Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)

If you are a young writer looking for quick, solid advice on how to develop your craft then this book is an excellent place to start. If you are an experienced writer with a couple professional publications under your belt but you still have your doubts about your ability to make money at the craft of fiction, then this book will add greatly to your toolbox. However, if you've taken a few college level creative writing classes, or if you've already got a novel on store shelves and are working on your second, it would better to keep on writing and leave this book for someone else.

An informative read for a new or still unpublished writer. An interesting perspective for an experienced writer.

One of the best books I have read on Plot and Structure in easy to understand language without all the literary mombo jumbo. My the end of the first chapter I was shaking my head in agreement.

Nick

I got a good bit out of this book. Like many of it's kind though it is a lot longer that it needs to be. A lot of it could be cut out. You'll find yourself skimming in certain areas. Unless of course you just have an endless amount of time on your hands. It was worth getting though.

This book is extremely helpful. When I started reading the first 5 chapters, I thought this was unhelpful, uninspired, and acted like writing should be sterile, just for mass marketing and money. I stopped reading, and thought it was a waste of my time. But, of course I was wrong. Now that I finally attained some real inspiration and passion in an idea, this book is now incredibly helpful. I have to start it over just so I can fully use its knowledge for my story.

When you finally find something you love and want to write about, this book is can be so helpful in helping you go where you want to go. I always thought the author just wanted me to write his story, but now, I know that this book enables and helps me write my story.

The book is devoid of fluff, full of actionable tips, advice, formulas and strategy backed up by good evidence and supporting examples. James has steeped himself in books on learning the craft and the book reads like a 'best of' story writing tips. As a writer, I have plenty of ideas but struggle to know how to convert those ideas into something that will sustain a novel. This little manual showed me how. Since reading it I have made great headway into developing the outline for my first novel. Without the book, I would have been at a loss as to how to go about it.

The key lessons here are the LOCK system and three Act structure. You will see how this formula applies to almost all successful fiction and how you can recreate it to create plots that sustain interest for 200, 300 and more pages.

No book is perfect, and my only criticism is that I would have enjoyed a more varied selection of supporting examples. The author draws from Dean Koontz a little too often! I'm sure this has been a common criticism, but it's only a minor note against a book that is quite exceptional.