WEBVTT 1 00:00:10.210 --> 00:00:17.419 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: Perfect. Yeah, let's get the chat open so I can stop to see people arriving. 2 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:20.140 Okey-dokey. 3 00:00:21.170 --> 00:00:23.830 There we go. Nice one. 4 00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:29.139 I've already got quite a few people joining us, which is great. 5 00:00:30.330 --> 00:00:31.240 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: Hmm. 6 00:00:33.660 --> 00:00:37.129 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: my golf. Let's see. 7 00:00:37.600 --> 00:01:06.380 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: Casey. I recognize that name Ellen Daryl got you from Michigan. Hi! Everyone welcome do join us. We see there's lots of people coming in and, as usual, with our webinars. If you can see and hear me. Please leave your name, and where you're viewing from in the chat so that we can see where everyone is watching from. I've got California, Florida, Maryland. 8 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:10.679 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: More from California. 9 00:01:11.820 --> 00:01:13.210 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: tamper 10 00:01:13.330 --> 00:01:29.050 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: oh, San Diego, Portsmouth, yeah. Uk, it's always interesting seeing people from the Uk like this. Late in the evening. I mean I did one the 110'clock the other day, and it was nice to see some people from the Uk. Then as well. 11 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:40.980 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: Hi! Again! To people that are joining us that have already been joining us this week, and if you haven't joined us already this week, then welcome. 12 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:48.230 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: So just before we get started, I'm going to go through some quick housekeeping slides 13 00:01:48.270 --> 00:01:51.910 before I hand over to Samantha. 14 00:01:52.060 --> 00:02:10.789 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: So first of all, how to access your replays. So we record all of our webinars so that you guys can either watch them again if if you're not making notes now, or anyone who isn't watching it right now can watch them in the future. 15 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:20.839 We do put post them to our hub page, but they do take a little bit of time to get processed by zoom. So unfortunately, we can't control how quickly that takes so 16 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:39.589 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: quickly. That takes how long that takes so they'll be posted as soon as possible. They'll be available to everyone. For a week after the event. So it's until September 20, eighth for these ones. And then, after this date, the replays are available for pro writing Academy members only. 17 00:02:40.470 --> 00:03:04.410 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: This time we are offering a 40% off yearly for writing a premium discount so that'll give you access to all of the premium tools. So any advance suggestions? We've got loads of other premium features. Author comparisons. Lots of different settings you can change, and just more features that we keep releasing 18 00:03:04.410 --> 00:03:12.659 features that we're we're all really excited to share with you. So yeah, do do think about upgrading, if you need to. 19 00:03:12.730 --> 00:03:15.980 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: The offer ends on September 20 eighth as well. 20 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:46.180 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: If you want to keep talking science fiction writing or any other writing for that matter, you can join our online writing community. Using your pro writing aid login. We're all active on there, and we love seeing everybody chatting about. All your different projects and interests and everything to do with writing really or books, for that matter. If you wanna drop some books we love, we love seeing more stuff like that cause we've got our own book club. So any kind of recommendations are great. 21 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:58.719 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: So you can talk to other sci-fi writing fans. Sometimes speakers drop in there as well. To talk. But yeah, if you feel like joining our community, then feel free. 22 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:09.880 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: And then just some reminders for this session. So please use the QA. Box if you've got questions for our speaker. And you know we're gonna go through them at the end as many as we possibly can. 23 00:04:09.970 --> 00:04:26.049 But if you'd like to chat with other viewers, then please use the chat. I know that we've got such a supportive and loving community of people that join these webinars, who like to chat to each other in in the chat, and I like to get involved with that as well, so I'd love to hear from you. 24 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:55.060 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: And I imagine Samantha will also keep an eye on the chat a little bit as well, so that'll be nice. And then any links to your offers from our speakers will be available on the Science Fiction writers, week Hub, and in our participants guide. But I'm also going to drop some links in the chat now, just so that you guys can grab those because I usually add them at the end, and I always worry that people don't have enough time to grab them. So I'm just dropping them now 25 00:04:55.300 --> 00:05:22.420 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: so hopefully everyone can see those and I think that's pretty much it for the housekeeping. So let's get down to it. Today. We're joined by Samantha. I gotta try and pronounce it the way that he says, skull and so Samantha is an author, accelerator, book, coach, and agented author who specializes in coaching mystery 26 00:05:22.430 --> 00:05:32.629 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: thriller, and romantic suspense, authors from novel planning all the way through to agent pitching, and especially loves twist brainstorming, interesting. 27 00:05:32.630 --> 00:05:52.869 figuring out pacing issues and the hell that is revision, don't we? Not? She is the co-director of pitchfest for thriller first, I mean, I love a pitchfest international thriller writers, annual writing conference and frequent volunteer mentor for the Women's Fiction Writers Association. 28 00:05:52.900 --> 00:06:08.769 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: She's also an enthusiast of homemade sourdough love, sourdough and cheese of all kinds, I mean, who isn't she also adores scary stories that keep her up at night, and good red wine, I mean, I'm more of a white myself. But you know, there you go. 29 00:06:08.770 --> 00:06:16.929 So yeah, I think that's it from me. If you want to take over Samantha, I'll stop sharing my screen, and we can get going 30 00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:39.900 Samantha Skal: awesome. Thank you so much, Sarah, and to everyone who stayed up late to come, watch this live. I really appreciate you, everyone else. I appreciate you, too, but especially the people that are up past their bedtime. It's awesome, and thank you to the names I saw that I recognized from the Academy sessions, and I have some friends out there as well. So thank you guys for coming. It's awesome to see you. So I am going to share my screen. 31 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:47.520 Samantha Skal: Sarah, can you just let me know. If you can see this, are we? Good, awesome. Okay. 32 00:06:47.760 --> 00:07:05.530 Samantha Skal: So welcome everybody. I'm so excited to give you this talk today. I this is, you know, if you've heard me speak before, you know that villains are kind of one of my darlings. I love talking about them. I think they're incredibly important. And it's an honor to get to be here today. So we are going to focus on 33 00:07:05.530 --> 00:07:30.379 Samantha Skal: mysteries and how to build one into your Science Fiction novel. But just so I make it clear who I'm talking to is any fiction writer looking to increase mystery, suspense, and twists in their story, and this does not mean that you have to make it a full-blown mystery. But you know, if you want to add something, or, you know, increase the pacing, or whatever. This is a great way to do it. If you're a plotter, plotter, or discovery writer, both of you are welcome, and 34 00:07:30.380 --> 00:07:36.269 if you're in planning or in revision, all of those are a Ok, basically, everybody who's just curious about mysteries is welcome. 35 00:07:36.310 --> 00:07:54.339 Samantha Skal: And if if you're curious about this, adding a mystery that doesn't fall flat, designing twists, and reveals that are satisfying, but not predictable and increasing your suspense and pacing. These are all things that we are going to cover today, including how mystery and suspense are tied, and why they're so important for reader engagement. 36 00:07:54.550 --> 00:08:19.190 Samantha Skal: And yes, obviously I am a mystery fan. I coach solar writers. So you're gonna get a bit of that lean today as opposed to something that doesn't include a mystery. But hopefully, this will be inspiring and brainstorming for you. I'm also gonna talk about how to incorporate a mystery. Why, villainous intent is the key designing twists at work. We're gonna do a. QA. And we are also going to cover how to add or change a twist without having to rewrite everything 37 00:08:19.280 --> 00:08:38.099 Samantha Skal: hopefully in parentheses. There. So obviously, there's a lot here. I talk quickly. I am sorry in advance about that. But in order to get through everything hopefully, if you can't understand something or I'm going too fast. Just watch the replay but my goal is to get us through this in 51 min. Exactly. So. We have time for QA. At the end. 38 00:08:38.230 --> 00:08:47.199 Samantha Skal: So Sarah covered a bit of this. I'm an author accelerator, certified book coach. If you're curious about what a book coach is or what author accelerator is, I'm happy to chat about it. 39 00:08:47.200 --> 00:09:11.189 Samantha Skal: Book coaches are basically developmental editors that move along the process of writing a novel with you, and it is the best work in the world, and I adore it. As Sarah said, I focus on mystery thriller and suspense as well as twist brainstorming. And when I say twist, I mean, like, you know, a typical thriller has twistiness is sort of one of the the main things you might say about it, and I absolutely adore doing that kind of work. 40 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:36.239 Samantha Skal: I'm an agent at author. I am working on my debut which I have been for a while. It is a process. And I recently got a promotion to be co-director of thriller fest itself. So please consider attending the conference next June. It's in New York. It's a blast. We talk about murder pretty much the whole time. It's amazing. And I haven't always been in the writing world. I was in hr and tech for like 10 years, and before that I worked with this woman 41 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:59.079 Samantha Skal: instructor. And I live in Seattle, Washington, where it is not raining today, which is a delight. Okay, so mystery and suspense, and why they are so important. So first, I want to talk about how subgenre, even if you're even if you're writing a science fiction novel. And that's the genre that you're in solidly. If you tell the reader that there's going to be a mystery, you have to solve it at the end. You can't let that 42 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:22.879 Samantha Skal: just sort of trail off and that is because reader, expectations must be met so that they believe you and can trust you going forward. The very worst thing you can do is sort of hint at a mystery, or tell them there's gonna be a mystery, and then not actually take it all the way through, because that breaks that bond, it breaks that trust, and they may not pick up your next book which we do not want. We want them to love you and buy every book you ever write. 