So: how’s everyone doing? Everyone have their eclipse glasses? (Or not, as the case may be?) Anyway, down to business: let’s talk Quarks of the Heart!
Regretfully I can’t point to the exact instant of inspiration: only that after the last serial concluded1, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending. I wanted to do something more character-focused, and I wanted to be a bit more disciplined about the plot as well, as I felt I was scrambling there at the end.
Borrowing an idea from
(thank you!), I decided to…dramatic pause… outline. Which I did, utilizing the Save the Cat method, particularly the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet element of it.2 I’ll leave you to judge how that worked out; I will note that I didn’t perfectly keep to the BSBS in the sense that there are 13 episodes plus an epilogue instead of 15. Also I changed the ending from what I had originally written as it made more sense in the flow of the story; I didn’t originally plan on Liz Flask arriving in time to assist with Candystriper and Mal-Med’s defeat. All in all, though, the outline helped tremendously, kept me on track as it were, and I will definitely be working from one in future.Speaking of thanks, first of all I owe a proper one to
my wife and first editor, without whom you would’ve have a great many of these ideas to begin with. It was her suggestion, for example, which resulted in the little twist at the epilogue which I will absolutely follow up on in a later story and/or serial (I promise, guys!). Secondly, I’m also terribly grateful for all you loyal readers and commenters out there, in particular , , , and . If I missed anyone, my sincere apologies. Substack doesn’t seem to have yet a feature for tracking who’s the most frequent commenter, which may be for the best, given the way the Internet’s gone. Anyhow.So, what’s next, you may ask? Well, I’m going to think over and review this serial and then plan the next one! Always writing and so on. Suggestions, ideas, comments, feedbacks, and/or snappy limericks welcome!
Also, I’m very much thinking of voiceovers. Should be fun, no?
Until next time,
Michael
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/save-the-cat-beat-sheet/
Quarks of the Heart was such a blast to read! I’m looking forward to whatever comes next!
Thank you for the shoutout.