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Brad Pauquette
United States
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 28 เม.ย. 2013
Asset to award-winning and bestselling Christian writers.
Lead writing and publishing instructor at The Company (writers.company).
Lead writing and publishing instructor at The Company (writers.company).
Day 52: Assess and Change (90-Day Novel Challenge)
You are exactly halfway through the writing portion of the 90-Day Novel Challenge!
Now is a great time to take a step back from the project and evaluate your progress. But that's only helpful if you actually make changes!
What changes do you need to make in order to complete your novel by the end of the 90-Day Novel Challenge?
ASSIGNMENT: Write for one hour and put 1,000 new words on the page.
Take some time to assess your results so far. How much of your manuscript have you completed? Are you at least halfway? If not, how can you accelerate and reach "The End" by the end of the challenge?
FOR FURTHER STUDY: The Novel Matrix by Brad Pauquette is full of helpful advice on doing the work of writing a novel. Grab your copy at NovelMatrix.com.
Now is a great time to take a step back from the project and evaluate your progress. But that's only helpful if you actually make changes!
What changes do you need to make in order to complete your novel by the end of the 90-Day Novel Challenge?
ASSIGNMENT: Write for one hour and put 1,000 new words on the page.
Take some time to assess your results so far. How much of your manuscript have you completed? Are you at least halfway? If not, how can you accelerate and reach "The End" by the end of the challenge?
FOR FURTHER STUDY: The Novel Matrix by Brad Pauquette is full of helpful advice on doing the work of writing a novel. Grab your copy at NovelMatrix.com.
มุมมอง: 36
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Day 51: The Brain (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 542 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Have you heard about Einstein's brain? Scientists found that the right and left hemispheres of his brain were connected. And that's exactly what your novel project needs. The brain in the 90-Day Novel Challenge logo and on the cover of The Novel Matrix book inspires us to utilize the full function of our brains: the creative artistic side and the logical ordered side. A project of this caliber ...
Day 50: The Epiphany Moment
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It's time for the protagonist to become a new person. As you move through your novel manuscript, you may be getting close to the "Epiphany Moment." This is the time for your protagonist to change and become the person who can finally solve his problem. The best examples of this moment break the character in an ironic way so that he can finally be rebuilt new, better, stronger. ASSIGNMENT: Write...
Day 48: Writing Is a Sacrifice (90-Day Novel Challenge)
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Writing a novel is hard. Really hard. So hard that the vast majority of people who start a project like this one will never finish it. But you will finish it. You're doing something that most people won't. You're stronger, more resilient, more committed. Sometimes in order to say "yes" to something, it's helpful to articulate what you're saying "no" to. In order to take the pressure off the nex...
Day 47: Who's ready for more? (90-Day Novel Challenge)
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If you've been enjoying these daily writing nuggets, we have good news: there's more. A LOT MORE. Learn more about The Company's full-time apprenticeship and other training opportunities here: writers.company/training/ If you're ready to take your writing to the next level and move readily towards becoming a professional author, the 90-Day Novel Challenge is just the beginning! ASSIGNMENT: Writ...
Day 46: The Tortoise Shell
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It's time to ruthlessly eliminate distractions from your creative work. What little distractions tether you to the real world and prevent you from fully immersing yourself in your writing? We first learned about the "tortoise enclosure" from John Cleese, but at The Company, we've come to call it the Tortoise Shell. ASSIGNMENT: Write for one hour, with a target of 1,000 words. Before and after y...
Day 45: The Best Advice (90-Day Novel Challenge)
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If you're not careful, writing a book just might change your life. I have two super important pieces of advice for you today. If you can embrace these things, it has the power to change not just your writing, but your whole life! In other news, you are halfway through the challenge! Congratulations! Don't worry, you don't need to be halfway done with writing your manuscript yet. There's a littl...
Day 44: The Betrayal
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It's time to crush your protagonist again. Who's going to do the crushing? Usually your Mega-Antagonist. If you're stuck in this downward arc of the second act, a great question to ask is, "How would my Mega-Antagonist crush a threat to his system?" ASSIGNMENT: Write for one hour. Record your time and results. If you’re not yet achieving 1,000 words per hour, continue to reflect on your writing...
Day 43: The Philosophical Conflict (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 7321 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
You must trap your protagonist between two incompatible worldviews. Which one will he choose? The Novel Matrix's "philosophical conflict" forces you to make this conflict specific. Every character on the page has a paradigm-things he or she believes about the world-it can't all get a spotlight. We have to choose two perspectives that will carry water for the story. By intentionally choosing one...
