On my shelf this week:
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, by Liesl Shurtliff
Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Anderson
Story Structure Architect: A Writer’s Guide to Building Dramatic Situations & Compelling Characters, by Victoria Lynn Schmidt
This week I’m reading an alternative story about Rumpelstiltskin (it’s cute), and, since I’m working on a series of fairy tale retellings, I’m starting with reading Hans Christian Anderson. Schmidt’s book will be one I take my time with. So much good information here that I’ll need to ingest slowly.
Best quotes so far:
“When you over-plot your story, you may lose spontaneity and feel like a slave to your overly detailed outline. When you build your story as you go, you tend to end up with a ton of subplots and loose ends that can’t be tied up and a character arc that flatlines. You need to have some direction as to where you are going, but you also need to feel free to write what your heart tells you to write.”
Victoria Lynn Schmidt
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
