Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
by James Scott Bell
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Book Summary Information
Author: James Scott BellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-06
ISBN: 158297294X
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781582972947
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
Book Review: 4.5 Stars--Easy to follow
Summary: 5 Stars
What I like best about this book is that Bell writes in a very easy to follow style. He language is simple and readily understood. I bought this book to assist me with re-working the plot of a novel. One thing that helped me was that he says to come up with hundreds of ideas for your ending or for a major plot point. This way as you thread your novel together, you have different scenarios to choose from. So if you suddenly need to raise the stakes or if you find that your original set up doesn't work with the over all tone of what has come before, you have something to use instead. It also helps when you want to create a twist ending.
Plot and Structure shows you how to drag out the suspense so that you raise the stakes for your lead character and keep the reader hooked. Distinguishing between different types of intensity, Bell shows you how you can use emotional scenes or action scenes to challenge your characters and deepen your plot.
My only critique of this book is that many of the examples that he uses are from suspense novels. While I think this is useful especially when setting up opening scenes, you may find yourself changing tone of your book if you follow his models too closely. After reading this book, I found myself re-working my opening scene and the tone was ominous. While my new version was definately suspenseful, I had to remind myself that my book is a historical romance, not a thriller a la Mary Higgins Clark. So I wrote a third opener which had some of the suspense of the second draft but without the foreboding air. Still, writing the second draft was great practice and taught me about pacing a scene which is very handy as I go into critical scenes later in my book.
Overall, this is a great book. Plot and Structure is informative and unpretentious.
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