps to build them on real people you know.

You must know a lot about them: what makes them laugh or cry, what they read, eat, notice.

Physical appearance: eye and hair color, height, skin tone,  posture, gate, age, how their clothes fit

Challenge: Describe in a paragraph what their hands look like and why?

(Name of character) looked down at her (his) hands they were…

1. 2. Conflict

Every character, especially main characters have something they want. And something is keeping them from having it. The good and bad guys all want something. It can even be the same thing for different reasons. (The jewel in the navel of the statue can mean money or fame or both. If it is left alone it can mean the volcano won’t erupt.) When you introduce the conflict, you let the reader in on what is at stake for all the characters. You can also think of this as the CONCEPT. What is the story about in one sentence?

Challenge:  Finish this paragraph about your protagonist.

This wouldn’t do. Too much was at stake and no one seemed to notice. That’s it.  I am going to…

1. 3. Clock

Not only does the protagonist want something, not only is someone or something stopping them, to make your story a page turner the reader must feel a sense of urgency. By when will the protagonist need to have this resolved?  To build a sense of suspense and curiosity in the reader tell us when this must be resolved (the first full moon, by the time the tower is built) and tell us why. This can be a ticking bomb, the start of a sequence of disastrous events that cannot be stopped once begun,  ther sign that all hope is lost.

Challenge: How would you finish this?

Mary and Paulo sat on the bridge in the moonlight. Looking up they both noticed the light on top of the bridge cables. That was it. They had to get up there before (time) because if they didn’t (consequence).

1. 4. Crisis

In every story, in every telling  there must be something at stake. And there must be a moment of decision and action. This is true is you are watching a show about gluing a desk together, or a spy story where the heroine is tied up and out cold.

This of course has gotten to the point of ridiculous as we watch the reality shows and the voice-over says for the umpteenth time, “If Frank touches the wrong end of the snake, he won’t make it out alive.”  Or, “If Julie sands the metal too thin she will wears a hole n the car’s fender and she will never be able to compete in another the Grand Prix.” (If it’s said/shown too many times we begin to question the competency of our protagonist and quite frankly hope they do botch up and die.)

In a novel there are many points of mini-crisis, or setbacks to the true goal. In a short story there might be one or two dead-ends or close calls that sidetrack the protagonist. But this CRISIS is what screen writers call, “the darkest day” or the final setback which looks completely hopeless. Many times this crisis not only tests the courage and determination of your hero/heroine, it often attacks their deepest fear.  Yup, they may have lost an arm, a friend, truck, or dog, but this crisis is going to make them think they are insane to have cared at all (they seem ready to agree with their enemy and give in or give up).

Challenge:  Think of your character and tell me what would stop them? What would stop you? Describe the mental process of choosing to dig in one more time when you feel as if all hope is gone.

Complete this sentence: John had no more energy. He couldn’t go on. As he was passing out he saw something. It was a picture in his mind of…

1. 5. Conclusion

Every reader likes to know what happened to all the characters, all the elements that you introduced them to. Here is where you think like a reader, or have a friend read the book and make a list of all their unanswered questions. This is your chance to either explain what really happened (detective story) , or where people are now, or show how close disaster was before averted. In non-fiction you may want to explain why the finished product is valuable. There might even be a lesson or moral to the tale.

Challenge: It’s as easy as finishing this sentence:

In conclusion one can only be glad that…

The six Ss

1. 1. The Spine

How will you tell your story? Start to finish (chronological) is one way. But you might consider taking all the parts of the story and hanging them on a clothesline (or a spine) and changing the order. It can be a flashback (start at the end). It can be a flashback, then come into real time and go forward.

It can also be told by many different characters. Or by an outsider or outside force (devil, ghost, spirit).

Challenge:  Tell the story of Humpty-Dumpty with three different narrators:

1. a. Humpty: I was sitting on my wall last Wednesday, it was  nice day, but then…
2. b. The Horses: I never saw anything like it and from the splatter of yolk it was no accident…
3. c. The King’ men: I was on duty when I got the call…
4. d. A reporter, detective, a neighbor

1. 2. The Senses

Here they are the five senses and they should be in all of your writing because your readers will be people who learn through one or more of these senses along with reading. That means they will understand the story at another level of engagement if you include their senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch, and  taste (you can even add intuition).

Challenge:  Rewrite this sentence using all 5 senses: There was a bowl of strawberries in the room, I picked one up, pulled off the leaves and ate it.

1. 3. The Sources

When you use the senses you bring the reader into your experience. This is especially true of taking the reader to a place they have never been to before.  You may Google information about new locations or information about how an ancient sword looks, but don’t wing it. Take lots of notes on location. Use your sources to describe in all the senses something new. If it is imaginary, still draw me into your new world starting with something I do know.

Challenge:  (Example: The thing was the size of a cell phone. It seemed to hover like a humming bird and then it came to rest on my bird house.) Describe to me three things within 5 feet of you right now (or inside your mind, but use something most people are familiar with as a starting point.

