From the HuffPo: Three Plot Structures Every Storyteller Can Use
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From the HuffPo: Three Plot Structures Every Storyteller Can Use

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Here is my latest Huffington Post article: Three Plot Structures Every Storyteller Can Use

I have a theory that novelists are fugitives from simple existence. We metabolize, mediate, and render life rather than simply experiencing it. We live through an incident and wonder, with tears glossing our eyes or bliss pinking our cheeks or ennui prompting a yawn, “How can I use this in a story?” A novelist’s mindfulness consists of pouncing on a moment as a resource for a character, or as a turn in the road on the journey of story, or as an illustration for a thesis.

Henry James wrote, “The novelist is a particular window, absolutely — and of worth in so far as he is one; and it’s because you open so well and are hung so close over the street that I could hang out of it all day long.” (James, Henry, and James E. Miller. Theory of Fiction: Henry James. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1972. Print. Pp. 65-66.) Opening for others to peer through and take delight in an unfolding scene is a practice and a process; it takes time and commitment. It’s not enough to over-analyze your own interiors.

What I’m really talking about, with James’ metaphor, is the skill required to craft a novel that engages and delights readers. I think it requires persistence to the point of obsession. Fortunately, along the way there are tools that help us learn.

One of those tools is plot structure. Plenty of authors take a dim view of plot and subordinate it to story (See Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft). I appreciate their point. For myself, I’ve defined ‘story’ as ‘how your protagonist does not get what he or she wants’ and that reigns supreme in my consciousness while I write. However, plot structures are handy aides in the pursuit of thwarting, frustrating, and torturing your protagonist, like training wheels for learning to ride a bike. You won’t keep them on forever, but they’ll give you some support as you go.

Here are three useful plot structures for every storyteller to have in her toolbox. Remember, these structures are really scaffolds. It’s the minutiae of adventure and dialogue and characterization that matter — otherwise reading the Cliff Notes would be just as much fun as the actual novel—which must never be the case.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

plot structure

huffington-post

Foreword Reviews Spring Issue: Broken is “beautiful”
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Foreword Reviews Spring Issue: Broken is “beautiful”

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Foreword Reviews is the “library journal” of independent publishing. It’s a content-rich, beautifully put together magazine that’s published quarterly. The top of their Spring 2015 issue is emblazoned, “THE INDIE BOOKS WE LOVE” and this periodical means just that: they love indie titles. Foreword Reviews understands the value of independently published books and appreciates the quality of those independently published books with excellent production values.

It was with great delight that I received word, some months back, that my novel BROKEN would be reviewed and featured in Foreword Reviews. Not only that, but the editorial director politely wondered whether or not it was possible to get a jpg of the cover image, the painting upon which the cover is based.

In fact, Broken’s gorgeous cover is based on a painting by the extraordinarily gifted Roberto Ferri, an Italian figurative painter, and a hero of mine. Roberto’s work is utterly ravishing.

After a Skype session in Italian with my husband Sabin Howard (for whom Italian is his first language), Roberto graciously gave permission for me to use the painting for the book cover. He sent me a large file.

It was the one and only Gwyn Snyder who took that file and turned it into the book cover. And what a beautiful job Gwyn did! She’s so very talented.

So I happily asked Sabin to check with Roberto regarding Foreword Reviews featuring his painting, and he, again, generously gave permission.

The review of Broken is absolutely lovely. There’s a pix below. Allyce Amidon writes,

Slatton has created a beautiful, heart wrenching tale of humanity during the Second World War. …Slatton writes poignantly, with lyrical prose: “I have been shattered, the shattering is still with me. I am only shards now. There is no core.” This is a gorgeous philosophical treaty on right and wrong, the “why” behind impossible decisions, and what remains when everything is gone. Slatton guides the reader gently through to the end, all the more heartbreaking for its inevitability, imparting powerful, resonant themes as she goes.

Take a look online, and do consider a subscription!

 

Foreword REviews

Foreword Reviews

Sabin Howard Interview: Dialogues on the Drawing Book 2
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Sabin Howard Interview: Dialogues on the Drawing Book 2

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Sabin Howard Interview: Dialogues on the Drawing Book 2 is the second in a series of podcast/Youtube presentations.

My husband master sculptor Sabin Howard is working on a drawing book. This book will be entitled “Drawing: The Foundation of Art.” It’s really about the importance and value of drawing in the creation of art, and how drawing is a skill based on seeing.

This is an interesting interview, because it begins and ends with the personal, human viewpoint of the artist. In our first interview, Sabin discussed two elements in the making of art: the conceptual and the perceptual. In this dialogue, he explains the kind of art he is talking about: timeless art. He also talks about how he arrived at this kind of art, and mentions an awakening he experienced at the Medici Tombs in Florence when he was 14. He saw Michelangelo’s sculptures set into the architecture of the tomb and it elevated him.

Sabin relates the story of how he decided to become an artist. It happened one day, after he’d dropped out of college and was working in a woodworking shop in Philly. He spent a few days sweeping wood shavings and sanding wood and he realized that he wasn’t using his brain. He went to tell his boss that it wasn’t working out for him and he quit. He walked out of the shop and phoned his father–collect. When his dad picked up, Sabin said, “I’m going to go to art school.”

His dad asked, “How long is this going to last?” Then his dad hung up.

I don’t blame his dad, Sabin can be pretty frustrating. The irony is, of course, that art has lasted a lifetime–and since Sabin sculpts in clay and casts in bronze, his sculptures will last for millennia.

