At the recent Romance Writers of Australia conference I attended a workshop by Nina Bruhns (Entangled editor and author). She built on Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat", a book I'd heard about, but never read. This was one of those lightbulb moments and I left Nina's fab workshop determined to get the book and learn more - including how to write a Beat Sheet.
I'm now halfway through and I am glad I spent the money. I've been slowly weeding out craft books I rarely refer to, or didn't find helpful, or are no longer relevant to the direction my writing is taking me (mostly to save my groaning bookshelf!). I'd promised myself no-more-craft-books. But this one was well worth it. It's a keeper.
All I want in the way of craft books are just 2 or 3 that resonate with me. That I can easily apply to my writing. That will move my writing forward. That I enjoyed reading. "Save the Cat" ticks all the boxes.
I still have some craft books I haven't yet opened *blush*. Not that I didn't buy them thinking they would be useful, or that I no longer want to read them. I do. It's just that time taken reading a craft book could be spent writing. But I think I need to start reading them and flushing out those that I don't want to keep.
Hmm, talking about my keeper-craft books might be a post for the future. But for now, I'm going to reaad another chapter of "Save the Cat".
Have you read "Save the Cat"?