The ten steps of the Snowflake Method of plotting by Randy Ingermanson is a great way to plot. Equally Jami Gold’s Master Beat Sheet, a combination of Save the Cat Beat Method based on Blake Snyder’s plot arc orientated structure and Larry Brook’s Story Engineering structure works equally well. But Plotter or pantser, at the end of the day you’ll go back to assemble a skeleton structure across your work before you start, halfway through or at the end. It’ll likely happen out of necessity, and there is no right or wrong way. At least for me and many others I know of this is true.
Today I’m focussing on a writing friend who has a lot to offer around story plotting. This blog post is a shout out to fellow writer Kevin ‘Ike” Ikenberry. Recently, during the summer break, I had the opportunity to turn the heat up on my writing. I had four novels in different states of development and I took some comfort in a plotting workshop that Kevin was teaching online, to give me the confidence that I was still on the right path. Kevin has worked hard to get some really great opportunities, and I’m thrilled for his success. So I will say that if you get the opportunity to take one of Kevin’s classes!
Kevin and I collaborated on a story together once. I’d published one of his stories in the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine when I was one of the editors, and also selected a story of his for the Extreme Planets A Science Fiction Anthology of Alien Worlds published by Chaosium Inc. For a time, we reviewed each other’s work and I even did a narration of one of his early short stories, Seventeen Minutes published with Antipodean SF in 2014. Here’s the link if you want to take a peek: https://antisf.libsyn.com/seventeen-minutes-by-kevin-ikenberry.
This blog is a shout out to his vlog (and courses he does for writers) around Plotting. He is very across Dan Wells Seven Point Story Structure plotting techniques. He’s right into Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. He has a lot to say! His approach will both surprise and delight you. His web page currently lists two classes: The Awful Truths of Story Structure and Finding the Perfect Story Structure. So this is how you can find Kevin, support his writing and learn about plotting.
Author Page: https://www.kevinikenberry.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6437251.Kevin_Ikenberry
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thewriterike
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/authorkevinikenberry/about/