Martha Alderson may have grown up dyslexic and non-verbal, but it didn’t stop her love of stories and writing.

Her dad was trying to write a biography about one of her ancestors, but he wasn't getting anywhere. So she said she would get him organised. She found she loved working on the biography and was hooked on storytelling.

What she didn’t understand, though, was plotting and she made it her mission to learn so she could do her stories justice.

This in time led to her book, The Plot Whisperer, in which she guides her readers through the basic principles of plotting, and beyond.

Martha Alderson shares the more common mistakes she sees new writers make, and suggests how they can be corrected.

For her the most important elements to devising a universal plot are Dramatic Action and Character/Emotional plot.

We discuss the importance of finishing your first draft. It’s vital writers practice finishing their stories, not just starting. Only when you finish your story do you really understand what it’s about.

As Martha says, you don’t need to plug every gap in your manuscript to get to the end.

We go on to talk about her book Boundless Creativity. It’s aim is to help writers see themselves as the protagonists of their own lifes and work through their own emotional arc.

This lets writers see the journey they’ve taken and how writing their book has changed them for the better. It allows writers to flourish and bring their gifts forward to the world.

Martha Alderson founded PlotWriMo, which she offers to writers post NaNoWriMo. Now that you have 50,000 words, what do you do with them? Martha tells you!

She has a free YouTube series that takes you through that revision process.

We finish our conversation by talking about Martha Alderson’s own fiction. Her first book was Parallel Lives, and she’s just finished her second novel, The Avenue, which she’s looking to query later this year.

It was a delight to speak to Martha and I know you’ll get a lot out of our conversation, particularly if you are curious to understand the fundamentals of plotting.

Links:

Home - Martha Alderson
Martha Alderson’s books - https://amzn.to/3p0sOvk
PlotWriMo - https://www.youtube.com/user/marthaalderson/featured
Plot Whisperer blog - https://marthaalderson.com/plot-whisperer-blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/plotwhisperer
Facebook: (2) The Plot Whisperer | Facebook
Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/plotwhisperer and www.Instagram.com/marthasalderson

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