We're talking writing here, but the terminology is based on movies. An act is actually what's written between the beats. A group of scenes that make up the story. Like beats, the number of acts is pretty much determined by genre. Romance, for example, has a basic 3 acts: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, …
On Beats
Back in the day, there was no such thing as 'Beats'. This is a name that has come to us from the script writing industry. They come with all kinds of names that change according to who you're reading. Nothing wrong with it, but it's a bit confusing until you realize what they are: plot …
What’s after that?
In my last post, I talked about the next steps after finishing a rough draft. In this post, I'm discussing the steps following that. Once I get done making an outline of what I've already written, I start making changes based on my notes. I call it red-lettering because I use red in my outline …
What’s next?
I get asked all the time, "I wrote a book. What do I do next?" The very first thing I ask is, "Is the story finished? Have you written The End yet? Or are you still writing?" I usually get the answer that they're still writing. So my first bit of 'What's next' advice is …

