Martha Alderson - The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master

It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, youd do something else.

Laurence Durrell

Something urges you to pick up this book. A story in your imagination will not let you go. The characters are speaking to you, and theyre demanding answers, asking you what to do with them. Perhaps a scene haunts your dreams. Interweaving themes run through your mind, vibrating with excitement. You feel an uncontrollable compulsion to get the story down on paper.

So far, so good. But now you want to know where to begin a story and how get off to a good start. Slowly it becomes clear to you that youre held back by fearfear of a painful trial that will expose your inner self to others.

Maybe you already write, have been published multiple times, and understand writing is more complicated than simply putting words on a page. Still, plot bewilders you. You are eagerperhaps, desperateto unlock the mystery of good story structure. You ask: How do I create a memorable novel, memoir, or screenplay? You want a more fulfilling relationship with your story and your writing life.

If Ive just described you, then you have come to the right place.

My name is Martha Alderson. I am the Plot Whisperer.

My intention in writing this book is to share the insights I have gained about plot and character, structure and form, thanks to years of teaching and consulting with writers from five years old to 102. I conduct plot workshops for writers of all genres who are intent on creating a worthy project. In one-on-one plot consultations, I listen to writers from all over the world recount scenes and visions for their stories. Throughout the process, I suggest plot parameters, offer tips on theme and character, and recommend tricks for layering and pacing.

The more writers I interact with, the more keenly I feel the universality and interconnectedness of our shared journeys through life together, especially those of us stubborn enough to pluck words from our imaginations and offer them to the world.

Anyone who wants to write or is in the process of writing a novel, short story, memoir, or screenplay faces the daunting task of creating several plots and multiple scenes. This book will guide you through the process of writing the story inside of you. Along the way I include Plot Whisper tips and exercises to improve your plotting skills, and The Writers Way advice about how to expand your writing life.

The plot help in this book is rooted in my long experience and knowledge of the inner workings of real and imagined stories. I give all-day plot workshops to writers of childrens books through the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators and at childrens shelters to children and teens taken from their homes into protective custody. With them I examine picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. I attend Romance Writers of America chapter meetings where I plot out love stories in all subgenres of romance novels. I help authors craft cunning murders in mystery novels; and I assist memoirists connected with the National Association of Memoir Writers. At the Writers Store in Los Angeles, I help script and screenwriters plot movies, television sitcoms, and docudramas.

I have had the honor of working with multipublished, award
winning, and bestselling novelists across all genres. I have even addressed a conference of 500 corporate defense lawyers interested in using plot to create more compelling case presentations and keep the jury engaged.

My most important insight is this: All of us face antagonists and hurdles, hopes and joys, and by meeting these challenges we can transform our lives. I have come to believe that every scene in every book is part of a Universal Story that flows throughout our lives, both in our imaginations and in the reality that surrounds us.

Every story ever told participates in this universal pattern as words grow and expand into sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. What is left after the end of the story has the potential to transform not only the writer but all those who read the story as well.