{"id":6055,"date":"2019-11-22T12:41:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/articles\/james-law-and-the-diagram-of-why\/"},"modified":"2019-11-22T12:41:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:41:07","slug":"james-law-and-the-diagram-of-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/james-law-and-the-diagram-of-why\/","title":{"rendered":"James Law and the diagram of why"},"content":{"rendered":"

OK, so my new favourite thing for today? It\u2019s when you\u2019ve been writing professionally for 20 years and still get really excited when a writer shows you some techniques that look sexy, fun, creative \u2013 and productive.<\/p>\n

More of that in one short second, but first, if you missed my webinar on self-publishing (or, really, on author-led marketing), then you can catch the replay here:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/bf-self-pub-webinar-replay\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had massively positive feedback on that webinar. People said things like:<\/p>\n

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed watching your self-publishing webinar the other day \u2026 I was genuinely inspired.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is hands down the best live webinar I’ve been on. Pure value and an inoffensive pitch \ud83d\ude09 Thank you so much Harry.<\/em><\/p>\n

I watched the replay last night and it was packed with really great information. You guys are definitely the best and most motivating writing resource I have found on my journey so far<\/em><\/p>\n

Loved your webinar and your follow-up below really helped me buck up \u2026 One personal question: Did you ever figure out why your kids were wearing helmets in your kitchen?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

No, I never did figure out why my kids were wearing helmets in the kitchen, but then again they found a fake fur pompom in the garden yesterday and built a hedgehog house for it, complete with bed of leaves and dish of milk. So helmets in the kitchen? That passes for normal, I\u2019m afraid.<\/p>\n

As for the webinars, a lot of people avoid them because they assume the content is going to be all tease and no value. We don\u2019t do that. We just cram as much serious value into the hour as we can. We do mention a product at the very end of the webinar, but we also tell you not to buy it, so that seems fair. Oh yes, and remember that you can get all the slides from the webinar from a download link here<\/a>, so no need to take notes.<\/p>\n

Right. Bish, bosh. Next thing.<\/p>\n

So last night, the Mighty James Law delivered a webinar yesterday on Ideas, Plotting and Planning<\/strong> \u2013 that whole process of coaxing a novel into shape. Some of the material was familiar to me, but much of it wasn\u2019t and was genuinely inspirational.<\/p>\n

In particular, I loved-loved-loved James\u2019s willingness to state something that isn\u2019t often enough said.<\/p>\n

Lots of published novels are bad. They annoy the reader. In James\u2019s candid summary:<\/p>\n

Things that annoy me about novels<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I just don\u2019t give a &%$\u00a3<\/p>\n

When I have no idea why they\u2019re doing what they\u2019re doing<\/p>\n

When they do something completely unexpected
(usually to bail the author out of a plot hole)<\/p>\n

And we all know the feeling, right? You\u2019re 100 pages into a perfectly competent novel, written by a pro author and published by some big, fancy publishing house. And you just don\u2019t care. Or the action taken by the main character seems desperately contrived or stupid. (\u201cNo. Don\u2019t enter the dark house where an armed gunman might be lurking. That sounds idiotic. How about you call your colleagues in the POLICE and call for ARMED BACKUP. That\u2019s the whole point of being in the police, isn\u2019t it?\u201d)<\/p>\n

Issues like that kill a novel. I don\u2019t finish those books. I don\u2019t buy another one by the same author. I don\u2019t think they should have been published, or not with that much laziness in storytelling and editing.<\/p>\n

So I am (I hope) as alert as James is to the risks. And of course if you write in a genre like ours, you are always bumping up against what the story wants (character enters dark house alone) and what reality demands (phone for backup.) So realistically, you will always be bicycling close to the edge of that precipice. You just want to avoid spilling over the edge.<\/p>\n

My solution is rudimentary. It involves lots of writing, even more rewriting, gallons of tea, and a trust that my own editorial smarts will end up washing any plot stupidities out of the fabric. That probably works well enough in the end, but I have always worried that my process isn\u2019t especially efficient.<\/p>\n

James\u2019s solution to these issues is the\u00a0<\/strong>Why Diagra<\/strong>m<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a kind of structured attempt to drive out plot-stupidity from your novel before you write it. Why is the reader going to care about your Initiating Incident? Why should they care about your main character? Boom, boom, boom. James\u2019s technique forces you to look at and answer the big questions before you put pen to paper. It\u2019s basically a tool for de-stupidising your story before you even start writing. There\u2019s lots else in his presentation too, but that\u2019s the part that made me sit up and bark.<\/p>\n

Plus \u2026 James has got three beautifully published books out, more on the way, and a TV deal in the oven. So you know what, I think he\u2019s onto something. I\u2019ll hand over to James himself for the detail.<\/p>\n

View James\u2019s webinar replay here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Unless you are wiser than Methusalah or as sour as a dish of crab-apples, I think you\u2019ll learn something and I think you\u2019ll chuckle. I\u2019m a grizzled old SOB, and I did both.<\/p>\n

One more webinar to go this season. It\u2019s the Thrice-Blessed Sarah Juckes talking about How To Get Published<\/strong>. If you want to sign up for that (for free, of course), the sign up page is right here<\/a>. Do note that the webinar is on a Wednesday; the others have been on a Thursday, so don\u2019t get tripped up.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it from me. Go and spin some sunbeams into a wreath of happiness. I\u2019m off to find some tea in the Townhouse – like our guest in the header image.<\/p>\n

But what about you? Do you find a lot of commercially published novels a bit disappointing? And what are your planning \/ idea generation techniques. Pull up an ebony chair or a duck-feather chaise longue and let’s all have a Heated Debate.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, so my new favourite thing for today? It\u2019s when you\u2019ve been writing professionally for 20 years and still get really excited when a writer shows you some techniques that look sexy, fun, creative \u2013 and productive. 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It\u2019s when you\u2019ve been writing professionally for 20 years and still get really excited when a writer shows you some techniques that look sexy, fun, creative \u2013 and productive. 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