Robert D. Reed Publishers News — character development
Re-calculating “Deal a Story”
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How often have you missed a turn and the GPS said, “Re-calculating?” Obviously I heard this many times as the voice so clearly reverberates in my head. When it comes to knowing how many possible hands one can draw from Deal a Story by Sue Viders, is it really important? The only reason it is important for me to write about again is to be in integrity. After doing some re-calculating, Patrick Vennebush, author of Mathy Jokes 4 Mathy Folks wrote to me, “The downside is that it's significantly lower than the number I previously gave you. The upside is that it's still...
Five-Quadrillion Combinations with "Deal a Story"… or MORE!?!
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Our brainstorming card game, Deal a Story, by Sue Viders, boasts on the box top that there are 101 cards and 1,000,001 story ideas. But how many ideas really can come from this game? Even though I was really good at math and statistics when a student, over the years I have lost so much mathematical know-how. So I wrote to our author, Patrick Vennebush, who wrote Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks, (and has a blog of jokes and other fun math stuff) and asked him how many combinations were really possible with Deal a Story. A million and...
Deal a Story and GO WILD with ideas!
Cleone Reed Adding twists to novels Card game for writers Character development choosing a genre choosing a plot Cleone Reed comedy writers Deal a Story overcoming writer's block playwrights plot development screenwriters Story development Sue Viders surprise endings Tool for Writers villians and heroes and heroines writer's block Writer's Tool writers groups writing coaches writing teachers
When I play with the Deal a Story Brain-Storming Card Game by Sue Viders, I end up with a wide variety of emotions. Today, the first hand I drew made me literally laugh out loud! Another one made me totally puzzled. Another one had me intrigued. I think the reactions and feelings are as endless as the possible stories that can come out of using this game, or as we refer to it, this writer’s tool. (Here is a sample random draw:) The idea is to pick one of sixteen cards in each group: Hero, Heroine, Villain, Plot, and Genre; and...
No More Writer's Block with Deal a Story
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Sue Viders—I love this—is fondly called "The Author's Author." When she presented her idea for the Deal a Story card game to us to publish, I got very excited. What a concept! It is an innovative card game that helps writers overcome creative downtime and the discomfort of facing a blank page. I wish all writing teachers used this in their classes! Deal A Story is a deck of 101 cards that can produce over one million story ideas. It combines characters with a variety of plots and genres, offering a unique way to develop interesting story concepts and...