MARY ANN POLL

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Plotting Magic: The Storyteller’s Blueprint!

Every great story begins with a single question: What if? From identifying your central conflict to creating unforgettable characters and building a suspenseful climax, plotting

Hey there, Story Weavers! 🖋️🧵 Whether you’re a bright-eyed newbie or a wise ol’ scribe, let’s demystify the alchemy of plot-making, shall we?

🔍 The Quest Begins: Every epic starts with a quest — your story problem. A whodunnit with a twist? A ghost who’s more nuisance than nightmare… until they aren’t? Find your spark — this part’s a breeze!

📝 The Tale Unfolds: Imagine spilling the beans to your BFF. That’s your one-page wonder — a story in a nutshell, your treasure map from “Once upon a time” to “The end”. It’s your narrative, and voila, your outline!

💥 Conflict Concoction: Stir up some trouble! Be it a hero’s inner demons or a face-off with a spectral foe (speaking from experience, supernatural thrills are my jam), conflict is your story’s heartbeat.

🎭 Cast Call: Time to dream up your star players — the valiant hero (protagonist), the curveball-throwing nemesis (antagonist), and the colorful crew from sidekicks to sages. Dive deep into their worlds — quirks, motives, secrets, and all. The realer they feel to you, the more they’ll leap off the page.

🌱 Plot Growth: With your story seedling and character crew in hand, water that one-pager until it blossoms into a full-grown plot. Let the suspense climb like a vine to that “gasp-for-air” climax.

📚 Wisdom in Pages: And if you’re itching for more plot potion recipes, bookshelves are brimming with wisdom. “Building Plots” by Robert Kernen is a gem in the trove. Nourish your plotting prowess!

Ready, set, plot away! May your pens be swift and your tales captivating. Happy plotting, friends! 🎉✍️📖

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Mary Ann A Bio

Mary Ann Poll, America’s Lady of Supernatural Thrillers, is the award-winning author of the Ravens Cove series. Born in Texas and shaped by its wide skies and stubborn spirit, Mary Ann called Alaska home for over forty years — and though her boots are back on Texas soil, her heart never left the Last Frontier. That love for both lands breathes through every page — from the sun-baked spirit of Texas to the eerie perpetual light of the Alaskan solstice and the rich traditions of Alaska’s Indigenous peoples.

Her love for a spine-tingling story and her love for Christ come together in her writing. Mary Ann’s own spiritual journey — from a lifelong fascination with the supernatural to a deep and abiding faith — gives her novels their distinctive voice: suspenseful, grounded in real spiritual stakes, and rooted in hope.

When she’s not writing, Mary Ann enjoys gardening, swimming, and time with her beloved family and pets — who have a habit of finding their way into her stories.