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Solid Story Compass: How to Be Your Own Developmental Editor or Script Consultant, Stop Second-Guessing Your Storytelling Decisions, and Prevent ... ... Reader Wrath
Having written.
It’s a beautiful feeling, isn’t it?
Instead of staring at a pile of blank pages, you’re looking at something pages filled with words.
Lovely.
But then, you take a second look at what you’ve written.
That beautiful feeling?
Pfft.
It vanishes.
Something’s wrong, but because you’re too close to the material, you can’t pinpoint what it is.
All you know is that your story requires major editing and revision.
It’s muddled. Awkward. All over the place.
Basically, there’s a gap (OK, sometimes, it’s more like a chasm) between the story in your head…and the one you’ve actually penned to paper.
This creates a big problem.
If you don’t take corrective measures, audiences won’t engage with your screenplay or novel. Instead, they’ll be too busy trying to figure out what it’s about.
Depending on how uneven your story is, audiences are going to walk away from it feeling anything from minor disgruntlement to major wrath.
Clearly, this is not the way to get book lovers or studios to clamor for your work. It’s not the way to jumpstart or sustain a writing career.
To achieve the results you want, you need help.
With cool objectivity, a talented developmental editor or script consultant can explain what’s wrong, what’s weak, and what’s not working—and dish out the fixes.
Finding a good one, however, is about as easy as finding an honest politician. Not only that, developmental editors and script consultants aren’t cheap.
They can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Until you find your dream editor or consultant—whose sensibility, availability, and affordability suit your needs—what can you do?
You can’t send your story out into the world the way it is, not when it’s a mass of inconsistency that’s sure to trigger negative reviews or brutal coverage.
Nope. That’s not going to cut it.
Until you find your perfect editorial match, you must learn…
Instead of hiring a developmental editor or script consultant, you’ll construct a 5-pointed story compass.
By breaking down “the big picture” into 5 specific areas, your compass makes it easier to identify—and fix—what’s wrong.
For instance, without your story compass, you might vaguely sense that something’s off about your climax. With your compass, you’ll know that the behavior of the villain’s henchmen needs to be changed since it messes up your story’s tone.
Should a scene be kept…or deleted?
Your story compass can help you there, too. No matter how inventive or well written, if a scene doesn’t adhere to your compass points, it’s irrelevant. It must be cut (or heavily revised).
Ultimately, with your story compass, you’ll be able to edit your own writing and bridge the gap between the story in your head and the story on the page.
Consequently, rather than falling into this gap, audiences are free to immerse themselves in the world you’ve carefully built up, from scratch.
Buy this writing guide now and become your own developmental editor or script consultant today!
It’s a beautiful feeling, isn’t it?
Instead of staring at a pile of blank pages, you’re looking at something pages filled with words.
Lovely.
But then, you take a second look at what you’ve written.
That beautiful feeling?
Pfft.
It vanishes.
Something’s wrong, but because you’re too close to the material, you can’t pinpoint what it is.
All you know is that your story requires major editing and revision.
It’s muddled. Awkward. All over the place.
Basically, there’s a gap (OK, sometimes, it’s more like a chasm) between the story in your head…and the one you’ve actually penned to paper.
This creates a big problem.
If you don’t take corrective measures, audiences won’t engage with your screenplay or novel. Instead, they’ll be too busy trying to figure out what it’s about.
Depending on how uneven your story is, audiences are going to walk away from it feeling anything from minor disgruntlement to major wrath.
Clearly, this is not the way to get book lovers or studios to clamor for your work. It’s not the way to jumpstart or sustain a writing career.
To achieve the results you want, you need help.
With cool objectivity, a talented developmental editor or script consultant can explain what’s wrong, what’s weak, and what’s not working—and dish out the fixes.
Finding a good one, however, is about as easy as finding an honest politician. Not only that, developmental editors and script consultants aren’t cheap.
They can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Until you find your dream editor or consultant—whose sensibility, availability, and affordability suit your needs—what can you do?
You can’t send your story out into the world the way it is, not when it’s a mass of inconsistency that’s sure to trigger negative reviews or brutal coverage.
Nope. That’s not going to cut it.
Until you find your perfect editorial match, you must learn…
Instead of hiring a developmental editor or script consultant, you’ll construct a 5-pointed story compass.
By breaking down “the big picture” into 5 specific areas, your compass makes it easier to identify—and fix—what’s wrong.
For instance, without your story compass, you might vaguely sense that something’s off about your climax. With your compass, you’ll know that the behavior of the villain’s henchmen needs to be changed since it messes up your story’s tone.