43 00:10:23.050 --> 00:10:34.929 Samantha Skal: And then suspense is low key fear the whole time. So if you're labeling something, as you know suspenseful Science Fiction. We're going to expect that there's going to be something that's sort of a risk of life going on. 44 00:10:35.330 --> 00:11:04.750 Samantha Skal: Okay? So what is suspense. I believe that a suspense is the engine that keeps your story running. It is the question asked. It is the will. They won't they, you know, get together, be murdered, have the happy under it. Have to have the happy ever after ending will they win the game? Will they get the office, will they, you know, find the gold, whatever it is, defeat the aliens? But it's a promise of action, and that sort of question about whether or not we're going to 45 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:21.709 Samantha Skal: achieve. That is where the suspense comes in, like the reader assumes that we're going to be able to achieve it. But they don't really know whereas with a mystery, you actually do have that question answered, and everything is solved. But overcoming that obstacle. That's your story question, and that's what's going to hook those readers in 160. 46 00:11:21.710 --> 00:11:44.799 Samantha Skal: And so, you know, mystery is a question resolved. It implies a villain doing bad things. So you will note during this presentation, I am assuming that your story does have a villain. I have talked to some people this summer through the Academy sessions, where we had some stories that did not have a villain. I apologize. It will be focusing on villains today, but if you have any questions feel free to email me. 47 00:11:44.800 --> 00:12:07.800 Samantha Skal: Mystery also implies that good triumphs over evil, for now it doesn't mean that it's like great forever. But it does mean that there is a triumph, and it's suspenseful because we don't know how it will be resolved or resolved. But we know that it will be eventually this story question is, what engages engages readers? We want to know. What must the main character overcome to achieve their goal? 48 00:12:07.800 --> 00:12:32.609 Samantha Skal: Who is the protagonist? Why do they want what they want? Why does it matter what prevents them from getting it? Could there be a mystery that you add in maybe? I'm gonna talk about how you do that in just a second. But I do want to point out that the story question is one of these, one of the biggest things that you can decide for your story before you actually start writing, and I am coming from a planting background. I like to discovery right until I start plotting. 49 00:12:32.610 --> 00:12:37.890 and then I need to know where I'm going. And that story question is part of knowing where you're going. 50 00:12:38.330 --> 00:13:02.499 Samantha Skal: So why is all this so important because we want the reader to say just one more page. We want to engage them. We want to satisfy them. We want to build that trust that the suspense will resolve. And so you can picture a book where you have, like all this tension building up, and then in the climactic scene. It does sort of deflate like a balloon, and then in the end we're going to take it back up again to keep them hooked. 51 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:20.329 Samantha Skal: and until they slam the book shut and immediately buy next book on Amazon. And so that engagement and that sort of vibe of just one more page. This is what we're going for. And this is why, I think that, you know, adding a little bit of a mystery, or definitely adding, suspense is so so important. No matter the genre. 52 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:42.659 Samantha Skal: there are different types of suspense. There's big, scary suspense, like, you know, dude in the closet with a knife which hopefully never happens to anyone. But we put all the time in our books. There's romantic and sexual tension. There's emotional tension. There's goal tension. You can use them all, and you can add them on top of each other. Right? So you can have someone who wants to. 53 00:13:42.920 --> 00:13:56.060 Samantha Skal: you know, defeat someone, but then also has a romantic subplot. You can have someone who wants to do this thing over here, but also has this mystery they have to solve in order to be able to get to this thing over here, even if they're somewhat unrelated. 54 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:20.980 Samantha Skal: So how to add a mystery? I want you to add a villain. And the reason for this is I'm going to talk about a bit more in just a minute. But when we increase suspense and tension with a mystery subplot. It helps with pacing. And it can really, really sort of jumpstart if you have a novel where you're like. Well, it's good, but I'm not really sure, you know, like, why these people are doing these things. 55 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:27.499 Add a mystery. Get them something to solve, because it forces you to think about what's the logical next step in solving that mystery. 56 00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:57.350 Samantha Skal: And then I want you to ask yourself, as you're planning all of this out. What do you want to evoke for the reader. And the reason this sounds like manipulation is because it is when we get to a certain point in the novel writing process. Some of us are earlier than others. With this I myself think that this needs to be done before I start really writing we need to be very intentional about what happens when and intentional with what is disclosed when. And so you're gonna hear me talk a lot about this about thinking about 57 00:14:57.350 --> 00:15:15.400 Samantha Skal: how you would take your story and figure out what you need the reader to know when, so that they keep themselves engaged and hooked into your story. They're very interested to know what happens next, because you haven't just given them everything. They still have questions, and that's why they keep turning the page. And this reference to check offs gun is 58 00:15:15.610 --> 00:15:20.719 Samantha Skal: Oh, my gosh! I just forgot his first name. I am so sorry he has a first name. 59 00:15:20.820 --> 00:15:38.930 but the concept is basically, if you have a gun on the wall in the first scene, it needs to go off by the end of the book. And so, you know, you don't want to have too many sort of red herrings that don't go anywhere. You want to keep keep control of that and be very intentional about what you want the reader to feel at any given rate. 60 00:15:39.040 --> 00:16:03.330 Samantha Skal: Time. Sorry had Covid last week, and my brain still a little fried, so I apologize if I keep saying the wrong words. Everything's good. Now, I'm all fine. Okay? So the reader is your pov character. What the Pov character thinks, sees, and feels is what the reader will think, see, and feel. They are your guide, for how they go through the story. And so, if a mystery. If you're adding a mystery subplot your Pov character is going to become the investigator. 61 00:16:03.330 --> 00:16:28.190 Samantha Skal: They might be amateur sleuths. They might be somebody who actually has a, you know, law enforcement background or needs to solve something in order to get the thing done that they need to get done. But they're the one who's going to be translating for the reader. How everything appears to the reader appears to them. They're going to be noticing things and not noticing things, and every single thing that they notice is going to be something that allows the reader to further engage. 62 00:16:28.190 --> 00:16:50.359 Samantha Skal: And so, when we reference an obstacle from the Pov character that increases suspense if they, we need to be told, because all of this is on the page, right? We can't assume. The reader knows anything beyond what we've actually written down. And so, if the Pov character is, you know, jaunting through the story and doesn't tell us about this obstacle over here. We're not going to know about it. 63 00:16:50.360 --> 00:17:13.809 Samantha Skal: And so think about how your pov character can describe something, think about how they can react to dialogue, think about how they interpret each other's actions, how they translate what's going on in the story, and that is going to increase your suspense and also give you a wonderful platform from which to logically have them solve a mystery. This is one of the biggest things that I coach is letting us in the Pov character's head. 64 00:17:13.810 --> 00:17:31.139 Samantha Skal: There is this I think I mean, I've done it, too. It's it's a. It's a writer thing where we know what everyone is thinking, and we don't think about the fact that the reader also needs to know this, and the more that we sort of get in the Pov characters head and have them translate what's going on around them around them. 65 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:57.070 Samantha Skal: the more that we're able to engage with the entire story and really sink into it and sort of forget we're reading right? Which is the whole goal of fiction. So use inner thought to do this, you're gonna be thinking about what's going to happen. If this happens, what will they do? What's the worst possible thing that can happen? You know this is about naming the obstacle and increasing that suspense, and just making sure that the reader knows at any given time, like, if something is going, if something 66 00:17:57.070 --> 00:18:12.140 Samantha Skal: is scaring them, we want to know why we want to know why it matters to them what particularly they're scared of. Are they actually scared of dying? Or is it more like they're not going to get food tonight, so be as specific as you can. And in this way you will engage the reader even further. 67 00:18:12.140 --> 00:18:24.700 Samantha Skal: Okay, so that was a whole bunch about how to actually increase suspense on the page, and why it's so important. And now we're going to get into villains, which is the key to building suspense and mystery. 68 00:18:24.700 --> 00:18:43.520 Samantha Skal: So, as I said before, this is all going to assume that you have a villain who is sent in your story, and I will talk to just a little bit about that in a second. But the antagonist and the villain in this case are going to be the same thing. It's not always true. You can have an antagonist who? 69 00:18:43.520 --> 00:19:05.950 Samantha Skal: actually, I'm not even going to go into that. We're just going to go with. The antagonist is a foil to your protagonist, and they have an opposite goal to what the protagonist wants. They are working actively to stop them, and the protagonist is going to face them in the climactic scene or in this final twist. And this is how you build a mystery into your science Fiction novel. Right, so you can set it anywhere. 