Description
This is the downloadable pdf version of the Writer’s Muse Focus Deck, featuring 54 printable cards in eight critical novel planning categories: Muse, Plot, Main Character, Side Characters, Antagonist, Macro-level World-building, Micro-level World-building, and Exercises to craft a complete and cohesive narrative from start to finish.
This 7-page pdf includes color-coded cards that you can print and cut out for your very own Writer’s Muse Focus Deck. Download also includes an easy to assemble tuck box with instructions to keep your deck together and safe.
The Story of the Writer’s Muse Focus Deck…
My name is MJ and I’ve been in love with storytelling since I was a child.
I never had trouble coming up with a rough plot or concepts for my stories, but once I started the actual writing part, I would always come to a place in the story where I would realize I hadn’t worked out an important detail. So, I would backtrack and try to weave it in. More often than not, this caused a snowball of issues that would quickly become overwhelming, and I would end up starting over completely from scratch or abandoning the story altogether.
So. Frustrating.
Does this sound familiar?
To help me figure out where I was going wrong, I started the Augusta Writer’s Critique Group on Meetup in August 2018 to collaborate with other writers, learn from them, share my experiences, and support a community that loves words and assembling them into sentences as much as I do. Now boasting over 550 members, the Augusta Writer’s Critique Group has given me the opportunity to work with many writers who have become successfully published authors.
And it’s also given me the chance to work alongside writers who get stuck just like me.
My experience as a critique host has helped me to pinpoint the key questions that successful writers answer during their planning stage and unsuccessful writers do not.
The Writer’s Muse Focus Deck was born!
I had 3 basic principles in mind when I was forming my vision for this project.
1) I wanted to make a product that was straightforward and simple to use for any genre of fiction.
I’ve acquired a lot of writing tools over the years, but a common problem in all of them was they were overcomplicated and hard to keep organized, not applicable to the genre I was writing, and most were too jargony. I found myself looking up more terms to understand those tools than doing actual research for my novel.
Another problem, and perhaps the most impactful, was that none of these tools took my unique writing style into account, and I found the rigidness of their application very stunting for my Muse, which only added to my frustration.
The Writer’s Muse Focus Deck is simple and easy to use.
There are 54 cards, comprised of eight categories shared across all genres of fiction:
Muse
Plot
Main Character
Side Characters
Antagonist
Macro-Level Worldbuilding
Micro-Level Worldbuilding
Exercises
The cards are color-coded by category and numbered 1-54 so you can tailor them to YOUR unique writing style:
1) Go one by one from start to finish for a more structured approach
2) Select the exact color-coded category for a targeted approach
3) Or shuffle the deck for a spontaneous or randomized approach
Whether you’re writing a children’s picture book, a gruesome horror, a complex high fantasy world, or whichever section of the bookstore you imagine your novel displayed, the Writer’s Muse Focus Deck’s questions are applicable to all genres.
2) I wanted to make a product that would be useful for both experienced authors and new writers alike
The biggest obstacle for new writers is not having a clue what questions to ask to create cohesive narrative and compelling characters, or to introduce page-turning tension into the story to hook readers and keep them engaged until the very last word.
Even as an experienced writer, I still need a focus; a one-stop shop to invoke my Muse and pour my inspiration out into a cohesive, complete, and clear path to novel writing success.
When it boils down to it, writers just want to write, to complete novels and get them out into the world for reader consumption. Spending weeks or months eeking out the details of a plot or characters, then finding out halfway through a draft that something important was overlooked and major rewrites are needed to resolve them is a nonstarter.
The Writer’s Muse Focus Deck is a smooth, fast, repeatable process that all writers can use to iron out the important details and get writing with confidence.
The deck’s eight color-coded categories address critical elements of storytelling shared across all genres of fiction. No matter how complex your story, this deck is specific enough to uncover the finer details, and high level enough to reuse multiple times in your planning stage to address more complexities if needed.
Four separate planets? Run through the Macro-level worldbuilding questions for each one.
Eight main characters? The Main Character cards will enable you to give each one their own unique voice.
Six antagonists? The Antagonist cards will help you sort out all of their devious intentions.
3) I wanted to make a product that could be valuable for every stage of the writing process
As an experienced writer, I fully understand that a first draft is not a perfect specimen, no matter how meticulous your planning stage or process is. Once you start writing, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the story and move your fingers faster than your brain can keep up. A few things are bound to need a bit more fleshing out after that first draft is done.
That’s why I also wanted a product that would help writers revise their first draft, and pinpoint exactly what needs more development to polish their efforts into something that’s ready to send to an editor, a beta reader, or an agent.
The Writer’s Muse Focus Deck lets you easily identify areas in your narrative that need more development so you can get to work on your next revision with a clear focus.
Watch the video!
This was our promo video for the Kickstarter that, sadly, was not funded.
Since the Kickstarter was unsuccessful, I cannot offer Linen cardstock decks with an aluminum tin case like I planned, but I’m still determined to get these questions into writers’ hands, YOUR hands. The PDF Download enables you, the writer, to print out each card along with an easy to assemble tuck box to keep your cards secure and safe.
These 54 cards, whether printed on M29 linen or paper cardstock, provide all the questions you need to craft your novel from start to finish.
Downloadable pdf includes 7 printable pages and a tuck box for storage.
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