Books by Meg Long

My Basic Beat Sheet for Writers

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 09:10:13 -0800

So, what exactly is a beat sheet?

For those who aren’t familiar, a beat sheet is basically an outline that covers the important moments in a story (aka the’ beats’.)

There’s a lot of different beat sheets out there depending on what you’re writing—beat sheets for screenplays , for romance , for mysteries , for those very typical hero’s journey plots, for everything! I even wrote a beat sheet a few years back based on the movie The Matrix.

The great thing about writing, is that there’s no one way to plot a novel. You can take what you want from any of those beat sheets and make them in to your own.

Which is exactly what I did for CTNFTW!

First, I broke down my story into 4 parts or 4 acts. (Learn more about the 4 act structure here.) From there, I focused on four or five beats for each act. My beats are really more like chunks of story rather...Read More

Story Slice: Twisting the Chosen One Archetype (Part 1)

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 10:18:52 -0800

Did you know you can twist a character archetype to surprise and delight your audience?

First, what is a character archetype? Essentially, they're broad character types that are repeated across stories and often represent specific aspects of human nature that feel familiar or universal (or at least universal to Western audiences. It's a very Western-centric idea.) There's lots of lists of archetypes out there on the Internet. Some sources say there's only twelve literary ones, others list hundreds. Usually, archetypes are used to plot stories and character journey arcs.

But, did you know that writers can take archetypes and twist them to make them stronger for their audience? Let's dive into how to do this with a very familiar one: The Chosen One archetype. (Also referenced as the “Hero” or the Hero's Journey.)

For the next couple of Story Slices, let's dig into the "traditional" aspects of The Chosen One archetype and I'll show you how my favorite Chosen One — Po from Kung Fu Panda — twists or subverts it for maximum impact.

Character Trait #1

One character trait of the chosen one is that they often don't know much about the world they've been chosen to save. They're brand new, which makes it relatable as an audience because you learn about the world as they do.

Examples of this: Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker (new to the Jedi!), Neo (from the Matrix), Sailor Moon, literally any portal fantasy anime.

So, how...Read More

Prep for (ADHD) Drafting: What My Outlines Look Like

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:08:53 -0800

Let’s talk outlines. Some people love them, others hate them.

To be totally transparent, I am not allowed to start a draft WITHOUT a full outline, start to end.

Why? Because my ADHD loves to latch onto fun concepts and just go with it, resulting in many, many unfinished manuscripts.

There was a recent trend on Instagram for writers to list out the manuscripts that we didn’t sell or didn’t finish to show how much writing we do that isn’t seen by others. My list would be toooo long for one Instagram post honestly. (I think in 2020, I wrote over 300k words and did not have a finished story to show for it! 😅😭)

So, for my new YA horror idea, I told myself I wasn’t allowed to draft without an outline. Especially since this story had multiple POVs that I would have to juggle and keep track of. And I loved the idea too much to let it fizzle out (which happens when I don't outline!)

For me, outlines have become a multi-step process. The first step was breaking down each act and creating beats based on all the horror movies and gothic books I was reading. (I still used my basic beat sheet for this btw!) Once I found those common beats, I started mapping out my story to fit them. Here’s a quick example of my first pass at baseline beat notes for act 1:

Hook: Prologue (hint of what’s to come) First chapters, intro the characters and their basic need states and relationships
Set Up: Slow sink into weirdness; establish gothic house / psuedo-academic facility setting tropes
Rising Action: the representatives of the antagonist forces slowly gets close to the teens, both being supportive and equally weird all at once. The teens want to trust them, but their histories don't allow them to really trust any...Read More

Story Slice: Prologues & Ready or Not

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 07:52:45 -0700

One of my current manuscripts is a gothic-inspired horror. It’s got teens with abilities, adults doing questionable things, and a creepy, mysterious house. This is a pretty big genre shift from my action-adventure sci-fi books, which means my favorite part of drafting — Research! Aka, the time where I watch/read tons of stories and take notes on everything from themes to plot to quirky character traits. (This is honestly the best part of drafting in my opinion. There’s no pressure, you’re just learning, it’s all fun.)

My brand of horror leans more horror lite / slasher — more like Scream and not The Exorcist. Ready Or Not is one of my faves in this genre. It’s fun, a little scary + creepy, and leans heavily on action to deliver suspense. When I began brainstorming my story, I knew this was the experience I wanted to create.

One thing that I think the movie does really well is hint / tease at the horror and violence to come in the opening scenes. Without revealing too many spoilers, let’s see how this prologue sets up a few things that will matter throughout the story:

Foreshadowing: The opening image is a teaser for the whole movie: it shows a demon-looking face with the words “Take a risk. Gain the advantage. (Something that the main character will have to do in order to survive.) There’s also a wounded man and people hunting them, foreshadowing events and violence to come.
Mystery Setup: This whole scene sets up questions in the audiences’ mind: What is going on with this family? Why are they trying to kill one of their own?