70 00:19:05.950 --> 00:19:14.109 Samantha Skal: You can have it at any time. But there's going to be somebody that's working against the protagonist to stop them from doing what they want to do. 71 00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:39.699 Samantha Skal: And so just to sort of talk about this cause, I I'm not actually looking at the chat. Y'all. So if people have questions about this. Leave them in the QA. But you know this example of like, what about the Martian? This came up this summer in the Academy session. I did, and it was a delightful conversation. So I think a couple of you are here. Thank you so much for that again. But the antagonist in the Martian is Mars. The Mark Watney has this urge 72 00:19:39.700 --> 00:20:00.419 to give up, and his decision in the climax is to live or die trying right? And so the antagonist in that case, is the planet. But it's also his internal fate, like his faith in himself and his crisis of faith. And can he do this? We are not going to be talking about that today. We are talking about adding a mystery where you have someone who is sent. They don't have to be human. 73 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:24.179 Samantha Skal: but they do need to have a goal and be working actively to achieve something. And again, it's the opposite goal of the protagonist. So hopefully, I have hammered this home. If you have questions, please pop them in the Q. And A, okay. So villains have story level obstacles as well. And so they're equally as important as this main character. So we're going to be asking, will they? Or won't they achieve their goal. 74 00:20:24.340 --> 00:20:47.880 Samantha Skal: Add suspense right? The antagonist view of the story is that the protagonist is the villain right? So the protagonist is cruising along, or sorry the antagonist is cruising along. They do something horrible. Maybe they don't think it's horrible. Maybe they've done what they think they need to do, and the protagonist comes along and ruins everything for them. And so a good way of looking at this is, how does the antagonist view the entire story? What is that experience like for them. 75 00:20:47.980 --> 00:21:06.710 Story is about change. And so we're not going to have an antagonist that just sits back and takes it. They're going to be actively working to stop the protagonist. And this is how you build the suspense and tension, and also a mystery, because the truth that comes out about the mystery is going to be that the antagonist was doing this this whole time. 76 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:32.080 Samantha Skal: Just a little reminder about clarity. This is another thing that I end up coaching a whole lot, including on my own writing. So if the reader is not clear on what's going on, they will not be able to be as engaged. So obstacles, you know, whatever you can throw at them. Do it. Those force decisions move the story forward. And if we know why someone wants something we care more. And so when 77 00:21:32.080 --> 00:21:52.529 Samantha Skal: you're dealing with an antagonist and somebody who's potentially doing some pretty horrible things, they're going to know why they want it. And so we will want to understand what those motivations are. Usually it's in the climactic scene or in this final twist scene. Sometimes you might have a pov from the antagonist, and so the reader gets to know that along the way. 78 00:21:52.530 --> 00:22:17.510 Samantha Skal: But that clarity of fear from the antagonist perspective and from the protagonist perspective increases suspense. And so, if we know why, they are scared of what they're scared of, if we know why they want what they want. We're going to be that much more engaged, and engagement is what we want with our readers. So when you are designing a villain or a mystery. Think about the fact that these villains, these antagonists, are the stars of their own stories. They have their own. 79 00:22:17.510 --> 00:22:46.079 Samantha Skal: everyone wants needs and desires, they have their own worst, fear, their own misbeliefs, and the protagonist has generally made things very bad for them, and so they're going to be taking action to stop them right. And so if you don't have anybody like this in your story right now, could you add somebody? Could this be someone like a long lost sibling, or, you know, some sort of other person who's actively trying to stop the protagonist from doing what they're doing. This is how you start to build a mystery right? 80 00:22:46.750 --> 00:23:04.429 Samantha Skal: And so the logic becomes very, very key. And so this is one of the things that I deal with. The most in my coaching is figuring out, you know. Some people will come, and again I have been guilty of this myself. So this is not just me being like, oh, I'm good at this. I'm bad at it, too. So it just 81 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:16.939 Samantha Skal: when we think about a protagonist moving through a story and a villain moving through a story. Oftentimes. What I come up with first is the protagonist, I think about what they want, and I think about a goal, and I think I know how the story ends, but I'm not sure who this. 82 00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:20.379 Samantha Skal: Excuse me who this other person is who's trying to stop them. 83 00:23:20.380 --> 00:23:46.150 Samantha Skal: and so doing a deep dive into who this villain is really starts to force us to think about. Why would they not just give up? Why would they not just run away? What's their north star? What? Why do they think what they're doing is right? What causes them to keep pushing forward when it would be so much easier to just be like whatever you can have it, you know. So think about what their development is and what they're like inner pain. 84 00:23:46.210 --> 00:24:17.469 Samantha Skal: Oh, my God, excuse me, inner pain is so that we understand and can be revealed in the climactic scene. Why, they're doing what they're doing. and their motivation is the key that unlocks the twists. Right? So the logic is key. It's gotta make sense, but they're understanding why they're doing what they're doing and how they get there. All of these things start to help you design these twists, which is intentional because you want to lead the reader through the story and not just have it be haphazard. 85 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:33.230 Samantha Skal: and so one of the questions you can ask yourself is, why is your story starting now? What happened? What was the villain doing where they got caught, or they invited the protagonist into the story. And I'm gonna go into a little bit more of this in just a second. But hopefully, this is getting your brain churning. 86 00:24:33.380 --> 00:24:49.920 Samantha Skal: So the villain and protagonist lives intersect at the inciting incident. Typically, maybe before you know there's obviously going to be lots of exceptions to this, but you know, if you think about the villain moving through time, and then you have the protagonist moving through time. 87 00:24:49.920 --> 00:25:09.990 Samantha Skal: the villains going along, and you know I don't know stealing spaceships, and the protagonist is like, no, you can't steal my spaceship, and the villain tries and the protagonist meets them. And that's when the story starts. And this little overlap that's that's your novel. Right is understanding how the protagonist actually stops the villain, and good triumphs over evil in the end. 88 00:25:10.100 --> 00:25:25.960 Samantha Skal: And so think about the think about how maybe an exciting incident is an invitation. Maybe they witness something and must take action on either side. So just keep asking yourself what if and see if you can build a mystery into your story. 89 00:25:25.990 --> 00:25:49.700 Samantha Skal: Okay, so designing twists that work. I'm going to talk about what twists and reveals are first, they are different. And though although very related, so both Amp suspense. Both changed the course of the story. Intentionality we already talked about that is, super key. And twists are an unknown reader. Question reveals are a known reader. Question so a little bit more about that a reveal. 90 00:25:49.840 --> 00:26:13.720 Samantha Skal: And this is as defined the best definition I've ever heard by Ruth Ware and Claire Macintosh so credit where credit is due. I heard them give this definition at tiller Fest, actually, and I have been using it ever since, because I cannot think of a better way to say it. So thank you, Claire and Ruth. The answer to a question the reader knows to ask is a reveal. So this is like, who did the bad things? Who took the gold? Who stole the spaceship, whatever it is. 91 00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:32.509 Samantha Skal: But the answer can be unexpected which makes it a twist. A twist is the answer to a question the reader does not know to ask, and this is where we get into this intentional sort of manipulation of the reader. We want the reader to think this, not this other thing, and when we reveal the twist that we they are not expecting. That's what makes it a twist. 92 00:26:32.510 --> 00:26:57.309 Samantha Skal: The biggest thing to think about here is that twists and reveals are the villains truth? They are misinterpreted by the Pov character. So the Pov character is going to be moving to the story, misinterpreting things right and left, or possibly looking at something and thinking it's right, but then taking it in a totally different direction. All of this is very, very deliberate on the behalf of the author. Right? We want to deliberately lead the reader into thinking what we want 93 00:26:57.310 --> 00:27:22.030 them to think. And the Pov character's interiority is the guide that we use to pull the reader through the story and so hopefully, it's starting to make sense that writing a mystery is not typically something that one can pants. I have met some people who can do this. Hank Philippi Ryan is one of those people, and I think she's just a special unicorn genius. Most of us have to plan things out. 94 00:27:22.030 --> 00:27:46.649 Samantha Skal: And so this deliberate misdirection, this is where you start to like, you know. Get into the weeds with what's going on with what you're revealing when and how you, you know, think about what you want the reader to feel, and make them feel that through interiority, through naming a fear, through relaxing with a cup of coffee. But maybe there's somebody lurking outside, you know. Just be very, very deliberate. 95 00:27:47.250 --> 00:28:05.380 Samantha Skal: So a 3 twist structure, this is very, very common in thrillers, but I see no reason why you can't use it in your Science Fiction novel. This is a very classic way of looking at things, and can help you sort of guide what you want to do when you're the kind of person who loves structure, which is me 96 00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:27.579 mit Ctl. And big lover of spreadsheets over here. So twist number one is the reversal of understanding. This happens at roughly the midpoint. If you're reading thrillers, it does happen exactly at the midpoint kind of shockingly often. But you get a little wiggle room with some other genres, and this is where somebody realizes something, and it takes the story takes a left or a right turn away from what they thought. 97 00:28:27.580 --> 00:28:45.299 Samantha Skal: The climactic scene is where the protagonist is going to face that villain, and this final twist is 98% is where something unexpected happens. Sometimes it can be backstory connection, sometimes as motivation, sometimes it is related to a super villain. It's actually been behind everything that nobody thought to think about. 