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Story Alchemy

The Quest for the Philosopher's Stone of Storytelling

Story Alchemy
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  • Home
  • About
  • Author’s Note
  • Bibliography
  • Chapters
    • Chapter 1: The Quest (complete)
    • Chapter 2 Out of Chaos: The Prima Materia (complete)
    • Chapter 3 The Plot Pentagon (complete)
    • Chapter 4 Down the Rabbit Hole (complete)
    • Chapter 5 The Dark Realm of the Unconscious (complete)
    • Chapter 6 The Philosopher’s Stone (complete)
    • Chapter 7 Becoming Worthy (complete)
    • Chapter 8 The Iris of Time (complete)
    • Chapter 9 The Land of Story (complete)
    • Chapter 10 Dream Invasion (complete)
    • Chapter 11 The Memory Palace (complete)
    • Chapter 12 The Vampire Novel (complete)
    • Addendum I
    • Addendum II
  • Help for NaNoWriMo
  • Movie Plot Analysis
    • About Time
    • Frozen
    • Firefly: Episodes 1 and 2 (The pilot, titled “Serenity”)
  • Reviews
  • Where to Buy

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Writing Assisted by Midjourney Visualization

Posted on November 6, 2022 by David SheppardNovember 7, 2022

I’m 80% complete with my three-volume novel, Robot Dawn. A couple of months ago I ran onto an article online that piqued my curiosity about artificial intelligence software programs that generate images from text. Sounded like an interesting idea, and … Continue reading →

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Sinking Deeper and Deeper into Story

Posted on July 14, 2020 by David SheppardJuly 14, 2020

The more I use the techniques developed in Story Alchemy for generating story, the more I understand how shallow our insight is into our own creativity. We should realize that the Unconscious contains a vast storehouse of knowledge concerning the … Continue reading →

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Voices in the Night

Posted on June 6, 2020 by David SheppardJune 8, 2020

Last night I read a little of Lord of the Rings before I went to sleep. I don’t always sleep so soundly during the first couple of hours, and that was true then. Even though I was asleep, I heard … Continue reading →

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Discovering the Plot Pentagon

Posted on August 29, 2019 by David SheppardSeptember 3, 2019

Rarely are we quick-minded enough to catch the exact moment and circumstance that produces a new idea. But one of my moments of discovery stands out and has been bugging me for years. It’s time I expose to my reading … Continue reading →

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Getting Back in the Saddle

Posted on February 3, 2019 by David SheppardFebruary 3, 2019

Well, here I am finally getting back into the swing of this writing thing after having a mini stroke — it was no fun and you can trust me on that — and I’ve been thinking about my technique of … Continue reading →

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Writer’s Block? Or Just Poor Planning?

Posted on July 26, 2018 by David SheppardJuly 26, 2018

For the last two months I’ve been struggling with my work in progress, Robot Dawn. For a while, I just thought that my story had become so complex that I no longer had the intellectual capacity to deal with it. … Continue reading →

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William Perry’s Creative-Sleep Experience

Posted on January 7, 2017 by David SheppardMarch 7, 2018

William Perry, the US Secretary of Defense during the Clinton administration, had an unusual experience years before while working on his PhD. Here’s how Politico and he described the event in a recent article: Perry had been brooding over the question for … Continue reading →

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Neil Gaiman on Writing “American Gods”

Posted on January 6, 2017 by David SheppardMarch 7, 2018

Lately, I have been reading Neil Gaiman’s A View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction. My son bought it for me a while back, and I finally started reading it last week. A few nights ago, I ran onto this statement in … Continue reading →

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The Author’s First Novel

Posted on November 7, 2014 by David SheppardMarch 7, 2018

[Originally posted on April 21, 2011 by David Sheppard] Note: Might want to reference my chapter in Novelsmithing titled “The Psychology of Creativity” before reading the following. I’ve been reading Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, and last night I ran into … Continue reading →

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Reimagining a Scene

Posted on September 28, 2014 by David SheppardMarch 7, 2018

Ever run up against a scene that just doesn’t work? Perhaps it seems lifeless or is so disorganized that it can’t take shape. You can’t get the images and words to work together. Well, you’re not alone. I’ve been there … Continue reading →

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