January 11, 2025
John Byrne Barry is a writer, designer, actor, director, and crossing guard. He is author of four novels, including his latest, Pirates of Sausalito: Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery. Other talks he gives include Setting That Works — How Memorable Setting Can Advance Plot, Reveal Character, Echo Theme, and More and How to Write a Killer Book Blurb.
See more at johnbyrnebarry.com.
Schedule
- 10:30 Sign-in Table Opens
- 11:15 Writers Table with Barry Hampshire
- 12:00 Buffet Lunch and Business Meeting
- 1:00 Presentation by John Byrne Barry
Cost
CWC Members: $30.00 Guests: $35.00
Includes buffet lunch.
Pay online or at the door.
When Plots Collide — Create Suspenseful Page-Turners by Weaving Multiple Storylines
You’ve all seen colliding plots in action — it’s a formula used extensively on crime shows. Think “Law and Order.” The book or the TV show starts with a couple of unrelated stories, but you know they’re going to bump into each other. Other shows that come to mind: “House of Cards,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Diplomat.”
I’ll be mapping out the plotline of Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe’s brilliant 1987 novel about New York City.
You will learn:
- To use the formula to amp up suspense, so your reader keeps turning the page.
- To use colliding plots to make one story cause an action in another.
- To show how one character can tighten the vice on another character who’s not even in the scene.
- As characters chase their goals, they are, inadvertently or not, creating trouble for someone else.