98 00:28:45.340 --> 00:29:08.150 Samantha Skal: There's lots of options there. And so just a little bit more on each of these. For the 51 of the most typical things is new information comes to light. Somebody discovers something that makes them rethink what they've been thinking the entire time to date, and this also conveniently helps us avoid sort of that, like sagging middle, where we're just sort of like slogging through the story, and it starts to feel like the pacing is dying. 99 00:29:08.150 --> 00:29:18.979 Samantha Skal: Think about this. What new information can come to light? What? How can we manipulate the reader into thinking something totally different that sets us up. So the climactic twist actually feels like a twist. 100 00:29:18.980 --> 00:29:39.170 Samantha Skal: It could be somebody that somebody dies because they and makes it so that they can, if they can no longer be the main suspect it could be. We didn't realize a clue is important. There's a billion options that you can go with here. But just think about, you know, when we get to this midpoint, what's going to happen to make everything kind of worse or different 101 00:29:40.060 --> 00:29:43.529 Samantha Skal: twist number 2 is the climactic twist. 102 00:29:43.650 --> 00:30:08.589 Samantha Skal: roughly, 85 to 90%. There's some wiggle room there, but it's a reversal of understanding of what happened in the midpoint, and so often. That becomes twisty. Because if you're being very deliberate with what you're doing all of a sudden, we have led the reader to think a different thing which makes the climactic twist seem surprising. We are always going to confront the villain or the villain that we thought was the villain. And it's going to be an explanation of most things. So because you're adding a sub 103 00:30:08.590 --> 00:30:19.240 Samantha Skal: plot of a mystery, this is where the mystery is going to be largely wrapped up like 95. There might be some dangling things, but most of most everything's gonna be understood. 104 00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:47.190 Samantha Skal: and there might be a new understanding of motivation. This is where the villain might have a chance to explain why they're doing what they're doing. You know it feels a little cheesy when you write this. It's like the villain sits down is like, well, this is why I did everything, but the reader does need to know this stuff right? So probably don't have them actually sit down and explain. But you can have situations where you know all seems lost by the protagonist, and the villain explains something, and the protagonist realizes something and is able to conquer them right. 105 00:30:47.190 --> 00:31:02.019 Samantha Skal: And then this final twist, which is one of my most favorite sort of literary devices, which again works in every single genre, is a reversal of understanding of the climax. Perhaps things are not okay, like, we thought perhaps most things were 106 00:31:02.020 --> 00:31:21.930 Samantha Skal: explained. But then this final final twist, we we start to think like, Oh, that actually doesn't make sense. And so what's actually going on? And so good has triumphed over evil in the climactic scene. But we still have this little tiny thing that still needs to be resolved. It might be a new mastermind. Villain. It might be a new motivational reveal 107 00:31:22.090 --> 00:31:34.550 Samantha Skal: like I just said it could be a new understanding. This is worse, but there will be sort of a final conquering, and this is often where, like, you know, the villain could escape off into the sunset. But the protagonist knows that they have defeated them for now. 108 00:31:35.450 --> 00:31:53.179 Samantha Skal: so goes back to this deliberate misdirection of the reader. When you're designing these think about how the reader should be asking a different question by leading them there via interiority, by having them look at something and think like that's definitely it. Instead of this thing over here. 109 00:31:53.180 --> 00:32:09.820 Samantha Skal: and the biggest thing is that it has to make sense when the reader looks back in the rest of the story, and so instillers and mysteries. You know your readers will actually go through and look to see what clues you have put on the page to make sure you haven't bamboozled them by just like springing something forth. 110 00:32:09.820 --> 00:32:25.399 Samantha Skal: But the biggest thing is, it has to be on the page, and so ask yourself, you know, when you're designing these like, could there be an unknown connection? Could there be some sort of like? What if this 2 people were connected? What if the brother comes out of nowhere and ruins everything. 111 00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:50.060 Samantha Skal: Ask yourself how the protagonist ruins the villain's plans, and then what does the protagonist do about it? How does that affect the villain? All these sort of things can increase your pacing and give you a logical sort of progression throughout the story. Here are some ideas. I have some more in the resources which Sarah posted in the chat. Please go and enjoy them. I hope they help you, Brainstorm. But somebody could be secretly related. There could be an 112 00:32:50.060 --> 00:33:01.650 Samantha Skal: accident that got covered up, and somebody wants revenge. Someone stole something, you know, like that. Somebody else thought that there was theirs. Lies long game revenge, which is one of my favorites, you know, like that 113 00:33:01.650 --> 00:33:06.440 Samantha Skal: decades long grudge that finally comes to light. Those are always really fun. 114 00:33:07.040 --> 00:33:25.240 Samantha Skal: And so mostly I just want you to think about the fact that villains don't just do bad things. They always have a logical reason for doing them. Even the people who we write about who are complete psychopaths. They always have a reason for doing it. They think it's the right choice, and if you can connect that reason to the opening scene, that inciting incident 115 00:33:25.430 --> 00:33:49.590 Samantha Skal: by all means do it. But we want to start as close as action, so close as possible to the action in the story, and then make it worse from there. And so this behind the scenes concept of like what's really going on with the villain. These clues have to be on the page for satisfying twists. And so they're going to appear like on screen, which is in that the protagonist will actually notice them. 116 00:33:49.620 --> 00:34:18.050 Samantha Skal: and of course there is a balance of enough and too much. This is what Beta readers are, for, if they guess it on page 3, who your supervillain is back off on the clues, if they don't guess it until right before you've done an excellent job. If they're pissed because they feel like they didn't see enough of the clues on the page. Then that's a chance to go in and add some more clues that the protagonist sees and comments on by interiority or through dialogue, so that, the reader feels like they have been satisfied, and that they. 117 00:34:18.050 --> 00:34:25.589 Samantha Skal: you know, when we get to a twist, the best possible reaction is oh, I didn't see that coming, and oh, that makes sense. Now that I look back at it. 118 00:34:26.290 --> 00:34:55.190 Samantha Skal: So the Pov character is noticing things on the page, right? This is what I mean by on screen. There's obviously lots of off screen time as well. But you can sort of figure out, you know, if you do like a chapter by chapter outline, you can write in what the villain is doing that will help you figure out what's going on off screen and avoid the reader feeling cheated, which we never, ever want, because that disengages them from the story, and misinterpretation is your very best friend. 119 00:34:55.850 --> 00:35:20.059 Samantha Skal: So when all is revealed, it has to make sense. So think about where and when the villain is doing things. Think about travel time. Obviously, if you're in space, and there's like hyper drive and time travel, and you know whatever else, and that sort of solves things that will have to be established. That's the thing that they can do. And then ask yourself, why is the villain doing that? To what end? You know, they're always gonna have a logical reason for doing things. 120 00:35:20.190 --> 00:35:47.139 Samantha Skal: Okay, I'm just gonna check our time. We are doing great. So adding twists without rewriting everything. This is one of the things that I absolutely love. And I think that we as writers, you know, we get to these places in our novels and everyone. This happens to everybody, even people who plot a whole bunch we end up being kind of stuck at a certain point, and we start to sort of lose our momentum, and it can feel 121 00:35:47.140 --> 00:35:54.570 Samantha Skal: bad. This is a place that we all have been, and there is a way out which I'm going to talk about in just a second. 122 00:35:54.570 --> 00:36:19.449 Samantha Skal: You know the common pitfalls for when something does not feel satisfying to a reader, or we get stuck, as the writer kind of trying to push through is, you know, convenient wins or losses. That sort of thing. It's like, Oh, look! This thing came out of nowhere and saved me, not as satisfying as if we logic our way out of it. And it's been planned right. Same thing with coincidences like, Oh, I happen to be walking down this one lane, and I 123 00:36:19.450 --> 00:36:26.800 happen to see this thing. What if there's a reason I'm walking down the lane because someone has manipulated me into thinking I should go that way. 124 00:36:26.800 --> 00:36:51.969 Samantha Skal: Leaps and logic. Those can be also frustrating for readers where you know we have. We see the protagonist or the villain doing something that we're like. There's like a really easy way out. If they just do this, we want to avoid that right. We want to make sure that we have logic our way out, and this seems like the only possible decision that they could make. And so before you rewrite or throw it away. 125 00:36:51.970 --> 00:37:16.719 Samantha Skal: please don't ever throw it away. Just save it to another file brainstorm. How to connect what you have on the page, and so think about what your villain is doing behind the scenes. We know why and what they're doing, because we have just talked through all of this, and hopefully you will have thought through it. And you have some ideas. So consider what appears on screen and what's happening off screen. Could you have a new kind of on-screen moment? Could you have something 126 00:37:16.720 --> 00:37:28.540 Samantha Skal: where we have a red herring where it goes off in this direction? And meanwhile the villain is able to do this other thing. Could some? Could it be someone already on the page? I recently had a client where she 127 00:37:28.890 --> 00:37:49.230 Samantha Skal: wrote this whole book, and we planned the whole thing out, and it was amazing, and we felt it was very twisty, and she gave it to 3 beta readers and 2 out of the 3 guessed who the villain was like on the I don't know, like 30% mark which was really frustrating for both of us. And so we brainstormed, and we figured out that it could be the person's. 128 00:37:49.290 --> 00:38:14.119 Samantha Skal: I'm not gonna tell you, just in case you ever read this. You know what I'm talking about, but somebody else that was already in the story, and so, coming up with a new villain, kind of midway through, not as uncommon as you might think, and so don't go back, and just like throw in the tala with your story. Think about what you already have on the page. Think about how you can have your Pov characters misinterpret things and then lead us to a new 129 00:38:14.120 --> 00:38:29.589 Samantha Skal: twist, which, again, is what's actually happening. And remember that you're in charge. You're in charge of your story. Your characters are not running things. You are in charge of manipulating the reader, and so, if people are getting it too early. If you have a beta who's like yep, called it from the beginning. 