Francesca Lia Block, M.F.A., is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly. Francesca teaches creative writing at Antioch, UCLA Extension, Pocket MFA and privately.
Francesca in this session shares 12 questions you can use to structure your novel, using examples from the books below for each question.
What’s your characters gift?
What is their flaw?
The flaw is the negative extreme of the gift.
What is their want?
What is their need?
The need is the opposite of the flaw.
What is their arc?
The arc is moving from flaw to need. Arc is driven by the antagonists.
Who are their antagonists?
Every secondary character can be an antagonist.
What is the setting?
What is the style?
What is the crisis?
What is the climax?
Character has used gift to overcome their flaw and achieve resolution of arc (or not if it’s a tragedy). All of this expresses the theme.
What is the resolution?
What is the theme?
Want the bonus question? It's not too late to register for the conference. Replays are available to watch through 9/13/26. Register at scbwi.org.
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