Day 41: Are you a 1-percent writer? (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 130วันที่ผ่านมา
Whether you have a finished novel manuscript 50 days from now all hinges on one critical question: will you place your butt in the seat and put words on the page today? Writers with finished manuscripts aren't better writers or better people-they simply engaged the discipline to show up day after day until they typed those two important words: "The End." So what will it be today? Are you a 1-pe...
Day 40: The Icarus Moment
มุมมอง 59วันที่ผ่านมา
If you're on the faster or shorter side, you may be approaching the Icarus Moment. This critical point in your plot structure will keep your reader engaged, and propel your protagonist toward real change. It's important that the Icarus Moment couples a rousing victory with a crushing defeat. What great thing will your protagonist do? How will you crush him again? If you're not to the Icarus Mom...
Day 39: Always Create New Material (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 59วันที่ผ่านมา
This simple tip will revolutionize your productivity. Don't allow yourself to read what you've written at the beginning of each writing session. It's a recipe for wasted time...or worse. Commit to sitting down and applying new words to the page, every single day. There is only one direction: forward. ASSIGNMENT: Write for one hour. Don't re-read what you wrote yesterday, just move forward. FOR ...
Day 38: The Valley of the Shadow of Death (90-Day Novel Challenge)
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Day 38: The Valley of the Shadow of Death (90-Day Novel Challenge)
Day 37: Is 1,000 words per hour a lot?
มุมมอง 5814 วันที่ผ่านมา
Day 37: Is 1,000 words per hour a lot?
Day 32: Write 1,000 Words per Hour (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 12614 วันที่ผ่านมา
Day 32: Write 1,000 Words per Hour (90-Day Novel Challenge)
BONUS: The Novel Matrix (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 13221 วันที่ผ่านมา
BONUS: The Novel Matrix (90-Day Novel Challenge)
Day 29: What if I hate my story? Featuring special guest: Thirzah (90-Day Novel Challenge)
มุมมอง 6921 วันที่ผ่านมา
Day 29: What if I hate my story? Featuring special guest: Thirzah (90-Day Novel Challenge)
Day 27: What If I'm Not a Good Writer?
มุมมอง 49321 วันที่ผ่านมา
Day 27: What If I'm Not a Good Writer?
Still following along, even though I've had to stop trying for the 1 hour each day. I feel like this would have been helpful to have a lot closer to the start of the challenge, because "trying to push through" is exactly what I was doing. If I had had the advice to really think about where that time was going to come from sooner, I might have been able to really think it through and figure out where I was going to sustainably get that time, or realize that I wasn't going to be able to get that right now. I might have actually been able to get through, instead of having to drop out because I couldn't just push anymore.
I'm glad you're still following along and found this video helpful, Katherine! We can only put out so much content at a time in this format. In a way, I wish I could tell you all of this before you ever started, but that would defeat the purpose of these videos. :-) Fortunately, I have made practically all of this content available in a number of ways, and so much more. Between The Novel Matrix book, the courses at writers.company, and my articles and newsletter at bradpauquette.com, practically everything I'm saying in these videos is available to you, and more. I encourage you to check out those resources and continue to learn. Not only will that benefit your current project, but you'll take everything you're learning and growing in with you to the next projects, too. I'm glad you're here, and that the content is so helpful you only wish you had it sooner. So don't wait for it to come to you! Go get it. :-)
@@bradpauquette Fair enough. :) I don't remember seeing this in the book, but I haven't done much with the site or the newsletter, so it could well have been there.
That separation in logic and creative sides of the brain is scientifically speaking not correct, but I get that it can be an useful symbology. For myself I find Bloom's revised taxonomy more useful to frame my thinking, in which logic and creativity both can go hand in hand, and the highest levels both are required to work together.
ok...
What if articulating it makes you feel extremely guilty instead of peaceful? That's kind of what's happening for me. I'm at a writing conference with a lot going on so more than 10 hours a week, and my family wants me to do things which are important to us both and I get paid for. So it's a hard question for me.
That's such a good question! I think this is the time to invite the Holy Spirit to show you whether this is conviction from Him, or if it's guilt. If articulating what you're saying no to brings the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that could be a prompting to help you see that your priorities are out of order. Writing is not the most important thing, and it is possible to neglect other parts of our life and obligations. But if it's guilt from the enemy and your priorities are in order, then I think you can safely ignore those "guilty" feelings and ask the Holy Spirit to comfort you and help you through it.