130 00:38:29.590 --> 00:38:43.639 Samantha Skal: Maybe they're just a super special unicorn mystery reader, who just gets things. But if you can add a little bit more to force them to think it's going to be this thing over here all of a sudden you're setting them up for a much more satisfying experience. 131 00:38:43.640 --> 00:39:06.710 Samantha Skal: So ask yourself, how can every single villain include, be misinterpreted, and then go back in and play with your protagonist to see how they can misinterpret those things on the page. This is a reminder. Everything you do with your story is a safe brainstorming space. I think we all I will. Maybe I won't say we all. I personally have a tendency to be pretty harsh on myself. 132 00:39:06.710 --> 00:39:30.610 Samantha Skal: And I'm getting better at it. But it's definitely an ongoing battle. And so when you're when you're brainstorming, when you're thinking about like how I how you're going to add a villain or add a mystery. Write down every single idea you have. It doesn't have to be in the document itself. Put it in our document. But just start. Just let your mind go wild, right like instead of yes, but it's like, yes. And what about this? What if this happened. 133 00:39:30.770 --> 00:39:44.110 Samantha Skal: And remember that, reader, clarity is always the most key thing that you are after, as well as that engagement which we get through in our thoughts, misdirection being very deliberate about what we put in the story when 134 00:39:44.150 --> 00:40:06.909 Samantha Skal: and if your Beta reader or crip partner, critique partner, is not getting it. That's a common thing where it's like. Oh, I don't understand why they did this thing. It's a chance for reader clarity right? It's a chance for there to be a little bit more explanation. And the climactic scene where the villain is like this is why I did this or also through inner thought, for you know the protagonist moving to the story. If they're not explaining 135 00:40:07.720 --> 00:40:32.560 Samantha Skal: while they're doing something, the reader's not going to have a chance to engage as deeply with it. And so I talked really quickly. I think I'm actually ahead of my goal. But that leaves us more time for Q&A which is always fun. This is the resource link. I list a bunch of books that I love, that I recommend, including a list of all the links in this presentation. And you know some craft books that I absolutely think everyone should read. 136 00:40:32.850 --> 00:40:58.500 Samantha Skal: That is actually incorrect. It's not a suspense. Checklist, my bad. It is a villain worksheet, so I will make sure I change that before I send over the slides to pro writing aid, and there is a free download for you. I have the link in there. It's also gonna pop up if you've not been to my website before. So if you would like to send it from my email list. I encourage you to do so. But if that's not your jam that's totally fine. I've given it you just the straight link, so you can grab that. 137 00:40:58.500 --> 00:41:12.269 Samantha Skal: and then you can also sign up for a free checkout. Call with me if writing a mystery or a thriller. Seems like something you want to do. So thank you so so much for listening. I will stop talking now and close my 138 00:41:12.460 --> 00:41:21.460 Samantha Skal: screen so that I can answer some questions. So, Sarah, did we have anything that popped up in the chat? In the meantime? 139 00:41:22.500 --> 00:41:47.360 Samantha Skal: I didn't see anything. It was quite nice, actually I think somebody asked a question just now. And I think someone else commented. Say, added to the QA. And I think I've just seen a pop up in the QA. So we've got 9 in there at the moment. They all seem pretty good I only have to answer one. So yeah, alright, yeah. So yeah, we have like, 20 more minutes. So if people have 140 00:41:47.360 --> 00:42:12.320 Samantha Skal: questions, pop them in the QA. And I'll get to all of them and feel free to expand on it in the chat, if it will be helpful if I don't actually, you know, answer what you're after. So Lori asks, can the protagonist antagonist have the same goal? But for different reasons this is actually one of my most favorite twists is when the protagonist and antagonists realize they want the same 141 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:13.870 thing in the climax 142 00:42:13.870 --> 00:42:34.430 Samantha Skal: that in itself is super twisty. Right? And so absolutely is the answer but then you need to decide like, well, then, what you know like, is there somebody else who wants the opposite goal? Because that person's gonna be the one who's the force of opposition actually, and so, while your antagonist might be like fighting the protagonist this whole time, because they 143 00:42:34.430 --> 00:42:49.860 Samantha Skal: they want this goal, and there's going to be a clear winner. They can't both have it. That could work, because then the OP. Then the goal is, you know, to defeat the other person. But if they just if they realize in the climax that they actually want the exact same thing, and they can share it. 144 00:42:49.860 --> 00:43:10.730 Samantha Skal: Who's the person who's been sort of pulling the strings behind the scenes? And that'll be your final twist that pops up so feel free to expand on that in the chat. If I did not answer that ingrid asked, does your antagonist need to be a Pov character and make their intentions clear in other ways. Avoid antagonist monologging. Yeah. So 145 00:43:10.730 --> 00:43:25.779 Samantha Skal: there will be a little bit of monologue, right? Because we do need to explain to the reader what's actually been going on. Or maybe it's like a diary entry or something like there's a ton of literary devices that you can use some of them more tropish than others. 146 00:43:25.910 --> 00:43:32.029 Samantha Skal: but the thing with tropes and like, you know, this antagonist monologue is, if you can make it feel fresh by adding some sort of 147 00:43:32.050 --> 00:43:43.890 Samantha Skal: twist on it, you know, like, maybe the antagonist is maybe it's not just like this one hit sort of oh, oh, my gosh! I'm forgetting the word 148 00:43:44.260 --> 00:44:09.199 Samantha Skal: like very shallow villain. That's what we're trying to avoid with this right? And so the reason that those sort of like this is why I did this thing. It feels so cheesy in horror movies or in thrillers that you watch, or books like that. I don't actually can't think of any examples. So the thrillers I've read recently have been amazing. But the reason those feel cheesy is because it feels sort of like forced. And if you've done this work to think about what your villain 149 00:44:09.200 --> 00:44:24.969 Samantha Skal: wants, and why there, why, your antagonist wants these things. It's not going to feel like a cheesy monologue. It's going to feel like a reveal. And when your protagonist reacts to it all of a sudden you end up with a really interesting conversation that is very engaging for the reader, and very satisfying. 150 00:44:25.130 --> 00:44:35.490 Samantha Skal: What are my thoughts and opinions on the antihero? I love anti heroes. I think that they're really, really fun. I do think that 151 00:44:35.900 --> 00:44:47.849 Samantha Skal: they can be a little hard to write just because you're in the head of somebody who is deciding to do possibly some really terrible things. But again, if we understand what their goals are, and why they're doing what they're doing. 152 00:44:48.090 --> 00:45:11.010 Samantha Skal: it works right and there are so many good examples of that. So by all means give it a shot. Just give yourself a break every now and again, because talking, being in the head of somebody who is doing something that might be not great is, gonna be a little hard. And this leads nicely into Lisa's question, which is, what is the difference between a villain and a morally gray character? 153 00:45:11.050 --> 00:45:34.150 Samantha Skal: Well, sort of tangential, it's like aside. So a villain is again the foil to your protagonist or the person who wants the exact opposite thing as your protagonist. They can be the morally gray character. I think that villains who are morally gray. Can be really interesting. It's sort of like, like, you know, chaotic, neutral, or something right like they make decisions that 154 00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:54.889 Samantha Skal: other people might not make, but because we can't predict what they're gonna do. All of a sudden it starts to feel really kind of scary, right. But if you did make them separate all of a sudden. You're sort of setting yourself up for a really fun twist right? Because you're the villain that your protagonist thinks as a villain might be this morally gray character. And it turns out that person is just like Nope. I'm choosing 155 00:45:54.890 --> 00:46:20.630 Samantha Skal: these decisions because I have good reasons for doing it. The biggest thing to remember is that your morally gray character also has reasons for doing what they're doing, even if they're making decisions that are not moral, based on society, like if they go and murder people, they're gonna have a reason for doing it. Maybe it's looking out for them. Maybe they're protecting a family member. Maybe they feel that it's their right because of some deep wound that they have. You know, you can play with all kinds of things like that. 156 00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:23.640 Samantha Skal: Okay, 157 00:46:23.650 --> 00:46:49.249 Samantha Skal: Kayl has says, I often use save the cat format awesome, or the hero's journey also awesome. How does the structure of a suspense mystery compared to these beats. Very say the cat is a I mean, if you read the writes a novel one, she breaks down mysteries and thrillers in there. And I do ref I do reference those in my own writing with my clients. Stuff! I think it can work really well, the 158 00:46:49.270 --> 00:47:15.140 Samantha Skal: biggest thing with that, I think, is that it can sort of make it feel like you don't have much wiggle room, and when you're writing a mystery, you know, or adding a mystery subplot or something. You want to be able to feel that that discovery and that brainstorming, and that, you know, kind of that magic that happens. And so the only things that I would say to really focus on or like the midpoint which everyone agrees needs to be their hero's journey saves the cat all of it. 159 00:47:15.150 --> 00:47:26.140 Samantha Skal: and then this climactic scene, and then the very, very end and the rest of it like, if it helps you to follow that by all means use it. But those are kind of the big things that pop out 160 00:47:26.220 --> 00:47:54.139 Samantha Skal: and let me know if I didn't answer that correctly. Okay, IM says, is it good to place red herrings? I feel like it's betraying the reader somehow. So if you place a red herring, and then don't explain it as a red herring that will feel like you're betraying the reader because the reader is gonna be like, wait, what was that