STORY MAP
You're already an exceptional writer. The Story Map will make you an exceptional storyteller, which will set you apart from the countless other novelists and memoirists who are lost in the woods of their projects, unable to see the forest for the trees.
The map delineates three territories--Character, Plot, and Theme--and the elements that comprise them. Whether you're a beginner or expert, many drafts in or just getting started, this breakthrough tool will guide you to a more impactful, publishable book.
CHARACTER
If a story is what happens when a protagonist is thrust into a plot and changes (or fails to change) as a result, then you need to know what she's changing from and how she got that way.
The Story Map navigates the often confusing terrain of backstory, where a protagonist's "fatal flaw" or "wound" is formed. No longer will you struggle to determine which backstory is relevant to your characters and plot. The map clarifies this relationship and will imbue both with greater purpose and depth.
PLOT
More than a linear chain of cause and effect--this happened, then this happened, etc.--plot is the intersection of character and event, and an expression of their mutual dependency.
Regardless of what genre you write in, from fantasy to literary and anything in between, the map will help you construct a plot that grips readers from inciting incident to revelation--one that feels motivated, meaningful, and inevitable every step of the way.
THEME
Few diagrams ascend to the altitude of theme, but the Story Map goes above and beyond to express its complex relationships with backstory, frontstory, character, plot, voice, and more.
From the rarefied air of moral arc to the terra firma of setting and scene, the Story Map will take your understanding of theme to a new level and help you leverage it to strengthen every aspect of your book so that it lingers in readers' minds long after the last page has turned.