So take a listen or a look at the interview. And check out my podcast channel on iTunes, because the Dialogue will go live on it.

Listen here:
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://tracilslatton.com/sabindialogue2.mp3″]

Or watch on youtube:

Sabin Howard Dialogues

Sabin Howard Interview about His Drawing Book
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Sabin Howard Interview about His Drawing Book

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My husband Sabin Howard is a master sculptor. He’s currently working on a book called Drawing: The Foundation of Art. The drawing book is a kind of follow-up to our book The Art of Life, which was a photo-rich survey of figurative sculpture through the ages, from the very earliest times through the Renaissance and the Neo-classical periods until his work now.

Sabin is an exceptional draughtsman. With awe–because I know I could never do what he does–I watch him draw. He sits at our dining room table and focuses so fiercely that he doesn’t hear the rowdy dogs and rambunctious kid, the cell phone ringing and the front door banging open. He pours himself into his vision and his skilled hands with such intensity that it all fades away from him.

He knows what he’s doing, too. One of the things I find so fascinating about my husband is that he’s extraordinarily articulate about his work. Also about art in general. He tends to be quiet and soft-spoken until he launches into a discourse about art, both its history and its theory.

We talk about art all the time, and I think that’s one of the best things about being married to Sabin: our conversations about art. It’s these very conversations that led to our book The Art of Life, because he was speaking one day about his approach to sculpture and I said, “Sabin, people need know what you’re up to. It’s important.”

So now Sabin Howard is up to a book on drawing. The book is about how drawing is the basis of visual art. He has a lot of cool stuff to say about that, and I cajoled him into doing an interview with me for my iTunes podcast channel. He talks about the perceptual and the conceptual parts of doing art, and about the three great masters whom art students should study: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

Listen here to the Sabin Howard interview or on my podcast channel.
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://tracilslatton.com/sabindrawingbookinterview.mp3″]

OR watch on Youtube

Book Candy Studios Rocks Book Trailers
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Book Candy Studios Rocks Book Trailers

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There’s always this single, immutable question, in a marketplace absolutely avalanched with books, print books and eBooks, both traditionally and independently published: How do I set my books apart so that readers know about my books and buy them?

How do I make my books stand out? How do I make my books appeal to customers?

There are a variety of ways to market and promote books. One way is book reviews on book review blogs. That helps to spread the word. Another way is book trailers.

I’ve been so fortunate to work with Book Candy Studios. They’re extraordinarily gifted at making book trailers. They care if authors are 100% happy with the trailers and they go out of their way to ensure quality. Book Candy Studios made a trailer for my novels FALLEN and COLD LIGHT, with the old covers. When I updated the covers to my novels in preparation for the third novel in the series FAR SHORE, Book Candy Studios contacted me and asked if I’d like an updated trailer. I jumped at the offer, and they updated their wonderful trailer, free of charge.

That kind of outreach to customers goes above and beyond the call of duty. It’s more than just professionalism, it bespeaks a deep pride in their work and a real caring for their clients. It is the hallmark of integrity.

What about the trailers themselves?–Well, they’re amazing.

It’s not so easy to make book trailers, you see. The trailer has to tease, intrigue, and delight, while also being visually gorgeous. A trailer has to hook a reader and affect her so that she wants to go right to Amazon or B&N and buy the book. A trailer has to trigger desire for the book being showcased.

Book Candy Studios did all that and more with the latest trailers they did for my novel BROKEN. See below.

book trailers

FOREWORD REVIEWS book review of BROKEN
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FOREWORD REVIEWS book review of BROKEN

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I am so excited about this forthcoming book review by FOREWORD REVIEWS.

FOREWORD REVIEWS is the Library Journal of Independent Publishing. It’s an excellent periodical that’s available in both print and digital format; it was founded by three women writers and magazine professionals who got together to found a trade review journal for the burgeoning independent publishing industry. They have a great story about it here.

FOREWORD REVIEWS chose to review BROKEN in the forthcoming Sci Fi/Fantasy issue, which will ship at the end of February to B&N newsstands. The review is absolutely beautiful and I’ve been given permission to quote from it. They’ve also chosen to feature Robert Ferri’s gorgeous LIBERACI DAL MALE, the painting from which the cover of BROKEN is taken. I’ve seen the spread and it’s gorgeous.

Here is the review:

Broken

Traci L. Slatton

Parvati Press

Softcover $16.99 (225pp)

978-0-9860611-5-8

Slatton has created a beautiful, heart wrenching tale of humanity during the Second World War. When her beloved Ariel is lost, the angel Alia chooses to fall, taking on a human body in Paris on the eve of war. She befriends the city’s artists, from Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí to Edith Piaf and Sacha Guitry, and experiences all of Paris’s human pleasures: drinking, partying, and having sex with wild abandon. Two men, in particular, catch her affection: bullfighter Pedro and openly Jewish musician Josef. As the war takes over, Alia also finds herself drawn protectively to Josef’s widowed sister, Suzanne, and her young daughter, Cécile. But as the Nazi’s march in, Alia begins to fear she cannot save them all.

Slatton writes poignantly, with lyrical prose: “I have been shattered, the shattering is still with me. I am only shards now. There is no core.” This is a gorgeous philosophical treaty on right and wrong, the “why” behind impossible decisions, and what remains when everything is gone. Slatton guides the reader gently through to the end, all the more heartbreaking for its inevitability, imparting powerful, resonant themes as she goes. Among them, “neutrality is an excuse to give free rein to a bully.”

I love this review! MANY THANKS to Foreword Reviews!

book reviews