Day 9
Word count: 15,847 words
Word count goal: 18,000 words
Mapping the Hero’s Journey: Crossing the Threshold
Save The Cat: B-story
#vss very short story
Business trademarks finally reached right into Brenda’s life. She could no longer see the colors gold or black or say the words “Brenda”, “food” or “happy”.
Plotting with Tarot
Subplot Crossing the Threshold: Ten of Cups – a promise of prosperity to come
What secondary character risks losing by Crossing the Threshold: Eight of Cups upside-down – we have to leave what we have to go searching for what we lack; reversed. You may fear intimacy and have difficulty making and keeping your commitments.
Most compelling reason to cross the threshold: Eight of Pentacles – diligence and craft
My interpretation: My secondary character decides to travel across the country to try to clean up his subordinate’s mess. In attempting to fix a business relationship, he could reveal that his business is not above board.
Ask Your Character
- Did you enjoy school?
- What kind of student were you?
- How would your classmates remember you?
Word Of The Day
rapprochement: n. establishment or re-establishment of harmonious relations.
8 Action Verbs:
administered chaired converted elicited
highlighted marketed publicized solved
Poem prompt
Turn on the radio to any channel. Write a poem inspired by the first thing you hear. – from Kelli Russell Agodon at agodon.com
This is similar to the creative writing assignment that inspired my flash fiction story Your New BAM-AG Home.
“Beside myself with excitement”
Beside Myself
With excitement I observe
Outside of the physical
Free of sensual bombardment
Floating free of pain and pressure
With myself beside
Awesome Sentence Challenge
from Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Achieving Excellence and Captivating Readers
Revise for phrases: Take a look at yesterday’s words; the thousands of words you were inspired to write yesterday. Are there any ways in which you could replace single words with phrases, or add phrases to your sentences to make them clearer or more powerful?
Today’s Simple Task
Secondary character – sub-plot. Make a list of possible sub-plots. Come up with at least five ideas for each secondary character.
Warm-up Exercise
Set your timer for 10 minutes. Write in first person from a secondary character’s perspective. Have that character talk about their relationship with the MC.
Recommended Word Crawl
Don’t Forget To Read!
There’s a great chapter in Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
There’s a good section on subplots in The Plot Whisperer: A Groundbreaking Approach to Story Structure That Any Writer Can Master by Martha Alderson 
And there’s a whole chapter on subplots in Building Better Plots
If you would like to continue reading about subplots, her are some links to what other writers have written about them:
Lessons from Lucy: subplots from Dan Alatorre (make sure to read the comments)
How to Write Subplots with Author with Author Kristen Martin from Benjamin Thomas (starts at 1:55 in video)
On Sub-plotting from Thomas Edmund
“But I Wanted To Tell That Story, Too”: When A Sub-Plot Is Really Just Another Plot (Lesson Learned)from Matt Frick
Experience Writing 