Isabelle Drake

  Bring on the holidays...and a cozy, upbeat romance read.  💋💕 Hit here to read my November newsletter. The meet cute from Not Home for the Holidays an upbeat, cozy, holiday romance: The elevator is straight ahead, flanked by a row of gray and white marble columns. Garlands and potted poinsettias are everywhere. The greens are wrapped around the columns, the pots are beside the elevator doors and placed in exact locations along the walls. Classical music drifts through the air. The soles of my boots hit the tile floor with a smart smack and the echo of my walk follows me as I move closer to the elevator then stop. I push the up button. As I wait, I recognize the song. It’s Deck the Halls, but its barely recognizable in the very formal classical version. Lights above blink and seconds later, the doors separate, revealing a man, standing squarely in the center of the car. He’s wearing a navy-blue suit, white and blue striped shirt, and coordinating blue tie. That may sound bas...

SCENE STRUCTURE BASICS Typical scene structure: X wants [scene goal] _______because [motivation] ________ but [conflict] ________. The end result of scene: 1.       scene goal is not achieved and situation is worse. 2.       scene goal is achieved but new goal is necessary/new problem created. Want to mix it up? Complicate things? SCENE STRUCTURE VARIATIONS X wants [scene goal] _______because [motivation] ________ but [conflict] ________. Y wants [scene goal] _______because [motivation] ________ but [conflict] ________. and X wants/avoids {internal conflict}_________ from Y because ____________ but __________. Y wants/avoids {internal conflict}_________   from X because ____________ but __________. ^^^ This is the necessary push pull for an effective scene. Use the character’s motivation against her/him. Character must be motivated to move forward. ·          Charac...