Again, that’s one to remember and come back to often ❤
It's definitely easy to follow into the wrong habit on this one.
Thank you for being so encouraging; very inspiring and motivating!
I'm glad it's helpful for you. :-)
Recent subscriber here! Found your channel as I was approaching the midpoint turn of my novel's first draft, and ever since, I've been watching your videos before each writing session. They've provided a lot of encouragement! 😊Happy to say I've identified the frenemy and guide characters you mentioned in my story!
Awesome! Glad you're here with us. 🙂
Well. That was some much needed advice! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Oh dear, that's kinda what I do! Thank you!
You’re welcome. 🙂
In the same way no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy no outline ever survives the first draft
Haha, good analogy.
not necessarily wanting to be "novel" writer, but i want to improve my writing skills as copywriter! Definitely jump in into this challenge!
That’s fair! Practice makes perfect, right?
@@bradpauquette absolutely! 🥰
Such a great way to look at this! This is the real game changer in writing.
Thanks! It really does have the power to change everything in your work!
Oh my. Love camping
Oh my. Love camping
My condolences.
❤ so helpful!
🙂
God bless you too brother
Thank you!
Thank you Brad for the hard work you put in for (we) writers 😊
You’re welcome! I’m just glad to hear it’s helpful for you.
Once I bagan writing that actually began happening on its own. Used to always listen to something in the shower. Now I'm annoyed if there's anything but the sound of water and the fan.
haha, that's awesome.
Your point about making sure all of the protagonist's tools are made known at this point is a strong enforcement for having a complete plan before diving into the drafting process. It's so easy to accidently slip into deus ex machina territory and think you're doing an effective twist!
Thanks! You're right, such a fine line between a good twist and deus ex machina.
After a long day playing with a 10-year old,5:23 pm to 6:32 pm,1275. I'll check it first thing in the morning, it's my most productive time to write. I like the idea of a 5000 word hour! A worthy goal!
That's great, Juli! Way to go!
I wrote from 8:10 pm to 9:10 pm and I wrote 1,537 words! Thanks Brad, this was really encouraging! And I even had to stop occasionally to start up my music again when it stopped. Thank you again!
@@ColleenAlan what? That’s awesome! Way to go! I knew you could do it.
Needed this today 😅
Glad to hear it was helpful. 🙂
SO excited for you and ‘The Novel Matrix’! I loved being on your release team and reading this book, and I’m so happy that it’s finally out in the world. It was great to hear your story behind this!
So happy to have you on the team Molly!
"I don't win when you buy the book, I win when you read it and write your own book." Such a great video and point! Love this!
I wish you the best of luck with your book there, but as you might have noticed I disagree with many of your takes, thus I don't think the matrix is for me. Sure, I disagree with most things, like John Truby's Anatomy of Genre. That can of course be due to my academic thinking, that I evaluate and judge everything I read, since that is how I learn. But the other video today also showed my that my goals are ot the same, since you talked there all about business, and for me creative writing is about self-expression, and thus not a get rich quick scheme.
Not sure it's quite fair to say that Brad's approach to writing is a "get rich quick" scheme. He has talked pretty freely in the past about how much work writing for a living is, and how hard it is to get started well. But the fact is that a lot of writers would like to make at least a little bit of money out of their craft, and it's not a bad thing to have a video addressing that side of things. That said, if the system doesn't fit what you need from your writing, that's fine too. As Brad says, there are many writing systems out there. He likes this one, but that doesn't mean you have to too. But to write it off entirely as a "get rich quick scheme" because he happened to release a video talking about something that a lot of writers are wondering about, that's rather unfair.
I promise you that writing is anything but a get rich quick scheme. haha Absolutely use a system that works for you. I've used this particular system to help hundreds of authors finish their work and publish great books, many of which have won awards or been best sellers. If you have a different way to achieve those results, absolutely use it, and I'd love to watch your channel and learn from you on it.
I prefer the rock bottom to come later in the narrative, after the protagonist already has become active but things fall apart since they have not year learned the moral lesson. And I guess I am not alone in this, the typical Hollywood screenplay seems to put this about the halfway point of the film.
