Glad it was helpful!

You’re welcome. 🙂

Haha, good analogy.

That’s fair! Practice makes perfect, right?

@@bradpauquette absolutely! 🥰

Thanks! It really does have the power to change everything in your work!

My condolences.

🙂

Thank you!

You’re welcome! I’m just glad to hear it’s helpful for you.

haha, that's awesome.

Thanks! You're right, such a fine line between a good twist and deus ex machina.

That's great, Juli! Way to go!

@@ColleenAlan what? That’s awesome! Way to go! I knew you could do it.

Glad to hear it was helpful. 🙂

So happy to have you on the team Molly!

Not sure it's quite fair to say that Brad's approach to writing is a "get rich quick" scheme. He has talked pretty freely in the past about how much work writing for a living is, and how hard it is to get started well. But the fact is that a lot of writers would like to make at least a little bit of money out of their craft, and it's not a bad thing to have a video addressing that side of things. That said, if the system doesn't fit what you need from your writing, that's fine too. As Brad says, there are many writing systems out there. He likes this one, but that doesn't mean you have to too. But to write it off entirely as a "get rich quick scheme" because he happened to release a video talking about something that a lot of writers are wondering about, that's rather unfair.

I promise you that writing is anything but a get rich quick scheme. haha Absolutely use a system that works for you. I've used this particular system to help hundreds of authors finish their work and publish great books, many of which have won awards or been best sellers. If you have a different way to achieve those results, absolutely use it, and I'd love to watch your channel and learn from you on it.

Hmm, interesting. It's possible that you're using the terms differently than we are here. All of the jargon I'm using in this series conforms to the Novel Matrix writing system. You can check it out here: amzn.to/3zAtWgE or at NovelMatrix.com. What the Novel Matrix describes is very consistent with conventional three-act story structure and what you'd typically see out of Hollywood. So we're either talking about different things, or using the same term to mean something different. 🙂

@@bradpauquette It is possible that we mean different things. To me it sounds like you mean something akin to an inciting incident, that would indeed be around that place in the fiction.

I think the rock bottom moment is also like the "1st Pinch Point" in other 3-Act Structure systems. :) I feel like it's an event that is so bad, it's the last straw that will push the character to move forward and pursue a goal.

We only publish six videos per week, then the seventh is a rest day. So we keep counting, but you should skip days 7, 14, 21, 28, etc. :-)

So true!

Thanks for watching!

That’s a great example of effective universe development. There are so many rules that are new to the reader, but we get it! Excellent note!

That's a great example!

Glad to hear it's helpful for you!

If you're already able to write 1,000+ words per hour and you're accomplishing your writing goals, then I think you can safely ignore this advice. If you're not yet achieving that rate, I recommend experimenting with it. It might not be for everyone, but worth a try! 🙂

I'm glad this was helpful!

Such a good question. I have six kids of my own, so I can definitely relate. To put 100 hours into this will require real sacrifice. Not just from you, but from the people around you. Putting 100 hours into this means that you're going to put 100 hours less into something else. Is it worth it to you? Are you willing to make that sacrifice? (Honestly ask yourself this question, it's ok if the answer is no.) If the answer is yes, you're going to have to do some really hard things to make it happen. There are two things I think are worth considering: 1. Communicate with your family and make this a family goal. When you're in that season, you're going to need someone else to agree with this goal. Communicate what you're trying to do, and emphasize that it's a short-term commitment. For the next ten weeks, mom needs one hour per day. For that to happen, husband, in-laws, whoever, is going to need to agree with that goal. Sorry, husband, for the next ten weeks, 8pm to 9pm after the kids go to bed belongs to this project, no excuses! (Of course, I don't know your family situation, so this might apply differently to you, I mean no disrespect.) But own that goal, be proud of it, communicate, and defend that time. 2. I find that the only time I can "make time" in the day is first thing in the morning. The longer my day goes on, the less likely it is that my plans will work. By the time the evening rolls around, there are too many opportunities for things to get derailed, or my head is just full of distractions, and I'm way more likely to not follow through. If I get up early, before anyone else, I own that time and can put it on target. I know how hard that it is. But sometimes that's the sacrifice it takes. That choice is sometimes what it takes to win. Either way, I think that you can make the time. If this is important to you, don't resign yourself to an unproductive season. But it will take some real determination, communication, maybe even awkwardness, to make it happen. But you can do it! And years from now, it will have been worth it. (But it's also OK to decide that this is the season for this level of commitment. There's no shame in that.)

