The Write Focus

 Can you name a phrase that every writer fears? Try “Writer’s Block”.

We writers all have a deep-seated fear when we hear those two words side by side. Writer’s Block—those should be forbidden to spe…

In the last episode, we began our look at a process method I call Plot 7. This week we finish the Plot 7 and our series on Discovering Plot. Coming up for February are four episodes on Overcoming Wri…

We’re winding up the Discovering Plot series with the Plot 7, a quick way to launch into story and to reach that story’s heart … and discover if it will fly—or crash like my feeble attempts at paper …

Welcome to our 200th episode of The Write Focus.

Yippee! We made it farther than I ever anticipated, 200 episodes and into Season 5, and we still have more episodes ahead. AND it’s all thanks to our …

It’s the last official episode for Discovering Plot and the final 2 stages of the greatest plot structure for writers, the Archetypal Story Pattern.

While many of us have our favorite plot structure,…

Welcome to the 5th season of The Write Focus, the podcast for writers of all types, newbies and veterans and everyone in-between. Our FOCUS is productivity, process, craft, and tools.

We are justifia…

“Amber Dreams”, chapter 5

Sailing with Mystery is available as an audiobook from M.A. Lee and Writers Ink Books. Visit M.A. Lee (maleebooks.blogspot.com) for more information.

“Amber Dreams”, chapter 2

Blackmail threatens a young bride when her secret diary is stolen. Her marriage of convenience is threatened if the contents are revealed to her new husband and his autocrat…

Mystery and peril are dangerous shipmates for an ocean voyage.

While travel presents opportunities to meet new friends and see new places, Isabella Tarrant also encounters puzzling crimes and dangero…

Stage 8 is the second of the two most important stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern, the greatest plot structure in the world. Many would say that it is the most important stage.

We’ve reached the…

Stage 7 is the first of the two most important stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern. It is the Approach to the Inmost Cave and sets up events and character dynamics for the crucial Stage 8, the Dar…

For many writers, Openings and Closings aren’t the problem with story. We all have problems with the Messy Middle—or the Saggy Middle—or that long slog between fantastic Opening and stupendous Ending…

Stage 3 is the Refusal of the Call, w…

In this episode, we begin our in-depth analysis of the individual stages of the Archetypal Story Pattern, the greatest plot structure for writers.

Highly adaptable and flexible, the Archetypal Story …

Archetypes invaded the world of writing decades ago. Just as an artist has her drawing box and a cook accesses her pantry. new writers—and experienced ones needed a refresher—need the archetypal fram…

In our previous two episodes, we looked at 4 plot structures that are inadequate ~ Basic Beats and Freytag’s Pyramid, both of which are reductions of Aristotle’s Plot Requirements and Shakespeare’s D…

In this episode, The Write Focus examines the plot structure taught to everyone. It’s basic. It’s common. It’s great for students. That’s all it is. Not good for writers. Nope. We only bring it up be…

As long as writers have been trying to tell successful stories, we’ve been sharing that information with other writers ~ for years, centuries, millenia!

These classifications have entered “the mainst…