It’s these types of ‘why’ questions that will keep audiences watching as they try and figure out the answers!

Theme: We’ve got a brother helping his younger sibling, then his mom saying “she’s so proud of him”. We see the bride and we assume the man being hunted is the groom. All of...Read More

Revision Tips for ADHD Writers

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 09:36:28 -0700

Revisions can be scary. In a more formal process, writers will get an edit letter from a CP, agent, or editor. Edit letters are usually intense and a lot to take in at all at once. Some edits might be on the line level, some might be big picture stuff that requires reworking (and then that may lead to more things that need revising!) This can be even more intense for neurodiverse people as we’re not always good at prioritizing action items based on need or size. We also have lots of immediate emotional responses that are often hard to parse through!

(It’s not all doom and gloom--ADHD folks are known to be highly creative!)

I generally read the edit letter through a few times over. I might jot down some notes and first reactions that I then tweak as I re-read. Once I have that list, my immediate goal is to rearrange and regroup the items. This is the most important step because I’m going to use the grouped items as my guide throughout the entire revision process.

How do I group the revision items? I put them into high level categories. For many of us with ADHD, big ambiguous tasks can be beyond daunting. Making groups and categories helps me break up the big stuff into smaller, more manageable chunks. The groups usually include some variation of these three categories:

Character arcs
World building
Factual / Structural edits

Character Arcs

This one’s pretty straight forward – its the edits I need to do to make the character arc stronger. Character arcs are usually my weakness, especially in early drafts. Sometimes those edits might also include additional voice tweaks. For Storm, while Remy’s arc mostly stayed the same (discovering who she was), her voice shifted from draft to draft as I tried to nail down her...Read More

Getting Over Writer's Block

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 12:32:25 -0700

First off, I want to specify first that there are many kinds of writer’s block in my experience. There’s blocks that happen when you’re writing a draft or even revising. There’s walls I hit when I’m plotting and brainstorming. Some days, all of it seems impossible. (We’ve all been there, I promise!)

No matter where I am in the process, I usually have one go-to fix when I hit those walls and can’t seem to move forward. It’s a pretty simple solution in my opinion.

I’ve gotten stuck at every stage of the book writing process. I’ve been stuck when drafting, when revising and editing prose on a line level, when brainstorming—all of it!

(Sometimes, it’s related to my mental state, and I’ve learned to recognize when I’m hitting a wall that is actually a message from my subconscious telling me to take a break.)

But what about the other times—the times when I’m ready and excited to write, but nothing appears in my brain? Those times when I stare at the blank page and think “Wow, I have no idea what happens here.”

Susan Dennard often says in her writing advice, that when she’s stuck, it’s because something, somewhere is wrong. This is usually somewhat true in my experience. It could be that something I’ve plotted out previously isn’t quite right and needs to be redone. But more likely in my case, it’s not the plot that’s convoluted.

It’s the character.

The number one reason why I get stuck is because I’ve gotten too focused on what’s happening around the character when I should be focusing on their character arc.

Character arcs are my weakest link as a writer. I get easily distracted and forget about them in plotting. Then I’ll get stuck and ponder my own writing ability for a week or so before I remember that I’m supposed to be writing a story ABOUT...Read More

Worldbuilding: Language and Slang

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 11:41:53 -0700

Why language matters…
Obviously language choice matters in a book since they’re literally built of words. And while the language used in a story’s prose is important, there are other language choices that are just as important.
If prose choices reflect what’s important to the author, then slang and dialogue choices should reflect what matters to the characters. It’s a small distinction but a very important one.
Like Goldilocks, writing slang and specific language into your story can usually go one of three ways:
Too much slang (that then makes everything overly complex or hard to follow).
Mismatched slang (that takes readers out of the story or feels too modern or too forced).
Just the right amount of slang (that immerses readers without jarring them).
It can be pretty easy to fall into the traps of 1 and 2.
Some authors love world building to the point where they come up with new words for literally everything. New curse words, new vocabulary, weird place names—I’m sure you’ve read a book like this. Sometimes this can work if a story is very high fantasy or hard sci-fi, but even then sometimes words can be overdone. (Note: authors of color writing complex worlds based on a real world language do not fall into this category. Just because words seem foreign to a Western-centric audience, does not make them overdone!)
Other writers are light on world building, which isn’t always a bad thing. But if you’re writing a sword and sorcery fantasy book and your characters sound like they’re friends with Cher from the movie, Clueless, it might seem really out of place and take your reader out of the world.
How can you find that perfect balance?
First, start with your book’s tone. Is it serious? Tongue in cheek? The slang and vocabulary should match that. If your sword and sorcery story is supposed to be wizards meets valley girls, then 90’s Clueless vocabulary could actually work...Read More