Hmm, interesting. It's possible that you're using the terms differently than we are here. All of the jargon I'm using in this series conforms to the Novel Matrix writing system. You can check it out here: amzn.to/3zAtWgE or at NovelMatrix.com. What the Novel Matrix describes is very consistent with conventional three-act story structure and what you'd typically see out of Hollywood. So we're either talking about different things, or using the same term to mean something different. 🙂
@@bradpauquette It is possible that we mean different things. To me it sounds like you mean something akin to an inciting incident, that would indeed be around that place in the fiction.
I think the rock bottom moment is also like the "1st Pinch Point" in other 3-Act Structure systems. :) I feel like it's an event that is so bad, it's the last straw that will push the character to move forward and pursue a goal.
For some reason the day 7 video is unavailave on youtube
We only publish six videos per week, then the seventh is a rest day. So we keep counting, but you should skip days 7, 14, 21, 28, etc. :-)
Getting a second opinion is such great advice! Not only can it help encourage you, but it can help you see where you need to improve. :)
So true!
"You will be better because you decided to push through today." That is such a good quote! Great video!
Thanks for watching!
The Harry Potter series did a great job of this via the classroom, teachers, and Ron and Hermione. Bonus, they (Ron and Hermione) are perfect examples of your thinking about sidekicks! Whatever world building knowledge Ron laid down, or crazy spell Hermione pulled out of her your know what just when they needed it, at no time did I question it. Of course Hermione would know that spell, she did the advance reading. Ron was born to this world, of course he'd know what the deal was with the Ministry, etc.
That’s a great example of effective universe development. There are so many rules that are new to the reader, but we get it! Excellent note!
I love your description! The verse fits perfectly.
I love the discussion about shifting the protagonist's "yes" back from the Climax to the Icarus Moment. I've read a few books and watched a few movies where I've noticed this. The Lorax is one such movie where there was so much setup for the bad guy's total control but no payoff.
That's a great example!
Such good advice!
Glad to hear it's helpful for you!
It is not the boredom in itself that is providing fertile ground for creativity, it the the time spend thinking. Sure, having no noise can be helpful, but since I am constantly evaluating an judging ideas I encounter and thus almost never capable of just consuming passively, all the noise is for me just as fertile if not even more so that silence. But then I might not be the target audience here, since I am have no dedicated time to write, but often use my former procrastination habits of watching youtube or listen to podcasts as the igniting spark to write, since I see my writing participation in a cultural debate, thus it is in a real sense me answering the thoughts other people have. Again, that comes from always interacting with ideas and ot just consuming them. But I understand that I might be not the norm in doing that.
If you're already able to write 1,000+ words per hour and you're accomplishing your writing goals, then I think you can safely ignore this advice. If you're not yet achieving that rate, I recommend experimenting with it. It might not be for everyone, but worth a try! 🙂
Great tips! ❤
I'm glad this was helpful!
Do you have suggestions for when young children consistently make writing for an hour difficult? Even breaking it into a bit here and a bit there and a bit more after bedtime, I often find that I only get 30-45 minutes each day. Do I just accept that I am in a less productive season right now, or are there things I can do to find a bit more time or make better use of the time I have?
Such a good question. I have six kids of my own, so I can definitely relate. To put 100 hours into this will require real sacrifice. Not just from you, but from the people around you. Putting 100 hours into this means that you're going to put 100 hours less into something else. Is it worth it to you? Are you willing to make that sacrifice? (Honestly ask yourself this question, it's ok if the answer is no.) If the answer is yes, you're going to have to do some really hard things to make it happen. There are two things I think are worth considering: 1. Communicate with your family and make this a family goal. When you're in that season, you're going to need someone else to agree with this goal. Communicate what you're trying to do, and emphasize that it's a short-term commitment. For the next ten weeks, mom needs one hour per day. For that to happen, husband, in-laws, whoever, is going to need to agree with that goal. Sorry, husband, for the next ten weeks, 8pm to 9pm after the kids go to bed belongs to this project, no excuses! (Of course, I don't know your family situation, so this might apply differently to you, I mean no disrespect.) But own that goal, be proud of it, communicate, and defend that time. 2. I find that the only time I can "make time" in the day is first thing in the morning. The longer my day goes on, the less likely it is that my plans will work. By the time the evening rolls around, there are too many opportunities for things to get derailed, or my head is just full of distractions, and I'm way more likely to not follow through. If I get up early, before anyone else, I own that time and can put it on target. I know how hard that it is. But sometimes that's the sacrifice it takes. That choice is sometimes what it takes to win. Either way, I think that you can make the time. If this is important to you, don't resign yourself to an unproductive season. But it will take some real determination, communication, maybe even awkwardness, to make it happen. But you can do it! And years from now, it will have been worth it. (But it's also OK to decide that this is the season for this level of commitment. There's no shame in that.)