thing that you spent 40 pages sending me down? And so you'll wanna have some kind of like Daniel at the end, right where the reader looks, or the protagonist looks back. 161 00:47:54.290 --> 00:48:11.200 Samantha Skal: probably between the climax and the final twist where they're like. Wait a second. That didn't make any sense. This is what was going on, or Oh, we were totally off on that or whatever, and that can sometimes lead you into the final twist. And so maybe a red herring was not a red herring after all. 162 00:48:11.610 --> 00:48:24.779 Samantha Skal: The red herrings are, you know, clues from the standpoint of the protagonist moving to the story, but not every clue is going to be related to the actual villain. And so, if it helps to think about it like that. 163 00:48:24.780 --> 00:48:44.710 Samantha Skal: the protagonist is making logical choices based on what they see and then what they're experiencing. And so hopefully, that helps when you're thinking about adding a red herring. And I really don't think it's betraying the reader unless we don't explain it, because readers who sign up to read a mystery subplot or a mystery novel or a thriller are 164 00:48:44.710 --> 00:49:04.670 Samantha Skal: are waiting to be manipulated by the author. It's sort of this cat mouse situation where the author, the reader knows that we're going to mess with them, and we're going to try to trick them into thinking certain things. And the author knows that the reader is going to think that. And so we'll like, try to back it up and change it this other way, and it just becomes this really fun kind of puzzle game. 165 00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:11.680 Samantha Skal: Anonymous attendee says, can you suggest how to bite, how to write better interiority? 166 00:49:11.800 --> 00:49:22.510 Samantha Skal: So this gets into character voice. And knowing your protagonist, or whoever your pov character is right? Typically, it's the protagonist has the line share of that. 167 00:49:22.620 --> 00:49:44.229 Samantha Skal: how they react to things and what they notice like, I'll give an example. So I'm standing in my guest room right now. This is my bookshelf background. I'm noticing that the sun is shining, and that I have a nicely made bed because I was an adulting human today and actually made the bed. There's a closet door that's shut. But wait. The closet door was open 168 00:49:44.230 --> 00:49:56.449 Samantha Skal: last night. So who shut it if I didn't? Is there someone in there right now? That kind of like inner monologue is how you lead people or lead the reader into thinking certain things. You tap into that fear. 169 00:49:56.450 --> 00:50:02.510 Samantha Skal: I'm not going to notice and name every single book that's on the shelf next to me, because it doesn't matter to the story 170 00:50:02.510 --> 00:50:27.840 Samantha Skal: right? And so sometimes it can help to just have your character look around and start describing things, and then back off from that to figure out what actually needs to be there to lead the reader through the story. But it's always all about the reader. It's all about manipulating the reader into thinking something or leading them through, or being deliberate about what the protagonist is noticing, because those are the the clues that we're going to logically use to move through the story 171 00:50:28.260 --> 00:50:48.979 Samantha Skal: hopefully. That helps any. Let me know if I'm not pronouncing that right, says, What if the villain is pulling the strings of the antagonist love that this is like a fake villain, and then a mastermind. Villain! Situation! My! My antagonist, has their own goals that go against the villain and the protagonist. Right now I'm trying to figure out if it is too much. Basically, my villain is manipulating people around them. 172 00:50:48.980 --> 00:51:11.799 Samantha Skal: The antagonist knows they are a borrow time. The villain has an occult following of that who murders and the villains name so fine. I'm through. I'm kind of dark. Y'all II apologize. I get really excited about fictional murder, not real murder. The protagonist is naive and is trying to get people to see that they are puppets, so they're trying to change their the villain's mind. But the villain does the reverse. The antagonist is playing both sides 173 00:51:11.800 --> 00:51:33.289 Samantha Skal: so fun, right? Like the way I would say that is that we look at it is like your antagonist could actually be the final twist person. And so the protagonist faces who they think is the true villain and the climax. And then the antagonist actually pops up at the very end, and it's like, no, no, I've actually been playing both sides this whole time like that's perfection. 174 00:51:33.580 --> 00:52:07.600 Samantha Skal: and also occult stuff just to thumbs up. I love reading about that? So hopefully, I answered that question, I think you're doing great. Keep going. and by all means write this novel and tell us about it so we can go buy it. Someday. Okay, the villain Pov has got me confused on the point. Please help clarify how to differentiate and pov between villain and antihero so the terminology there very much depends on your particular story. Right? So you're not always gonna have a Po chapter from your villain. You might have a story where the protagonist is the only pov. 175 00:52:07.600 --> 00:52:37.239 Samantha Skal: You might have a protagonist, and then a best friend who are experiencing the story. All of that's going to depend on what kind of story you want to tell and how you want the reader to experience the story. If you have an antihero and also a villain. Just think about the opposite goals. Right? And so if the anti hero is the person who is our protagonist, basically, they're gonna be moving to the story. They're gonna want the opposite thing from whoever the villain is, and maybe the villain is a good person. 176 00:52:37.240 --> 00:53:03.710 Samantha Skal: You know, they don't always have to be doing bad things. Maybe your anti hero is the one doing bad things like Dexter, great example, right? So hopefully. That helps let me know if it doesn't? Katie asked. Should the bad guy always show up somewhere in the story? So the reader can guess. Just read memory, man whether it was nobody guessed who done it. I have not read memory, man, so I won't comment on that. But the answer is, yes, absolutely I like to tell people like 177 00:53:03.710 --> 00:53:13.979 Samantha Skal: least twice more like 3 times or somewhere in between, even though that doesn't make any sense, you know. We want them to show up more than once, because if they 178 00:53:14.480 --> 00:53:26.019 Samantha Skal: or only once, the reader is going to feel a little cheated, it's going to be like you didn't give me enough clues to be able to figure that out. And that's one thing that I actually didn't mention during this is that readers of mysteries, even if it's a subplot. 179 00:53:26.020 --> 00:53:48.379 Samantha Skal: are going to expect that you, the author, have done your due diligence and are laying the clues out for them, and also deliberately misdirecting them. And so, if a pro, if a pov character looks over here and notices this thing, but also and dismisses it, and then notices this other thing that they're totally going to take action on. The first thing might be the actual clue, and the author will, or the reader will, sort of clock that 180 00:53:48.380 --> 00:54:02.750 Samantha Skal: and remember it. But they're going to be pulled along in the story, based on the logical reason that the second thing the protagonists noticed is what we're actually going with and so, you know, maybe the the bad, the person doing bad things is like 181 00:54:02.750 --> 00:54:25.479 Samantha Skal: in this scene and in this scene. And then they show up on the climax, or in the final twist that can be very satisfying. There are times where 3 to 4 times starts to feel like too much. Your Beta readers will guess it, and you know probably even immediately. But that's not always the case. And so this is where Beta readers come in. One of the big questions to ask is like, When did you figure out who did it? 182 00:54:25.500 --> 00:54:41.979 Samantha Skal: And then have them mark the page number, and in that way you'll be able to tell like, okay, they got it on page, you know, 290, whereas the climax was on page 300 great that works perfectly if they get it on page 50 you have too many clues. So maybe think about removing that person from the scene. 183 00:54:42.570 --> 00:54:48.079 Samantha Skal: Jen Mclondon. Favorite question, how do you get into book coaching? What training is involved? 184 00:54:48.290 --> 00:55:03.809 Samantha Skal: go to author, accelerator. I have a link on my resources, and everything is described there. But basically I was writing a novel, and I thought I was a special unicorn after I finished it who did not need to. Go through revision, which is hilarious. 185 00:55:03.810 --> 00:55:27.909 Samantha Skal: and when I look back at myself, and it got rejected by a number of people. And so I was like, Well, what's wrong? And I discovered that there's this thing called a book coach. Who will be what? Who would be able to help me, so I hired one. She was incredible, totally helped, and before she even got back to me I signed up for the training because the concept of being able to do this work is just like so, soul fulfilling. I can't even describe it. 186 00:55:27.970 --> 00:55:36.290 I grew up as a reader. I have read voraciously my entire life. I would love to work in publishing, maybe, but like 187 00:55:36.290 --> 00:55:59.730 Samantha Skal: it kinda doesn't pay that well. And it's also just this industry where you have to live in New York and work for pennies. And this way I get to run my own schedule. I get to work with who I want. I get to have the honor of being a part of the like formation process of books, and it's just the best. I just adore it. So if you ever wanna talk, just send me an email film out my contact form. I'm happy to hop on a phone call 188 00:55:59.740 --> 00:56:02.929 Samantha Skal: and Rodice, about how awesome author. Accelerator is 189 00:56:03.130 --> 00:56:11.370 Samantha Skal: okay. Anonymous says, how do you get past the rabbit hole of thinking your twist isn't good enough or your hook isn't good enough. 190 00:56:11.470 --> 00:56:24.230 Samantha Skal: great question. We all have imposter syndrome. We're all writers. I have yet to meet a writer who thinks that everything is perfect on the first try except for me 2 years ago. But I've learned since then. 191 00:56:24.290 --> 00:56:35.189 Samantha Skal: Thinking your twist isn't good enough. This is where a beta reader can really help right? Or like just talking somebody through it. If you're not comfortable having someone read your actual story yet. You know, just 192 00:56:35.320 --> 00:56:57.939 Samantha Skal: thinking about like it's the concept of how the reader experiences it ultimately, right? So when we start to write mysteries and thrillers, or we start to build this subplot in everything is gonna feel super obvious because we're designing it. And so we know everything. We know what's happening beneath the surface with the villain. We know what's happening with the reader, because we're deliberately telling them they need to be thinking this thing at this time. 193 00:56:57.940 --> 00:57:13.690 Samantha Skal: And so it's probably better than you think it is is the answer, and I would just say, get somebody else's eyeballs on it, and see what they think, and if they guess it immediately, then think about how you can make it twisty? Or could it be somebody else? In the story? Could it be. 194 00:57:14.030 --> 00:57:25.870 Samantha Skal: you know? Could you add more misdirection ahead of that, so that the protagonist is like it's definitely this thing as opposed to this other thing. Could you remove some clues earlier so that it feels more twisty. 