https://medium.com/@clnichols/list/the-storyangles-40-framework-a4a488744f60

A 5-part series: The StoryAngles 40 Framework.

In the 4-Act Novel, each act is one quarter of the book and has a distinct job. There are 40 story functions, grouped 10 per act, designed specifically for long‑form fiction.

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I was chatting to a friend over coffee recently and they mentioned they'd been to a writing course and the instructor told them always to write by hand because it freed up creativity.

I'm sure that's true for some people. In fact I'm sure it's true for many people and I even expect there's research out there to back it up. And obviously helping people develop their writing is in part about helping them with their writing process. But for me the problem comes when a process suggestion becomes a rule.

I used to write longhand, in pencil. (Using a pen paralysed me, it felt as if ink made the words unalterable.) But it turns out I have terrible fine motor skills so my hand could never keep up with the stream of thought running through my arm. Not to mention I can't spell at speed, so looking back on what I'd written was enough to throw me into despair.

Now I can't really type either and I'm still not going to win any spelling bees, but my two fingers can put enough on the screen that I know what I meant and I can go back and fix it up when the flow stops. When I discovered the word processor (I'm that old!) it let me be creative in a way paper and pen just couldn't. I can type anything because with a click it disappears. No one but me will ever know what a shockingly bad sentence I'm capable of.

For me, writing is all in the editing. I used to tell my coding son he needed to write me a program that put random junk on the page so I'd have something to edit. (Careful what you wish for!)

Even in my first draft, I'm editing as I go. I'll write a sentence, a paragraph, a scene and then realise the idea and most of the words are right but whole isn't. I'll reverse sentences, change tense, reorder paragraphs and voila, clumsy, unsubtle text develops flow and depth. (Well, I think so anyway.) I need to shore up the foundations before I can build on them. With pen and paper, I'd have a scrawl of crossings out and intersecting arrows to insertions all covered with a smear of hand-heel ink that even I couldn't read.

Some people (I suspect) use pen and paper because it guides them forward. (It's not called the puke draft for nothing!) They may well be trying to avoid exactly what I'm trying to do. And that's a good way to write, if it's right for you. But it's not the only way, because our brains are all different and each has a different key to unlock it.

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Starting the day rereading last nights rewrite! What a witching morning!

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The novel has been in planning, research, and writing for the past 5 years, and I feel as if I finally found the voice. 

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http://mistresswitchwrites.com/2026/02/10/witching-novel-progress-and-the-thrill-of-being-read/

Missing the train home and writing in one of my favourite train stations for an hour - I needed this. And so did the novel.

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https://medium.com/the-writers-reach/the-storyangles-40-framework-2a84b528544c

Each act is one quarter of the book. Each act escalates pressure, stakes, and narrative commitment. Each act has a distinct job.

There are 40 story functions, grouped 10 per act, designed specifically for long‑form fiction.

#novel #novelwriting #medium #storytelling #writingcommunity #writingtips

Most female test readers struggle with my female characters because they "enjoy sex too much."

"No woman can be that horny." I'm not a woman then. I've always had a clue ...

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https://medium.com/the-writers-reach/the-most-productive-way-to-draft-a-popular-genre-novel-fd52ce60c148

Popular genre fiction runs on a recognizable emotional engine. We come to these books for a specific feeling. Tension, wonder, desire, fear, catharsis, justice, escape.

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The Failed Plot, and the Novel I Gained Along the Way

Author Rosie Walker shares how her experiment to reverse-engineer a thriller led to a failed plot, but then eventually to a new novel.
The post The Failed Plot, and the Novel I Gained Along the Way appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/the-failed-plot-and-the-novel-i-gained-along-the-way

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