Story Engineering by Larry Brooks-Missions 1-5

Writing-the Craft
The Story Engineering Lesson is under this blog hop announcement.

The Blog Hop Continues! It's been fun getting to know some new friends the last several days. Come along to get yourself some freebies and some new friends hopping from blog to blog.

Oh shoot! I don't know how to get you all the links for the other blogs in this post. So, to go to the other blogs just click here and scan to the end for all the fun blogs and hop away.

I'll be with the hop the whole week, but all my posts will be below the hop info. Today's Post is about the 5 missions that must be fulfilled before your first plot point.

Easy Entry
1. Just follow this blog and you're in the money...or should I say books?
2. like my facebook page
3. Extra entry for following my Watched blog
You need to comment and let me know you did these things to enter. Good Luck


What's the prize?    Double Deceit by Stephanie Humphreys


Double Deceitand an ebook of Watched by.....Me


Writing the Craft!
Is it Friday already? Man, this week has sailed by. School in two weeks? Yuck! Can't I just keep my kids at home? They are so fun....

Anyway, let's talk about the 5 missions you need to fulfill before the first plot point to make your book a success according to Larry Brooks.

  1. Setting a killer hook. The hook is something that grabs the reader very early in the read and makes them want to stick around--not to be confused with the 1st plot point.   It asks a question the reader must yearn to answer, like an itch that must be scratched. It should be in the 1st to 4th scene.
  2. Introduction of the hero.  This must happen long before the first plot point in the first two scenes. The reader should see and hear what this character is doing so they will see what is at stake when his world shifts at the first plot point. The reader needs to empathize and also see something about themselves in that character. Give a sense of the inner demons of the hero here.
  3. Establishing the stakes. What does the hero have at stake? The more stakes=more tension
  4. Foreshadowing events to come.  The reader should sense impending change. The first plot point identifies some opposition to the attainment of a goal and the reader needs to feel it coming.
  5. Preparing for the launch.  This is where the sense of foreboding accelerates to a point where everything changes
All five missions drive the reader to the conclusion of part 1 of your story....The 1st plot point.
Thanks Larry for keeping us on track!

Check out your WIP. Have you fulfilled these 5 missions? I think he's onto something here.

Happy engineering!