Dean Wesley Smith talks about the importance of Lester Dent's Master Plot Formula, originally written in the 1930s.

These nine videos help you understand plotting of stories and novels and how to see the bones under a story. Lester Dent claimed that if he followed the formula, his stories always sold. All bestsellers in modern times follow this structure as well.

Step-by-step, Dean will help you understand why this plot structure works and how to understand it and apply it to your own writing.

The Kris & Dean Show Goes to the Movies: Back to the Future by WMG Publishing

For over three hours, Kris and Dean will go scene-by-scene through Back to the Future: The First Movie.

Back to the Future is a fantastic way to learn story. Detail by detail on how to build a story, from openings to try/fails to climax and validation.

Also the movie is great for learning pacing. And fantastic for information flow. That opening alone will take some time to go through.

And for building great characters, both main characters and secondary characters.

Extreme depth, great foreshadowing, action sequences, and so much more.

Kris and Dean will go over the movie, stopping and starting it and talking about each area of the movie as they go.

You will have to pull up Back to the Future on your computer or television, get ready to stop and start it dozens and dozens of times, and follow along with the learning.

So you can take your time going through it, improving your writing craft every time.

CURATOR'S NOTE

For years, Dean Wesley Smith and I used to speak for two days straight at conferences. Those shows have become the stuff of legend, but most people don't talk about the two days of detail. They talk about the bonus event in the evening, where we used to go through a movie image by image to illustrate character development, plotting, and information flow. We had fun doing Back To The Future, which not only sets up the past of the story, but the future as well. There are hints for all three movies in the first, as well as information flow that begins before the credits even start. Writers can learn a lot from this little workshop, which normally sells for $75. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "If I say I owe my career to these two award-winning writers and editors, they'll tell me that I'm the one who put in the work. But I'm still going to give them credit…this [is] my wholehearted recommendation for The Kris & Dean Show. "

    – Annie Reed Award-Winning Author
 

PREVIEW