 (A guest column by literary agent (and author) Mike Nappa of Nappaland Literary.) To become a master at anything—basketball, rock-n-roll, fiction writing, even crime—takes about 10,000 hours of practice.[1] So, while you’re putting in (roughly) ten years of rehearsal toward your mastery of fiction, use these skill-builders help you: PLOT SKILL BUILDERS: 1. Play with a Child What you’ll learn: To plot with imagination. In Anika’s play-world, she’s a magical queen—so obviously that corner lamp is trying to dethrone her! Anything is possible in Anika’s self-story, and everything acts according to her imaginative worldview. A smart writer knows that Anika’s play-time is really uninhibited story plotting. Are you a smart writer? Then jump in and practice plotting with her! Make sound effects, crawl through swamps, turn yourself into a toad. Pay attention to plot decisions your child-mentor makes, and ask why. When you’re done, you’ll be exhausted—and ready to create something wonderful. |