Should a scene be kept…or deleted?
Your story compass can help you there, too. No matter how inventive or well written, if a scene doesn’t adhere to your compass points, it’s irrelevant. It must be cut (or heavily revised).
Ultimately, with your story compass, you’ll be able to edit your own writing and bridge the gap between the story in your head and the story on the page.
Consequently, rather than falling into this gap, audiences are free to immerse themselves in the world you’ve carefully built up, from scratch.
Buy this writing guide now and become your own developmental editor or script consultant today!
- GenresWritingNonfiction
397 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2016
24 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2019
A helpful, if long-winded, book. There are gems of insight here, and each action step is wide-reaching yet practical. There are also some suggestions that didn't particularly resonate with me - this book is very much focused on commercial appeal at the expense of all else - but as with any writing advice, your mileage may vary, and all the points provide good food for thought. Solid Story Compass effectively breaks down how every element of a story - from its characters to its themes - come together to form a complete, cohesive experience, and explores common pitfalls that can prevent that from happening.
There was one thing that got me, though. Throughout, the book analyzes published books/films to demonstrate mistakes. There are a couple of instances where negative Amazon reviews are cited to back up the author's point-of-view, without acknowledging the full picture: most of these books/films have many positive reviews and overall positive ratings, so it can't necessarily be said that their deviations from this books' concepts were missteps - at least, not for every audience. It's a bit like cherry-picking. Had the book treated certain things less like absolutes, incidents like these wouldn't have bothered me as much. The analysis segments were otherwise highlights. They went into depth and demonstrated how this book's complex concepts tie into each other.
Another factor that bothered me a bit was the writing itself. The tone was overly conversational at times. Despite its approachability, it also bordered on patronizing. I personally would have preferred a more straightforward style. Relatedly, the book is longer than it needs to be. There are instances, especially in the section overviews, where it takes great pains to tell you what it's about to tell you. There's also a bit of repetition throughout the different action steps. While all of them are helpful, some could likely have been streamlined or combined. I'd be more eager to read the rest of author's work if it had been easier to distill down to its main points.
Still, this book explores an often overlooked aspect of editing - big-picture concerns - and delved satisfyingly deep into its topics. I especially enjoyed its pointers about protagonist signifiers and the entire section on tonal consistency, which was described in a way I hadn't seen before.
I'd recommend Solid Story Compass to anyone faced with developmental editing, with the caveat that it involves wading through a lot of words and sometimes adapting the steps to your own goals. I'll definitely use the story compass concept (albeit a slightly customized version of it) in my future projects.
There was one thing that got me, though. Throughout, the book analyzes published books/films to demonstrate mistakes. There are a couple of instances where negative Amazon reviews are cited to back up the author's point-of-view, without acknowledging the full picture: most of these books/films have many positive reviews and overall positive ratings, so it can't necessarily be said that their deviations from this books' concepts were missteps - at least, not for every audience. It's a bit like cherry-picking. Had the book treated certain things less like absolutes, incidents like these wouldn't have bothered me as much. The analysis segments were otherwise highlights. They went into depth and demonstrated how this book's complex concepts tie into each other.
Another factor that bothered me a bit was the writing itself. The tone was overly conversational at times. Despite its approachability, it also bordered on patronizing. I personally would have preferred a more straightforward style. Relatedly, the book is longer than it needs to be. There are instances, especially in the section overviews, where it takes great pains to tell you what it's about to tell you. There's also a bit of repetition throughout the different action steps. While all of them are helpful, some could likely have been streamlined or combined. I'd be more eager to read the rest of author's work if it had been easier to distill down to its main points.
Still, this book explores an often overlooked aspect of editing - big-picture concerns - and delved satisfyingly deep into its topics. I especially enjoyed its pointers about protagonist signifiers and the entire section on tonal consistency, which was described in a way I hadn't seen before.
I'd recommend Solid Story Compass to anyone faced with developmental editing, with the caveat that it involves wading through a lot of words and sometimes adapting the steps to your own goals. I'll definitely use the story compass concept (albeit a slightly customized version of it) in my future projects.
May 15, 2023
HR D'Costa provides clear instructions to create a compelling novel.
August 4, 2016
Practical and straight forward
Every part of the solid story editing technique is broken down into bite size steps and for convenience you get the whole list at the end. Very helpful thank you.
Every part of the solid story editing technique is broken down into bite size steps and for convenience you get the whole list at the end. Very helpful thank you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews