101 Writing Tips from an Exhausted Reviewer

Planning Your Story

- Beginning: Where does the story start? What happens that leads into the middle? How are the character introduced? Where are we?

- Middle: Where does the beginning put us? How are you going to get to the end? What development + conflict will lead to the climax? How do the characters grow? What information is leaked as foreshadowing? Be careful with this: the last thing you want is for your middle to be a victim of the Sagging Middle Syndrome -- where the story is bland until the climax. Make sure there is a constant bit of tension here. More on this in a future chapter!

- End: What is the big finale? Who wins? How do they win? At what cost? How does everything resolve?

Beginning: Aberyguscentylis the Wizard comes along to choose 'The Ugliest Goblin'. There is a big ceremony for it in Custardille, and finally, he chooses our protagonist: Gladys. Gladys puts up a fight, but, nonetheless, is sent to the tower to be his slave.

In fact, everyone knew he would take Gladys. After all, it was her father who had run away after seeing her ugly face the second she was born...

Middle: Gladys spends a few days sulking in misery, while simultaneously trying to make life a living hell for Averiguscentylis in a desperate attempt to make him release her. Then, as she's plotting to burn all his books, she starts to read it and takes an interest. From there, she comes up with a plan: she could use the magic to save her people from The Rock.

In this section, Gladys will face even more conflict. The Rock will start attacking children of her village and turning them into stone, and she will face the wizard's wrath by sneaking out to save them. The wizard proves to have a heart -- once he finds her learning magic, he offers to teach her. We also learn that the wizard once put a curse upon Gladys's father for running away from her when she was a baby. He refuses to tell her about the curse.

They work together to learn more about The Rock, and learn that The Rock was once a human -- and he wants something. The pair are constantly faced with the danger of The Rock trying to eat them, especially with Gladys recklessly throwing herself in danger to save those she loves. And, together, they must go to the heart of The Rock, where they must destroy it.

Climax: They make it to The Rock, despite all these small rock soldiers trying to turn them into stone. They fight long and hard, but when they make it to The Rock, Averigalyscentylis, is turned into stone. Gladys panics -- she just started learning magic recently. How could she possibly destroy The Rock on her own?

Nonetheless, as she fights The Rock and uses her magic to get into it, she catches a glimpse of its head. And she realises The Rock is her father. Years ago, Averigalyscamptylis placed a curse on him for running away from his daughter due to her 'ugliness'. And so, he became The Rock. To get revenge, he's been turning all the other villagers to stone -- just so that he can find his daughter and turn her into stone, too.

Luckily, Gladys destroys him. Yay! Her wizard friend also turns back into flesh-and-bone once The Rock is destroyed.

I am having way too much fun.

As you can see, I haven't detailed every single chapter. I've just created a direction - a clear beginning, middle, and end. We see the conflict and stakes throughout. And the middle leads into the end.

STEP THREE: CHARACTERS.

Your characters influence the plot, and the plot influences them. A reckless character like Gladys will not be complacent, and instead, will choose to stop The Rock. However, watching The Rock take down her wizard friend may make her question herself and her strength as a person.