Ask yourself what EXPERIENCE you want your audience or reader to have in your own story, so you can build scenes that deliver on that promise.

ASSIGNMENT: As a writer, it’s important for you to know yourself and understand what works best for you. So I urge you to spend some time pondering, and writing on this question: are you a plotter or pantser? What are your process quirks?

ASSIGNMENT: Start a list. What are some specific genre elements you’ve noticed — in any genre?

ASSIGNMENT: List # 1: Make a list of all your story ideas. Yes, you read that right. All of them. This is a great exercise because it gets your subconscious churning and invites it to choose what it truly wants to be working on. Your subconscious knows way more than you do about writing. None of us can do the kind of deep work that writing is all

ASSIGNMENT: Write out your reasons WHY THEM? for the lovers in your WIP.

· ASSIGNMENT : Make a list of ten great twists, and write out what makes them great, for you.

· ASSIGNMENTS: 1. Make two blank structure grids, one for the movie you have chosen from your master list to analyze, and one for your WIP. You can just do a structure grid on a piece of paper for the movie you’ve chosen to analyze, but also do a large corkboard or cardboard structure grid for your WIP. You can fill out one structure grid while you

ASSIGNMENT: You know this by now! Make a list. Who are the top ten (or more) villains that really do it for you, and why?

· ASSIGNMENT: In this workbook, I’ve included full story breakdowns and analyses of ten films in different genres. If you really want to see how the Elements of Act One actually function, get ahold of at least three of those movies, and watch the first act of one of the films, looking for the elements I’ve discussed here, then read the Act One