Gay romance fiction

The Genre Plot: form vs. formula

a craft workshop for genre authors

  • Format: available in lengths from one to six hours.
  • Technical requirements: projector/screen if available.

 

Class Blurb:

THE GENRE PLOT with Damon Suede

A plotting class even pantsers love… Even when a happy ending is certain, a great plot keeps your writing fresh while amplifying your voice. Learn how to craft a sure-fire structure and launch your story.

We go beyond the bullet points and cookie-cutter structure. Rather hammering one “true” blueprint, we’ll break down major story models from Aristotle to Netflix, identify their seven shared points, and help you develop your own narrative strategy.

"No one deserves to be punished for loving with an open heart." (Hot Head - D. Suede)

Class Description:

The Genre Plot is comprehensive exploration of narrative structure and theories about its use over the past two thousand years. In this session we’ll cover:

  • the basics of classical plotting, beginning with Aristotle, Shakepeare, and Freytag.
  • Cinematic models: the traditional three acts, Vogler's monomyth,
  • Beat Sheet paradigms: Save the Cat, Sequencing, and the Moral Premise.
  • Pulp techniques from Dwight Swain, the W-Plot, Snowflake Method, and more.
  • Pamela Regis' comprehensive analysis of the romance genre.
  • The Seven narrative points common to all genre fiction and a Plotting synthesis.

Though this class operates primarily as a lecture, there will be practical discussion of application to student projects.

Takeaways:

  • A clear understanding of all the popular plotting systems of the past 2000 years so students can identify ideas that work for them
  • a look at the distinctions between cinema and fiction, and the ways that confusion can wreck a story
  • a list of the seven narrative points and a plotting method useable by pantsers and conscious plotters.
  • A comprehensive fusion (Genre Plot Rosetta Stone!) of all these systems to facilitate understanding and conversations with colleagues.

Presentations:

"For an endless moment, Runt imagined the crooked corporation had folded and they’d been forgotten, laughing and living together under these perfect suns, waiting for wives that would never come, happily hunting fresh meat at the sharp edge of the galaxy." (Grown Men - D. Suede)

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Recommended reading:

 CLASSICAL DRAMATURGY

 HOLLYWOOD THREE-ACT STRUCTURE

HERO'S JOURNEY

HOLLYWOOD “BEAT” MODELS

COMMERCIAL FICTION

ROMANCE FICTION

"For an endless moment, Runt imagined the crooked corporation had folded and they’d been forgotten, laughing and living together under these perfect suns, waiting for wives that would never come, happily hunting fresh meat at the sharp edge of the galaxy." (Grown Men - D. Suede)

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If you'd like to book Damon to come present a workshop for your group or chapter, just give a holler.