Wow, you guys. What an amazing week!
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our big ROCK THE VAULT giveaway and to all those who shared the #myfavoritethesaurus pictures. I think we made thesauruses everywhere officially COOL. And also an enormous thank you to all the wonderful people who helped out with our launch, especially the Thesaurus Club (our street team). We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people support us. If you want to find some of these folks and their blogs, check them out here.
While we didn’t get to the 500 pictures shared that would unlock all prizes in the vault, we did see about 300 of them online, and so Angela and I, being the softies we are, unlocked most of the prizes. Winners have been drawn and are being notified. Once we have acceptance from these lovely people, Angela will post the list.
And for those of you who happened to buy our new books this week, thank you for welcoming our youngest offspring into the world! We hope that you have many light bulb moments when it comes to description and maximizing your settings.
They grow up so fast. *sniff sniff*
While Rock the Vault was a blast, Angela and I would be lying if we said we weren’t looking forward to getting back to a more normal routine. And today, that means me posting at the unbelievably awesome Kristen Lamb’s blog.
If you’re not familiar with Kristen, rectify that posthaste by following her on every conceivable social media platform. She’s one of the most prolific and knowledgeable bloggers out there as well as being an expert on all things networking and branding. If you’ve got a few minutes, drop in and see how Symbolism and the Setting Make a Perfect Marriage.
Happy Writing!
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The post Settings and Symbolism appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™.
It’s been quite a while since Becca and I have posted about One Stop for Writers, a site we launched back in October with Lee Powell, the creator of Scrivener for Windows. And, oh my gosh you guys, I have to tell you that while I love writing books and helping writers through them, this new site, working with Lee and Becca? I am having more fun than I ever have had. It amazes me each and every day how talented these two are, and I am so proud of this site we are creating. It is very exciting to see the One Stop library grow and develop and I feel so lucky to be a part of something that can really change the game for writers.
Speaking of growing, One Stop For Writers just finished its first upgrade! Honestly, the hardest part was narrowing down what we wanted to tackle first, because we have so many ideas on how to make it even more useful. But somehow we did, and so for those interested, this is what we have added to the site.
Visual Structure Planning: Story Maps
Do the phrases “Story Structure” and “Character Arc” send adrenaline thrumming through your veins, or cause your stomach to drop in free-fall? Either way, it doesn’t matter! Story Maps is a structure-loving writer’s dream AND the answer to a struggling writer’s planning woes.
Most writers would agree that applying structure, either intuitively or through deliberate planning, results in a more powerful story. The problem is there are many types of structure models, and not all look at both inner character development (character arc) as well as the outer story events. Story Maps does both, and so we hope this will make things a bit easier, helping writers visualize as they plan so they know exactly where to go next in their story.
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Adapted from the amazing Hollywood story expert Michael Hauge’s 6-Stage Plot Structure, we lead you through important turning points, providing guidance on outer events and inner character transformation.
The Story Map covers three character arc types: the Change Arc (inner transformation), the Static Arc (action-focus, little growth) and the Failed Arc (a tragedy ending). As you can see below, at each Stage or Turning Point, you can access helpful plotting hints as you plan, and see an example of A Few Good Men broken down by structure points.
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Once you finish filling in the structure pieces, you can transform your plan into a Map, or download it as a PDF. What could be easier?
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I know some Pantsers out there are not big fans of structure, but there’s good news on that front, too. In coming weeks we are also bringing on several more tools that allow for timeline and scene planning suitable for different comfort levels of plotting. (I’ll post again when these are on the site, because I can’t wait to show you. Lee and Paul are techno-wizards and what they come up with is pure magic!)
One Stop’s Description Nirvana: The Setting Thesaurus Is Now Bigger & Better
As many of you know, Becca and I have been working on 2 new Setting Thesaurus books which we will release in June. (June! I know, books are a bit slow, aren’t they?) The good news is all the descriptive entries for these Setting books (along with all of our other books & completed thesauruses) are now available through One Stop. Yes, a MASSIVE database of the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures for 225 settings at your fingertips as you write!
The Setting Thesaurus spans both urban and rural locations, so you can find everything from an abandoned mine, to a morgue, to a high school hallway, to a nightclub, to a child’s bedroom. We tried to choose real-world locations your characters would be likely to visit, as well as profile places we hope will spark your imagination, helping you to think outside the usual setting box. Hopefully this larger, more robust thesaurus will really help you make their story worlds come alive for readers.
(If you would like to see a example of one of these settings, check out “police car” here.)
So much more is coming, so stay tuned!
No hard sell, just excitement
Probably some would hit you up with the big sell at this point, but that isn’t us. One Stop for Writers might be for you, or it might not be. Either way, it’s all good. 
Thanks for listening as we get all gushy-excited about this new path of ours. Becca and I are having a lot of fun with One Stop, and we hope you are having fun as you write, too. This path we have all chosen can be a tough one some days, so we should embrace joy when it comes and love what we create!
Happy writing,
Angela & Becca
The post Introducing One Stop For Writers’ NEW Structure Tool: Story Maps appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™.
While we didn’t get to the 500 pictures shared that would unlock all prizes in the vault, we did see about 300 of them online, and so Angela and I, being the softies we are, unlocked most of the prizes. Winners have been drawn and are being notified. Once we have acceptance from these lovely people, Angela will post the list. 