195 00:57:25.870 --> 00:57:51.809 Samantha Skal: Chris! Hi, Chris! How would you deal with a protagonist that turns out to be the villain in the end? So that is super fun. It is hard to do. It's an unreliable narrator situation, and there's a ton of classic examples. Like gone girl being one of the most famous there's also this book called the Cloisters, which I read recently, which sorry, I just kinda spoiled it, but there is a huge twist in the end. 196 00:57:51.810 --> 00:58:04.669 and it turns out that the person who's been telling the story is not telling us everything we need to know. And so there are examples of how to do this. The big thing is just thinking through the logic of it right? And so 197 00:58:04.940 --> 00:58:18.470 Samantha Skal: why would they have withheld this from the reader, and we're not talking about breaking the fourth wall. But it's just like how would. Maybe they don't realize that they did something, and it had this effect. Maybe they 198 00:58:18.810 --> 00:58:31.620 Samantha Skal: you know, they made a choice and didn't realize this was a consequence of it. Maybe they know what they did and everything we're being told is the truth. It's just that this little bit of other truth is not being revealed until the very end. 199 00:58:31.660 --> 00:58:49.209 Samantha Skal: It. Basically, it's a little trickier, I would say, because we can't ever lie to the reader through interiority. We can lie and dialogue all we want, but the interiority of the Pov character always has to be the truth, and so you can omit information. But it needs to not feel to the reader like it's deliberate. 200 00:58:49.370 --> 00:58:54.980 Samantha Skal: So that is tricky, and I would love to talk more about it. If 201 00:58:55.130 --> 00:59:04.850 Samantha Skal: you want to send me an email or hop on a call or something. So let me know. Andrea says, actually, Sarah, we have. We have a handful more 202 00:59:04.870 --> 00:59:08.409 Samantha Skal: Can I keep going, or do you want me to stop at the top of the hour. 203 00:59:08.590 --> 00:59:33.549 Samantha Skal: No, you can. You can keep going as as long as you like. Really. Okay, cool. So I'll keep going and feel free to hop off if you need to, and thank you for coming everyone. I'm going to keep answering questions until we're done. But really appreciate you all being here. Okay, Andrea says I'm having trouble narrowing down my villain right now. It is a video. 204 00:59:33.550 --> 00:59:53.160 a government conspiracy. How do you flesh them out love conspiracies. Somebody's behind that. Somebody wants to be putting this forth because they have a personal stake in making everyone believe this thing, and so figure out who that person is, and what their personal stake is. It could just be they want to save their own bacon. 205 00:59:53.160 --> 01:00:14.709 Samantha Skal: It could be that they want money, it could be. They're trying to cover up something else. But there's always going to be somebody that's behind it, and that person is going to be the person who's working on doing this. Frank, says, Hi, Frank, how do you handle villain perspective? And a first person narrative by their actions? 206 01:00:15.200 --> 01:00:43.410 Samantha Skal: So are you talking about the villain as the first person or the protagonist is first person. If it's protagonist, is first person Pov, and just experiencing the story as they move through it. Yes, it's by villain actions. They're going to see something and make some decisions about it. Interpret it in a way that hopefully is misdirecting the reader so that we can set up the twist. But basically, it's just those on screen moments, right? It's like what the villain is doing, and how that pops up for the protagonist. They're gonna look at it! 207 01:00:43.410 --> 01:00:59.029 Samantha Skal: Be like, yep. That happened on the page again, so the reader can see it. but then misinterpret it and think like. But actually, this is what this means, and it's totally logical because of your are the reasons. Right? If you're talking about the villain as first person, and they have their own pov 208 01:00:59.030 --> 01:01:24.950 Samantha Skal: they would just move through the story, and we're gonna get to know a little bit more about them. If you're trying to hide like the the villain who the villain is that gets tricky. And so I would say, very short chapters are the key there, and not giving it away, you know, either by their pronouns or how they look or anything. It's just gonna be more about the emotion and the fear generally. And why they want what they want. 209 01:01:25.570 --> 01:01:35.759 Samantha Skal: Okay, Nicole says, what about in between antagonists who are mid range bad, and protagonists who have to work with the protagonists for a shared an antagonist have to work with the protagonists for a shared goal. 210 01:01:35.770 --> 01:01:50.369 Samantha Skal: yeah, so people don't always have to murder each other in stories to have it be twisty, right? You can have someone who has a goal to win the client account or frame somebody else to save themselves, or 211 01:01:50.370 --> 01:02:10.330 Samantha Skal: manipulate someone into getting the inheritance or something like. There's all kinds of fun ways that you can play with this. And so depending on what bad means here, like, you know, obviously taking someone else's life is probably the worst. But there's all kinds of other things. There's like gaslighting. There's manipulation, there's stealing 212 01:02:10.330 --> 01:02:37.559 Samantha Skal: and so it's honestly more fun. I think, if you can pull it off where we have the protagonist moving to the story, and the villain is on the page quite a bit. But the protagonist doesn't guess it, and that's how you end up with like a super twisty like that betrayal, you know, that's gonna make that climactic scene or that final twist scene, that much more emotional and that much more engaging. Because they will have been like the emotion there is gonna be so much more intense, right? Particularly if it's like someone close to them. 213 01:02:38.260 --> 01:03:01.539 Samantha Skal: Frank says, great advice, as always thanks so much RAM says, can innate nature be, or possibly RAM. I apologize if mispronounce that can innate nature, be a ploy to explain the antagonist? Or does motivation need to keep changing is action reaction. So the motivation probably won't change over the course right? Like they're gonna want a thing. They're gonna want to not be caught. They're gonna want to 214 01:03:01.740 --> 01:03:26.519 Samantha Skal: keep doing what they feel like they need to be doing and so innate nature. Absolutely right, like serial killers exist in real world. And they're terrifying. Because they are not typically operating with these sort of moral decision making that the rest of us are operating with right, like they feel that they need to be doing this thing. I would say that you know, the more you can sort of 215 01:03:26.790 --> 01:03:45.249 Samantha Skal: help the protagonist figure out why this person would be doing this the better. And so, if it is truly that they're like existing in plain sight and just murdering people. Then that can be very, very scary, right? Like there's so many books that are so scary that have that exact thing. 216 01:03:45.250 --> 01:03:59.049 Samantha Skal: And so you know, just think about what their, what the villain's goal is in that case, and 9 times out of 10 is going to be to not get caught. They want to keep doing what they want to be doing, and that's enough. We don't need to have it be any deeper than that, although it's kind of fun if you can. So 217 01:03:59.080 --> 01:04:13.130 hopefully, that helps, Eric says. Would it be the same structure for a main character loses in the end. Absolutely. You're just gonna have. If you're writing a mystery subplot good will triumph for a bit. There's gonna you know. 218 01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:22.969 Samantha Skal: Maybe the main character loses a lot of things, but they have triumphed over one thing, or maybe you know they lost the war, but they killed the. 219 01:04:23.040 --> 01:04:56.629 Samantha Skal: or took out, or defeated or sorry murder on the brain, because this is what I do all day. Write about it. Not actually. but yes, you can absolutely have someone who has an unexpected sort of like their story question ends up being like. No, they did not achieve what they what they thought they wanted in the beginning, but perhaps they had a win in another way. Perhaps they learned who they really were. Perhaps they, you know, found more confidence in themselves. Something like that that can all that can be like a win when you have a greater loss? Hopefully, that helps. 220 01:04:56.690 --> 01:05:04.220 Samantha Skal: Cap says, how do you write your synopsis and blur without giving away your twist and villain? So 221 01:05:04.690 --> 01:05:12.730 Samantha Skal: you hint at it. And you talk about the stakes right? So it's always gonna come up against the story question of like. will they? Won't they? 222 01:05:12.740 --> 01:05:37.999 Samantha Skal: will they? Be able to get this thing? And if they don't, then these are the consequences. And so if you look at the like, the book jacket, copy on thrillers, you'll see what I mean, and I'll be like, here's this person doing this thing. And then one day this happened, and then it got worse. And there's some description about, like there are some people who want to stop them, or like, you know, as they got further into investigation. 223 01:05:38.000 --> 01:05:46.979 things got more real. That is absolutely awful. Don't say that, but, like you know what I mean. Like you can talk about the escalation without giving away who the people are that are trying to fight them? 224 01:05:46.980 --> 01:06:00.959 Samantha Skal: And then the biggest thing about, you know, kind of the synopsis, I mean, the synopsis is going to give away everything because synopsis do describe everything but the blurb part like that book jacket copy that's not going to give it away. And that's where you deal with those emotional stakes. It's like 225 01:06:01.030 --> 01:06:07.309 Samantha Skal: they want this thing. Someone's trying to stop them. Here are the consequences. If they don't get it, and will they or want they, you know. 226 01:06:07.760 --> 01:06:32.819 Samantha Skal: can your villain come in past the inciting incident other ways in chapter 6 or 7. At what point is too late to introduce the villain? So the villain might not show up on the page until, you know, like the climactic scene, right? But their actions are going to be showing up in the inciting incident, and probably a couple of their times throughout. And so the protagonist, you know, maybe they see like a shadowy figure. Maybe they 227 01:06:32.820 --> 01:06:47.080 Samantha Skal: mit Ctl and don't see anyone, but they see evidence that somebody has been there doing something. And I always say, like, you know, particularly in today's market, like the faster you can get into the story and get to that inciting incident and that action the better off. You're gonna be 180 228 01:06:47.080 --> 01:07:10.160 Samantha Skal: I myself need to write like 10,000 words to get to know a story. And then usually it's like around the 10,000 word mark where I figure out like, Oh, there's the beginning of the story. And now I can go back and start plotting. What's gonna happen from here? Other people approach it differently. Sometimes people can just plot without having to discovery right? Sometimes people need to pants a bit before 229 01:07:10.160 --> 01:07:21.690 Samantha Skal: before they actually get to what's actually going on, and who these people are and so I would say, if the insighting incident is chapter 6 or 7. Yeah, that is too late. Like chapter one, if you can do it. 230 01:07:21.730 --> 01:07:35.049 Samantha Skal: But in terms of the villain actually being on the page, it's their actions that need to be on the page, not actually them, although if it is fun, if they are there, and then it's that whole twist about like we didn't expect it was this person. 