Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Wednesday’s Word: Plotsagna

If you have all the ingredients for a perfect manuscript and no one can tell you exactly what is wrong with it except…it just doesn’t make their mouth water…then maybe it’s in the layers.

As awesome as that first chapter is (and you know because you revised and edited that thing within an inch of its life) maybe it doesn’t belong there. Maybe chapter one should really be chapter four. And chapter three is really where your story begins. Then what the hell, that big action scene near the end? Move that to the middle and create a whole new ending…because you never really liked the other one anyway.

Don’t be afraid to rearrange those layers. Add a little more here; take away a little bit there. You may just be creating a masterpiece! Or a big ole mess (always save original) but you will never know if you don’t experiment.

I know if we keep working at it, we will find the right combination for the perfect Plotsagna.

And that, my friends, is the Word.

5 comments:

  1. And now I'm hungry. GRRR!

    Great post. :)

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  2. Yum, I love lasagna!

    And your plotsagna is a good word all right. Great advice! I have made some messes but, you're right,sometimes we need to play around a bit with our stories.

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  3. OMGosh you're a genius! I need much more plotsangna in my writing life and perhaps it's foodie counterpart in my diet. ;)

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  4. Great word! And that picture just made me hungry, even though I HATE lasagna. :)

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.