Elements of Writing Fiction - Scene & Structure (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Another reviewer said reading this book was "a slog." I had to think whether I wanted to agree with that description or not. I've read four other "Elements of Fiction Writing" and two "Write Great Fictions" within three months (I'm not a fast reader.) Scene & Structure, however, could not keep my attention. I have moved on to another book in the series because I can't stay focus on it to finish it anytime soon. Unless I find another book on the subject, I will go back to complete it though.

I give a rating of a 4 because the boredom maybe in my lack of interest in the author's writing style.

This book is an absolute must.

The first book that you should read is Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer.

The second book is this one.

Both of these books demonstrate fundamental dramatic technique: scene and sequel. Scene is comprised of goal, conflict, disaster and in which the conflict is worked out via stimulus-internal reaction-response. After a scene comes the sequel in which the character emotionally and rationally selects a new goal.

Other reviewers notwithstanding, this is not a write by the numbers book. You are free to vary the pattern as much as you please -- after all, it's your book, and your vision. But for anyone who has written numerous chapters and realizes that something is wrong, this book will give much needed understanding.

Bickham was Dwight Swain's student at Oklahoma and went on to write a lot of (I think) pot boilers using what he learned, then wrote Scene & Structure. If you're a working writer (or want to be), the book to read, study and memorize is Dwight Swains "Techniques of the Selling Writer." It's got everything you need to kick start your education in writing fiction. I've published one short story, won several literary prizes for both fiction and non-fiction, and I'm deep into writing my first novel. Swain is the only one I've ever read who really knows how fiction works and can explain it so others can do it, too. Bickham's book is 168 pages, including index. By page 168, Swain is telling the student how the "end of the beginning" needs to be structured to generate suspense. Which one sounds more valuable to you?

I just finished reading this book. I read the whole book carefully, then went back and re-read several chapters. I believe I understand what Mr. Bickham is trying to get across.

I agree with the reviewers who accuse the author of presenting a formulaic, by-the-numbers prescription for writing, because that's exactly what he does. The idea that every scene must begin with a clear statement of goal and must end in a disaster is simply ludicrous. Even if by "disaster" Bickham means "setback," his poor choice of word is symptomatic of his own prose style, which is simply dreadful. I thought Dan Brown was a poor wordsmith, but Bickham makes him seem like Shakespeare! Unfortunately 90% of his examples come from his own wretched novels, which makes for some very unpalatable reading.

Still, the idea of scene plus sequel as a basic pattern in a genre novel is probably on the mark. Clearly many variants and deviations from this pattern are possible, and Bickham admits this, even offers some examples. But I think his book might be more useful as a tool for analyzing genre novels than as a blueprint for writing them. The author who follows Bickham's prescriptive formulae is bound to produce a stilted piece of work that very few would want to read. On the other hand, using Bickham's ideas for fine-tuning a scene or sequel might bear fruit. But beware pronouncements such as avoiding narrative summary or extended internalization within a scene.

I am much more in tune with Stephen King's method of writing, in which the plot or structure of the novel evolves organically as it's written. Those who feel otherwise and are looking for a method of plotting a novel may turn to a book like this. But I would caution against plotting out every scene and sequel in advance, as Bickham advocates. If you know in advance every twist and turn the story is going to take, then where's the fun in writing it?

I have used this book to teach plotting to creative writing students, so my review is based on how well absolute novice writers respond to the ideas he puts forth in this book. On the whole, they respond positively. Once they grasp the standard three-act structure of a plot, they find his scene-sequel formula to be IMMENSELY helpful figuring out how to work out options for rising action. A few students complain that they don't like being taught a *formula*, and it seems a few reviewers have that gripe as well.

I'll say here what I say in class. First, if a formula happens to have been successful (as you can see if you break down almost any movie or popular novel), eh, maybe just this once it might be worth your time to learn it. Just file it away somewhere or something. Second, just because Bickham advocates a linear tic-tock scene-sequel way of composing your plot, that does not mean, nor does Bickham anywhere say, that you have to TELL the story in simple lockstep straightforward chronology. Once you have the basic idea of what's going to happen and why, you can start the story whenever you darn well please. You can start just at the climax, if you want, and tell the story through disconnected flashbacks, so that readers have to piece together the shards into the picture of the story arc. You can tell the story as an epistolary novel. You can tell it by varied protagonists. The only limit is imagination of the author. If you hate this book because you can't figure out new and creative ways to apply his basic formula, that doesn't necessarily equate with the *book* being worthless.

My students are grateful because (and remember they're all fledgling writers) this book's ideas give them handles to grasp when they sit down to write. I don't advocate the whole 'scene goal clearly stated to the reader' thing Bickham states, but if you as the WRITER have no idea what the scene goal is, or how things are going to wind up worse for the protagonist, chances are pretty high there will be a high Flounder Quotient in your plotting. All in all, it's worth your time and money as long as you are willing to view it as a plotting aid device and not the Magic Potion of Writing. It's a skeleton upon which one can reliably hang decent stories: my students are invariably impressed at the end of the semester both at their own ingenuity in storytelling and how they managed to create a story that *moves* and unfolds logically.