Peter M. Ball

Writing Advice - Craft & Process

Understanding the Micro-Structure of Scenes

Conversations about narrative structure often focus their attention on the macro level: here is the three act structure; here is what needs to happen at the midpoint; here is how you nail the ending. Rarely do they spend a lot of time looking at the microstructure of individual scenes, beyond some very perfunctory (albeit important) advice about making sure each involves conflict and changes/advances the overall story. Which is a pity, because understanding the microstructure of a scene is a surprisingly useful thing to have in your toolkit as a writer, particularly when you’re trying to resolve particularly thorny narrative problems. It’s one thing to say that a scene is built around two characters coming into conflict, and another to see how writers use that to generate specific effect Shawn Coyne gives a neat outline of beats within a scene in The Story Grid; Robin Law’s Beating the Story offers some useful frameworks when he breaks stories (and scenes) into alternating patterns

PeterMBall 04/09/2018

Journal

Making Do

I broke the camera lens on my phone twelve months ago. Three times I tried to get it repaired, and three times I was rebuffed or quoted a bill far larger than I wanted to pay for a working camera. The rest of the phone worked fine, and I could still take blurry close-ups of anything truly important. If I really got desperate, I could use the selfie-camera and rely on the auto-zoom. No problem, I thought. I can do without a camera. I’ll make do with what I’ve got. I placed sticky tape over the shattered lens and got on with things. The first problem came a few months ago, when I needed to photograph a doctors receipt for the Australian medicare app. Getting an image clear enough required several attempts, many knock-backs, and a convoluted set-up that involved lying under a coffee table and trying to take a clear selfie of the receipt on the tabletop above me.

PeterMBall 03/09/2018

Sunday Circle

The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them). After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all. Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here). MY CHECK-IN What am I working on this week? I’m locking down the first

PeterMBall 02/09/2018

Madcap Adventures and Distracting Hijinx

Pinch Hitter

I got called in to deliver a seminar presentation on short notice. Twenty-six hours from “yes, I’ll do it,” to being in the room talking submissions and the publishing industry and answering questions about how it all works. Building content off the powerpoint provided and trusting in experience and prior seminars to fill in the rest of what I needed. It went well. Better than expected, since the last time I did a library seminar was around three years ago. I love a quick turn-around project, every now and then. The pressure to deliver on a tight deadline, coupled with the knowledge that you’re a last minute replacement, means I’m hyper-aware the the primary virtue of the work is getting it done on time and good enough instead of fretting about being great. Over the years I’ve done it with freelance game design, short stories to fill anthology gaps, lectures, workshops and seminars. They’re almost never the best work that I’ve

PeterMBall 31/08/2018

Sunday Circle

The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

PeterMBall 26/08/2018

Sunday Circle

The Sunday Circle: What Are You Working On This Week?

PeterMBall 19/08/2018

Stuff

Taking a Look at Hoth and the Transition to the Second Act

Last year, my friend Kevin opened a can of worms a while back when he started a Facebook thread about the Rebel’s retreat from Hoth in Empire Strikes Back, suggesting it should be thought of as a win. The rebels were beaten, he argued, but they’re a guerrilla force up against a considerably larger and more well-equipped army – in this context, fleeing in an orderly fashion and getting the bulk of their forces away counts was textbook planning for a guerrilla army in that position. Lots of people argued it was a loss: the rebels were routed, barely escaped, and were largely scattered. I kept out of the thread initially because what I know about military strategy was learned by playing Command and Conquer, but someone else brought up the the fact that the narrative demanded a defeat at the beginning of the second act and suddenly, lo, I knew things. I hadn’t ever taken a close look at the

PeterMBall 17/08/2018

Madcap Adventures and Distracting Hijinx

Reminder for Brisbane Folk: Angela Slatter Launches a New Book on Friday

As long-time readers of this blog are largely aware, the inevitable Angela Slatter is my write-club buddy and overall font of good writing advice. She’s also launching the third book of her Verity Fassbinder series, Restoration, at a Brisbane Libraries event coming up on Friday night, 6:30 to 7:30pm, at the Brisbane Square Library. It’s free, but bookings are essential, so you should hie yourself over here to register and make sure theres sufficient cupcakes on hand when we mob the place and get books signed. Not sure if it’s your thing? Here’s the blurb: Walking between the worlds has always been dangerous – but this time V’s facing the loss of all she holds dear. Verity Fassbinder thought no boss could be worse than her perfectionist ex-boyfriend – until she grudgingly agreed to work for a psychotic fallen angel. And dealing with a career change not entirely of her own choosing is doing nothing to improve V’s already fractious

PeterMBall 15/08/2018

Writing Advice - Business & the Writing Life

We All Have The Same 24 Hours To Get Writing Done, But Those Hours Aren’t Created Equal

Recently, I made the decision to stop working from home. I don’t write there, I don’t produce blog posts there, and I do my best to avoid spending time on the PC answering email or doing writing-based social media. I barely even take notes in my bullet journal, or break out a notebook for planning. This decision was largely made because I share a one-bedroom apartment with my partner. A very small one-bedroom apartment, split between two people who were used to living alone. And two people who have had their fare share of mental health challenges, with their respective coping mechanisms built around time alone. This had consequences: working from home meant my partner felt bad about taking a day off work when sick or in need of a break, because it meant disrupting my work routine. Working from home also meant there was no clear delineation between me-at-work, and me-at-home, so there was never a sense that I was

PeterMBall 13/08/2018

Sunday Circle