Plot vs Story: Balancing Action and Emotion – July 3, 2021 at 11AM EST
Plot is the external series of events that happen to your character. Story is what happens inside your character’s mind as they react to events and grow to meet the challenges they face in the plot. To create a truly powerful story, you need to understand how these two elements interact with each other and how to balance them.
Plot vs Story: Balancing Action and Emotion will be a discussion with four excellent authors about how they balance plot and story when building their books. They’ll also discuss the nuances of balancing plot and story in individual scenes, with a focus on action scenes.
The Moderator
Steve Savage writes extensively on how people can leverage their creativity in a variety of ways. He’s most well known for the Way With World series of Worldbuidling books, an ever-growing collection of guides to coach people on creating fictional settings. The series is currently at seventeen books and counting.
He is also writes the Avenoth series, about the adventures and misadventures of people in a solar system of sorcery, super-science, internet-using gods, and interplanetary demons. The first book, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet was released in 2018, with the sequel, A School Of Many Futures arriving this year.
Find him at Steve’s website or his press site. He also maintains the random tools site Seventh Sanctum.
The Guests
Cait Gordon
Cait (pronounced like ‘cat’) Gordon is a Canadian disability advocate who writes speculative fiction that celebrates the reality of diversity. Originally from Verdun, Québec, Cait worked for over two decades as a technical writer, then channelled her love for words into storytelling.
She is the author of the humorous space adventures Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers.
In 2016, Cait founded The Spoonie Authors Network to connect with writers in the disability community. Her desire to find better disabled and autistic representation in fiction prompted Cait to co-edit Nothing Without Us with Talia C. Johnson. The multi-genre anthology features authors and protagonists who are disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, and/or they manage mental illness. Nothing Without Us was included in the syllabus of a disability studies course at Trent University and earned a 2020 Prix Aurora Award nomination.
Find Cait at https://caitgordon.com/.
Stephen Graham King
Stephen Graham King (He/They) is a writer of space opera novels, re-imagining the classic genre and its high tech adventurers through an unabashedly queer lens. His stories have appeared in the anthologies North of Infinity II, Desolate Places and Ruins Metropolis. His books include Chasing Cold, and the novels in his Maverick Heart series: Soul’s Blood, Gatecrasher, A Congress of Ships, and the forthcoming Ghost Light Burn, due later this year. He is also a long term survivor of metastatic synovial sarcoma and an avid black and white street photographer. He can be found online, along with all his social media coordinates, at stephengrahamking.com.
Jenn Gott
Jenn Gott is an author, fangirl, and jack of all hobbies whose books include the critically-acclaimed lesbian superhero novel The Private Life of Jane Maxwell. She lives in a fairytale forest where, when she’s not writing, you can usually find her playing life simulation games, sketching, or entertaining her rambunctious cat. Find her at http://jenngott.com/.
Crystal Storm
Crystal Storm is a woman of many hats (pun intended. She has a wall full of fedoras). She’s 4’11, hates mornings, and is a night owl. Her aliases are WooWoo and C-Money. Readers find her dedicated to giving them stories that encourage them to find ways to make the mundane magical.
A busy creativeprenuer, Crystal hosts a weekly vodcast/podcast on scifi and metaphysical topics, video reviews books (and sometimes movies), streams video games on twitch and three times a week you can hangout with her playing tabletop games.
Crystal is currently writing the next book in the Synarchy Series while sharing her creative process to give readers an immersive experience into the Universe of Synarchy. You can learn more by visiting her website crystalsimagination.com.
More about this event
Plot vs Story: Balancing Action and Emotion is a free panel happening on July 3, 2021 at 11AM – 12PM EST, and is part of the larger Exploring Story Structure event on July 3, 2021. The event is sponsored by Renaissance Press, a Canadian publisher dedicated to supporting marginalized authors.
Conference Companion
Enhance your experience and support Weeknight Writers events by grabbing the Conference Companion workbook for this event. This printable workbook will help you track important information during the Storycrafting Session: Exploring Story Structure. This includes:
- “Notes” areas for individual panels
- An area to record overall lessons and feelings about the conference
- Questions to help you implement lessons from the conference in your writing practice
These worksheets will help you make the most of the Exploring Story Structure event! Proceeds from this workbook will be used to host, manage, and promote future Weeknight Writers events. Buy your copy today!
FAQ
How much does this event cost?
All panels are free to attend! You won’t spend any money unless you decide to buy the Conference Companion.
How can I participate?
Panels will be run on Zoom using the Webinar function. This means only panelists will be able to share audio and video content. To participate in the Q & A portion of a panel, enter your question in the text chat.
Will there be any additional opportunities to discuss the panel?
There will be dedicated panel channels in the conference Discord. Most panelists will be in these servers for a short period of time after their panel, and attendees are welcome to keep the conversation all day.