A Guide to Themes

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 11:23:36 -0800

What is a theme…
I ask myself this question a LOT. (Yes, even after multiple books.) And I swear the way we talked about themes in high school has never really been helpful.
I think a lot of writers struggle with themes and how to incorporate them into our stories. I’ve gotten better at being intentional with this before I start drafting.
Themes are hard. Sometimes, I can point them out in a movie or book and other times, it can be a struggle. Generally, the way I try to boil down the theme is by asking myself what the story is about on a VERY basic level. (Or the way Nick Miller describes his book on the show New Girl, “it's about a man who has nothing, who risks everything, to feel something.”)
All New Girl references aside, this is actually a great way to look at theme because you’re not letting any plot elements or tropes get in the way.
For example, if I describe Wolves on a super basic level, the story will sound something like this: “It’s about a lonely girl who learns how to open herself up to relationships again after a devastating loss.” Or, even simpler: “it’s about a loner girl and a feral wolf who learn to become a family.”
Okay, so we’ve got down the theme! Great job! Now…how do we apply that to writing the story? 😬
It doesn’t have to be hard! (Though sometimes, it just is.) When I was drafting Wolves, I made myself a note on my Trello board: “Main Theme - learning to accept new family/friends into your life.” So, I knew from the get-go what I wanted this story to be about. When I started developing the overall story, I always knew that I wanted it to be about a girl who becomes friends with a wolf.
To make that journey more impactful, I realized that my main character needed to be a loner by choice as well as circumstance. That way, as she learned to trust this wolf, the readers would see how she struggles and grows and it would be a more emotional story.
Remy’s...Read More

Fight Scene Basics

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:39:42 -0800

Crafting a perfect fight scene might feel like a fun time or might feel super intimidating. You’re already having to research so much for world building, do you really need to become a martial arts expert as well?
Probably not (though, there are lots of benefits from training in a martial art!) But fear not, I’ve got some very easy basics and tips to help you prep and write killer fight scenes—all based on my real world experience owning a Thai boxing gym. (In fact, I’m going to reveal one move that’s practically always perfect.)
Like all action scenes, fight scenes can be intimidating to write. There’s a lot of moving parts (body parts included!) Here are some basic ways that I tackle writing them.
1. Block out the scene
Actors do this for stage productions and film, right? It also helps tremendously in writing. First, I try to figure out all the external factors: Where are the characters when the fight happens? What’s around them in the setting? Who else is around / Are they in a crowd? You need to know all of these things because your characters will still be interacting with everything. Maybe they use the environment to their advantage. Or maybe they have to avoid certain things.

Second, I visualize the stages of the fight. Example: If one character is in X location when another attacks, how and where do they move next? Sometimes I draw maps or diagrams on paper. A lot of times, I will physically get up and move around to test things. Sometimes, I even rope other people into helping me by standing in place of another character or throwing a punch so I can see how their body’s positioned.
2. Consider physics and body size.
I hate watching movies where some tiny girl does like a judo throw on a much larger opponent and flips them feet over head. I am a small girl (5 ft 2 inches) and I would probably not try and throw someone...Read More

5 Websites For Better Writing

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 11:35:03 -0800

Most, if not all, writers are familiar with using a thesaurus when we’re stuck on a word. Thesaurus.com is probably one of my most visited websites of all time. It’s quick and easy, and there’s always some good options.
But what about for the times when you’re really, really stuck and the basic thesaurus is just not cutting it?
Good news, there are even better thesauruses (thesaurusi?) out there! Here are my top 5 websites to help stuck writers. Not only will these resources assist your word searching, I use them for naming characters, places, and even deeper world building. (None of these are sponsored or anything; they’re all just my personal faves!)
1. Power Thesaurus
I really do love thesaurus.com. But sometimes, I need more. And Power Thesaurus delivers so much more! It goes beyond the main matching synonyms and pulls in slightly related ones as well. It also tells you the part of speech and a one word definition at a quick glance. When I’m not sure what exact word I want but I know the vibes I want, Power Thesaurus is perfect resource
2. Related Words
Like the name says, this website pulls any and ALL related words that might apply to your search query. This site is also really helpful when you’re looking more for an idea or concept but aren’t sure what exactly you want (again with the vibes!) I use this site a lot when I’m drafting; especially if I need to come up with a term or a slang word that my characters will use within the...Read More