Lara Zielinsky

Plotting Subplots

(apologies for my tardiness) Life is rarely, if ever, lived in a straight line from setting a goal to achieving it. First, the plan itself can suffer setbacks, a shift to another path to the same goal, or even retrenching and starting over with an entirely new goal in mind. But even on a longContinueContinue reading “Plotting Subplots”

Writing through conflict

The meat of any story is the scenes showing the conflicts and obstacles that the main character(s) face as they try to reach some sort of end point that they can be happy with, or satisfied by. Sometimes they have fully envisioned it, mapped every step it will take to get where or what theyContinueContinue reading “Writing through conflict”

The first turn

Note, while I discuss this as the inciting incident and not the beginning page of your story, several genres do begin their storytelling here, in medias res (in the midst of things). Trouble has found the main character. The normalcy of the character that you established in the beginning page is disrupted. The cop whoContinueContinue reading “The first turn”

More setting

Previously, I discussed the sensory details part of building your setting. Time (and season) Of course, that is not all that setting is. Setting is also the time (of day for scenes; season or year for stories) things are happening, too. Inasmuch as the weather or anniversaries or daily patterns impacts the character you shouldContinueContinue reading “More setting”

Setting up

To continue my previous topic of starting at the beginning with your stories, I’m going to talk today about setting up your setting. probably my favorite cartoon of all time, Snoopy spent decades trying to write his story. Setting is the place where your story takes place: New York, Paris, a loft in Soho, aContinueContinue reading “Setting up”

Starting at the beginning

Happy new year, everyone. Welcome to 2025. Let’s start at the very beginning… What comes first when you set out to write a story? The characters or the plot? Do you say something like “I’ve got this rich playboy…”? Or do you say “There’s this company taking over another…”? For more guidance how to begin,ContinueContinue reading “Starting at the beginning”

2024 Year in Review

My fourth official year as a business was my busiest yet. As is my habit, I like to review how I did. My metrics are income on some level, but also, I like to assess how many projects came from new clients and how many from returning clients, and to consider how any sales, discounts,ContinueContinue reading “2024 Year in Review”

Plotting New Character Goals

Welcome back to my newsletter. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my goal in 2025 is to post bi-monthly. No better time to start a new habit than right away. As in life, you do not have to set an arbitrary future date to make changes in your life. Small, incremental shifts “one stepContinueContinue reading “Plotting New Character Goals”

December 2024

Heads up! For 2025, I will be shifting to twice monthly posting. Hopefully this will mean I will be able to tag only one or two key ideas instead of half a dozen, making the posts easier to search for specific advice. I’ve been told I should write my stories with a theme. How doContinueContinue reading “December 2024”