I reach out and almost touched the…

1. 4. The Symbols

Good stories often take a symbol in that new world to be a metaphor for a moral message or symbol of good or evil. After you tell your story you make go back and create a symbol that reappears and makes a point. Think of a jewel, a tower, a puzzle piece. There could be a fragrance, a raven, a sound.

Challenge: List 10 things that make you feel happy. Example: Waterfall, butterfly

1. 5. The Speaking

Dialogue is more and more important in stories. Most popular books are more dialogue. I think that TV and media has us entering places and scenes without needing endless descriptions, so we are apt to want to get to the action. And nothing says action like dialogue and conflict between two or more characters.

Remember, if two people know each other they do not go over things they both know. Try to introduce facts another way. Two women at a class reunion who were both on the cheerleading squad do not start off talking with, “You remember that we were both cheerleaders?” One might say, “Whatever happened to that guy you used make-out with in the back of the bus?” When you are attributing dialogue, you can use he/she said, more than not.

Beware is stating the obvious. “Get down” he waved his gun menacingly. That does not tell us about the speech and there really is not a way to wave a gun around that isn’t a menace. Also, be careful of dialect. Often the choice of words is enough, writing in actual phonetical sounds as in, ‘yoos gice’ is hard t read.

Challenge:   Write the reply to this sentence. “I don’t care if you are twenty-five, you live in this house so you will be in by ten.”

By a child who is living with an alcoholic father

By a wife with an overbearing husband

By a grandchild visiting his grandparents

1. 6. The Smoking Gun

This is an incriminating piece of evidence: as in when police walk in the room and there is a smoking gun in the lady’s hand and a man dead on the floor.  When there is a smoking gun you want to know how it got there.  Once you determine what evidence will be used to finalize the crime you can go back into the story and set the weapon into a scene. A rifle over the mantle, a candlestick in the library or a sculpture on Miss Scarlet’s piano.

Challenge: Here are three weapons, now mention them in the description of a fancy living room.

A brass curtain rod, a braided curtain tie back and a large heavy framed mirror.

CONTESTS:

55 Word Novel

Limericks:

There once was a girl named Lily

A weather old salt named Smokey

A miner named Pete had a dog

A prissy lady named McQuire

There was an old man named Fred

This is so exciting…for everyone.

June 8th is my online BIG BONANZA BOOK BENEFIT.                                                            Go to www.ScrambledLeggs.Net and join in the fun.

“Scrambled Leggs” hit #9 on an Amazon Best Seller List last Sunday and we haven’t even had our launch!

“Scrambled Leggs” is getting Rave Reviews all over the country and articles are popping up everywhere: Check out: IRememberJFK.com, BabyBoomerLifeBoat.com, MinniePauz.com, BoomerAdvisorClub.com, and the beat goes on. There are over 15 Reviews on Amazon, thanks to all of you. Jump right in, the more the (Amazon Reviews) the merrier.

I even got a note from Dave Barry (not the guy who owns the tire shop down the street.) THE Dave Barry sending me,”Congrats on the book!” Doctors, nurses and patient advocates are applauding “Scrambled Leggs”. Why? Because it is funny and pulls no punch(lines).

REMEMBER we are raising money for 2 great charities Operation First Response (Helping Wounded Warriors) and The Transverse Myelitis Association (for education and research).

Over $200 of FREE very COOL stuff is yours just for buying only one copy and you’ll helping out the charities. FREE full length novels, 20 humor photography posters, an e-cook book, tips on writing humor, getting published, interviews with top authors, excerpts from upcoming books, etc.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL (Billy Mayes are you with me up there in Oxi-Clean Heaven?)

June 8th there is an online FREE WRITERS WORKSHOP! There is NO advertising for anything June 8th. The seminar is a thank you for being a part of this BENEFIT. Just join us June 8th on FaceBook group <Scrambled Leggs> I will be chatting with experts from all over the country about writing and publishing.

It's Ironic

What is so funny about being paralyzed? “Scrambled Leggs…a Snarky Tale of Hospital Hooey” is out on Amazon and it’s got people in stitches. FYI: The book is going to have a huge online book launch coming soon with cool surprizes.

AND now there is a FunBook (vs. workbook) to go along with it. The FunBook is a self-help book on how-to get over that huge honkin’ mountain that just appear on your pleasant little path of life.  It will be FREE with the launch, so stay tuned.

Look for “Scrambled Life?…3 Secrets to Getting Your Life Back”

Haven’t seen the Scrambled Leggs videos yet? Go to these YouTube links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hssI05y2KpI In the Beginning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kbeeWsNX5M Wheelchair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bel49ifJbJU The Cure

And for you folks on my FaceBook humor FanPage: Sally Franz Uncorked here’s my latest comedy sketch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6woUP61rcts Smokey Eyes