@@bradpauquette Thanks for your encouragement! I would love to be able to get up early in the morning, but with certain health issues, that's also inconsistent right now. As much as I hate to say it, I do think that if I'm being honest with myself, I have to say "this is important to me, but these other things are more important." Thanks for helping me clarify that! I'll keep learning and practicing for now, and then maybe in a few years, it will be time to try to really push.
@@katherinec2759 That seems totally reasonable to me. In Luke 14:28-29, Jesus talks about "counting the cost." Of course, he's talking about our faith, but I think the wisdom still applies here.
Hey Brad Firstly, I just wanted to say that this series of videos are amazing. So thank you for posting this. Question about the scene list, I've heard many people say that ACT 2 is twice as long as ACTS 1 and 3 so should we aim to make them all roughly the same length or is ACT 2 longer? Thanks again for all your time and effort on this
Such a good question! And one I get commonly. Your three acts should be roughly equal in length. In fact, the most common deviation we see is for the first act to be slightly longer, especially in speculative genres like sci-fi and fantasy where there's a lot of world-building to do. Some models teach the plot structure in four equal parts, but the data doesn't really support that. After mathematically timing tons of books and movies, equal thirds is the way to go!
tysm
yw 🙂
Academic book authors have been solving this problem for decades by combining a free piece of software called LaTeX with any plaintext editor that can search across multiple files in a project or a folder (such as Sublime Text or Visual Studio Code on Windows) and git/GitHub for online backup. LaTeX also supports things that MS Word either can't do or can only do with difficulty, such as professional quality hyphenation, justification and floating figures. Alternatively you can apply formatting using a text editor by writing HTML tags (which are the underlying component of the ePub and Kindle formats) or as markdown (quickest to write and least distraction from your actual writing).
I love Scrivner! Best program ever!
So helpful!
Speaking of Star Wars, Yoda told us: do not try, do or do not!
Truth! 😆
So true! I call it writing about writing. I do it in a journal, and half the time I end up back on the project.
Absolutely! Words beget words. :-)
Thank you, it was really helpful! I like the muscle analogy:)
Excellent! You may also enjoy the “How to Build a Writing Routine” article at BradPauquette.com, which goes deeper on this topic.
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Love it! Can’t wait to see you crush your next project. Let me know how it goes.
Finally caught up on videos at least, now to get caught up on writing! (As much as one can get caught up around an unpredictable toddler... :) ) I'll say again that it would be nice if the intro/outro music was turned down a bit. Just about the only thing that could make these videos any better is a better dynamic balance.
Thanks for your note, Katherine. I'm glad the videos are helpful. We've tested the videos on lots of different devices and we're pretty happy with the volume settings. :-) But your feedback is noted, and I'm sorry it's not a better fit for your device!
I’m not sure it’s possible to have an internal conflict that affects the whole world bc every example I think of could be considered a philosophical question. How can you measure the needs of the world against the desires of the one? What’s the value of one life over many? If it affects multiple ppl then it might be philosophical by nature
That's a great point. I've toyed with different ways to cast the Big World Internal Conflict, just to make the chart feel more complete (haha), but five conflicts really does bring enough content to the story. While we could get creative and try to find an excuse for a Big World Internal Conflict, it's not something we really see well represented in most stories--we'd be stretching to get there. You're right, most of what we might come up with is already covered in the Big World Philosophical Conflict.
I am gonna start next week! But can't make the 6 days per week. Will take it at halve speed! (Better slow than not 😂)
Definitely! Glad you can put it to good use. A 180-day novel still gets the job done.
The classics are my fun reading!
In that case, go for it! 🙂
@@bradpauquette I got into my historical research through the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre)
@@bradpauquette I got into my historical research through the Bronte sisters.
GOt behind thanks to a family reunion, so I'm still trying to finish my scene plan, but a question that has come up: does it count as a "character developed" if what you do to the character is kill them off?
Definitely. As long as they’ve fulfilled their function.
I’m partial to Plantsing 2:17 🤔😆 Edit: aha, I see we’re on the same page 🧐🙃
Nice! You beat me to it. 🙂