231 01:07:35.350 --> 01:07:41.790 Dennis says, is unusual for the protagonist, the antagonist to never meet, and the story is an effect of one or the other 232 01:07:42.180 --> 01:07:49.880 Samantha Skal: and the effective one on the other. I would say, Yeah, it's unusual, but I don't see why you would not be able to. 233 01:07:50.090 --> 01:08:02.660 Samantha Skal: I mean, it would be a little bit less satisfying for the reader if they don't, if you don't actually have that face off right? And so that might end up being in the climactic scene, it might be in the final twist. It might be something where 234 01:08:02.720 --> 01:08:24.480 Samantha Skal: the final twist. You know, the the person faces. What they think is the villain in the climactics scene, and then that final twist is like, Oh, there's actually somebody else behind everything, and maybe it's like a note or something which kind of sets you up for a series. But you know, that's kind of kind of stuff can be, can be okay. It's just like, How do you want the reader to feel at the end. Do you want them to feel satisfied that 235 01:08:24.752 --> 01:08:39.199 Samantha Skal: things are okay for now, or do you want them to feel like you know, like that was really unsatisfying. It all gets into what you want, what what effect you want. But typically I would say that it helps to have them actually in the story. At some point 236 01:08:40.330 --> 01:08:49.969 Samantha Skal: Nicole says, how do you do interiority with third person. So I'm assuming you mean like close third, which is just, Sam does this. Sam is doing this. 237 01:08:49.979 --> 01:09:13.730 Samantha Skal: Sam is thinking, this Sam looks at this thing and sees a picture and notices that it's been slightly moved because the safe behind it has been opened, or something. It's basically the same as in first person. It's just that you're using, she her and the name for me, or you know, whatever pronouns they have, or it's I for first person. If you're talking about like omniscient or something. 238 01:09:13.790 --> 01:09:29.829 Samantha Skal: It gets a little bit tougher that can can be done. There are many examples of it, but in general, with mysteries, readers like to be in the person's head in the pov characters head and so either close. Third or first is a great example of that, or path forward. 239 01:09:30.290 --> 01:09:50.490 Samantha Skal: Niraj, hopefully, I'm pronouncing that right, says, can you give an example of how to have the reader misinterpret the clue? Of course. So the reader is going to follow the Pov character, and the Pov character is going to misinterpret the clue. So you know, if there is. I don't know some blood on the carpet. 240 01:09:50.600 --> 01:09:58.110 Samantha Skal: That's a villain clue. Something happened there, and the reader can, or the Pov character can be like. Oh, you know, my sister must have cut herself cooking 241 01:09:58.130 --> 01:10:05.520 Samantha Skal: or whatever. And then we find out later the sister was never there. And so how did this blood get there? That's a misinterpretation. 242 01:10:05.910 --> 01:10:12.109 Samantha Skal: So it's all just through what the Pov character thinks could be going on. That's not actually that the villain is doing the thing 243 01:10:12.700 --> 01:10:20.209 Samantha Skal: hopefully. That helps next question is, what about when you embed the thoughts of the villain on the indirect discourse? 244 01:10:20.640 --> 01:10:24.350 Samantha Skal: Not sure what that means. 245 01:10:25.940 --> 01:10:51.020 Samantha Skal: you're gonna have to have you ask that again in a different way. Cause I don't. I don't know the answer. I don't understand what the question is, so give me a little bit more context. Muriel says, how did you become agent? Where do you suggest to start? Write a novel seriously like you? You gotta get through it. If you've never written one before, it is a whole journey. It's a whole learning process. It's gonna feel scary and hard. And it's 246 01:10:51.200 --> 01:11:06.509 Samantha Skal: an amazing thing, and it just is like, put your butt in the seat and write and get it done, and then revise, revise, revise right, and then, once you think you have a decent story? Get some bader readers see how they experiencing it. They experience it. 247 01:11:06.510 --> 01:11:31.370 Samantha Skal: I highly suggest not querying like, you know, 50 people, 50 agents all at once. Because you do want to be able to get that feedback and so hiring a professional like a developmental editor, book, coach to do a manuscript evaluation can be a great way to sort of test the waters and see how something is being received before you actually go out there and start querying. But in querying you only have one shot, and so you want to give it 248 01:11:31.370 --> 01:11:43.460 Samantha Skal: your very, very best shot before you go out and say, like, you know, I think this is ready. So it needs to be as clean as possible. The plot needs to be, as you know, 249 01:11:43.680 --> 01:12:10.079 Samantha Skal: tight as possible. It needs to be edited. It needs to have gone through some readers. So you understand. You know where people are thinking what? When? But yeah, just sitting down and giving it a shot right? There's so many free resources on providing aid for how to get started. And you know, find a community. This community is great. But it's basically just just doing the work. Is my best advice. And I became agented through pitching through 250 01:12:10.080 --> 01:12:34.240 Samantha Skal: thriller fast, through pitchfest and met my agent there. So Mark says, in foils where they use a crime, a mystery, and a murder. In every episode the main murder is introduced in the middle of the story and game of thrones. They also use a crime. Mystery and murder. Crime is Jamie's attempt to kill Brand. The mystery is the ice on the army in the North and miss the murder is all about. Who killed John Aaron. Absolutely. There's also a mystery that spans the entire series is about who started the war. 251 01:12:34.370 --> 01:12:51.489 Samantha Skal: What do you think of using this techniques? 2 thumbs up right like that sounds amazing. And good on you for noticing all of this and and being able to pull out these examples like that's a fabulous way to approach your own work, particularly if you have kind of a longer running series. 252 01:12:51.620 --> 01:13:15.079 Samantha Skal: Yeah, that's great. Brandix asks, what about a villain that ends up, not being the villain towards the end, and helping you stop the real villain. That's your final twist, right? So you can have this person face the protagonist in the climax. And then they have this realization that they're actually both being bamboozled by the true villain, and they go and they stop them, and the 98% twist perfect. 253 01:13:15.440 --> 01:13:23.020 Samantha Skal: And Annie says, Is is it satisfying for a protagonist antihero to fight the wrong antagonist until the true antagonist is revealed at the climax. 254 01:13:23.370 --> 01:13:40.729 Samantha Skal: Absolutely. This is a twist, right? This is exactly what we're kind of going for with mysteries is like having the protagonist think that. This person they're fighting is the actual person. And then, in the climactic scene it gets revealed like. No, no, they had it wrong this whole time. 255 01:13:40.740 --> 01:13:59.530 Samantha Skal: And then what right? And it's like that quick thinking like having to rely on yourself. And if they're an anti hero or the hero same thing. They're they're just going through the story and and journeying on their own and making the best decisions they can for what they want. And so yeah, I think that would be fantastic. 256 01:13:59.650 --> 01:14:18.269 So those are all the questions. Oh, no, I lied. There's 2 more Dennis says, how do you find critical beta readers when you are broke trading. So go to book signings. Go to free webinars. There's all kinds of stuff. Instagram has a great book, Instagram community. 257 01:14:18.270 --> 01:14:40.319 Samantha Skal: Craigslist, I don't know. That's a terrible example. Don't do that. Twitter like the writing community. On there, you can just say, like, I'm writing in this genre. I have a manuscript of, you know, 90,000 words or whatever, and I'm looking for somebody to trade with me who also loves this genre and that's the biggest thing is just finding somebody who loves that genre as well. We don't want romance. 258 01:14:40.500 --> 01:15:00.709 Samantha Skal: readers to be reading a really scary filler, because probably they won't like it unless they also like really scariest fillers normally want to write a romance book and give it to us, filler reader, who hates romance right? So you want to find the people that love your genre, and then just do a trade. And that's how you build your community as well, and build best friends. 259 01:15:00.930 --> 01:15:21.020 Samantha Skal: Anonymous says, what authors have you read with the best twists and villains? I have a whole list on my resources. Page and so please go check that out. It's my recent favorites, along with some classic favorites, and I hope you enjoy all of them. And I do think that is the last one. Now, unless I missed something. So 260 01:15:21.880 --> 01:15:36.889 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: yeah, yeah, that's all I can see. And yeah, I think we've we've created quite a decent amount of bonus content. So before I go over my last sort of 261 01:15:37.340 --> 01:15:51.439 notes, I'm just gonna drop the links back in the chat for everybody. I hope everybody enjoyed that one. I certainly did. I've made some notes on where I need to add certain twists to my current project. So 262 01:15:51.440 --> 01:16:15.960 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: yeah, and I'll definitely be coming to you about book coaching. So yeah, sounds amazing. So, yeah, that was a great session. Thank you to everybody for joining us and getting involved in the chat and sending us so many questions. That's been amazing. Definitely, very insightful. So thank you, Samantha, for joining us, and and 263 01:16:15.960 --> 01:16:30.389 Samantha Skal: amazing amazing presentation. As always, you can find the replays on our hub like. Say, they should be up there tomorrow. They've been pretty good with us so far, so fingers crossed. Everything will still be good, and I'll be up tomorrow. 264 01:16:30.390 --> 01:17:00.340 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: And then we hope you join us in our next session. I think Crystal is speaking to oh, my gosh! Who is it? Let me have a look. Give you a preview. It's Rami Rami. Advance, I think, is how they pronounce the name. About 40 min. So yeah, you know. Take a breather and then obviously come back and join us for that one. But yeah, thank you, everybody for joining us, and then thank you. Bye. 265 01:17:00.340 --> 01:17:01.240 Sarah @ ProWritingAid: aye.