@@bradpauquette Thanks for your encouragement! I would love to be able to get up early in the morning, but with certain health issues, that's also inconsistent right now. As much as I hate to say it, I do think that if I'm being honest with myself, I have to say "this is important to me, but these other things are more important." Thanks for helping me clarify that! I'll keep learning and practicing for now, and then maybe in a few years, it will be time to try to really push.

@@katherinec2759 That seems totally reasonable to me. In Luke 14:28-29, Jesus talks about "counting the cost." Of course, he's talking about our faith, but I think the wisdom still applies here.

Such a good question! And one I get commonly. Your three acts should be roughly equal in length. In fact, the most common deviation we see is for the first act to be slightly longer, especially in speculative genres like sci-fi and fantasy where there's a lot of world-building to do. Some models teach the plot structure in four equal parts, but the data doesn't really support that. After mathematically timing tons of books and movies, equal thirds is the way to go!

yw 🙂

So helpful!

Truth! 😆

Absolutely! Words beget words. :-)

Excellent! You may also enjoy the “How to Build a Writing Routine” article at BradPauquette.com, which goes deeper on this topic.

Love it! Can’t wait to see you crush your next project. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for your note, Katherine. I'm glad the videos are helpful. We've tested the videos on lots of different devices and we're pretty happy with the volume settings. :-) But your feedback is noted, and I'm sorry it's not a better fit for your device!

That's a great point. I've toyed with different ways to cast the Big World Internal Conflict, just to make the chart feel more complete (haha), but five conflicts really does bring enough content to the story. While we could get creative and try to find an excuse for a Big World Internal Conflict, it's not something we really see well represented in most stories--we'd be stretching to get there. You're right, most of what we might come up with is already covered in the Big World Philosophical Conflict.

Definitely! Glad you can put it to good use. A 180-day novel still gets the job done.

In that case, go for it! 🙂

@@bradpauquette I got into my historical research through the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre)

@@bradpauquette I got into my historical research through the Bronte sisters.

Definitely. As long as they’ve fulfilled their function.

Nice! You beat me to it. 🙂

My pleasure! It's literally the best thing I have to offer.

Can definitely relate to that!

Absolutely. If there's a good plot reason the character isn't in the story for a section, that's fine (kidnapping, coma, business trip). What we want to pay attention to, though, is if we just forgot to include them for a while. Great question!

Thanks for the suggestion, Katherine! I suppose if you use pencil, it would be erasable. :-) I'm not sure how we could make it more or less erasable. If you have an example, please feel free to share it.

@@bradpauquette I guess I was thinking of laminating the pages, so you could use an erasable marker on them. It might add too much expense, though... I don't know how much that tends to be.

@@katherinec2759 That would be very cool. It's a good idea. I think it would be a very expensive notebook, though. I'd love to find a solution like that, I think it could be a super helpful resource for folks!

haha. sorry/you're welcome. :-)

Day 2, going on)

Interesting! I would love to learn more. Tell me how you see it.

@@bradpauquette Well, the tragedies usually are the big world since they about social structures even though we remain rather close to just a few characters of the plays. Oedipus Rex for example is not really fighting any battles, all the action lies already in the past that could be construed as external or philosophical conflict, now he has just to come to grips that he already fulfilled a prophecy. Or lets look at Macbeth, sure he commits murder, which could be said is the external conflict, but the play focuses much more on his psyche than on the action. Similar with Hamlet, the fate of Denmark is on the table, and even a war is happening in the play, put despite all of this, the focus lies on Hamlet's thoughts and struggle with having to take revenge. Basically I would say it is internal conflict in the big world because the repercussions will be reaching far beyond just the circle of the character on stage. But I can understand that people don't think much about that approach, since theatre and monologues about the how decisions can shape the world have become rare, and are usually are put into external conflicts or philosophical conflicts these days which are much more cinematic. Maybe The Martian could be seen as a modern big world internal conflict story. Not because of the marooned person, but because NASA and the crew have to make decisions that are ot really philosophical or external conflicts, but have consequences for the marooned protagonist... and well, the world is watching!