Customer Reviews

Write Great Fiction - Plot & Structure

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an aspiring writer, this book helped me structure my story. If you want a book that will teach you beginings, middles and ends, and where in your story each begins and ends, this is the one for you. The tips were very helpful and the book was well written.
This is one of the best books I've read in fiction writing.

This book gives you not only several good pointers on how to write, but it also helps get you in the mood to write. I would have liked to have a little bit more help on how to structure ideas and an example of an outline would have been nice; but I was satisfied with the overall quality of the book.

Before purchasing this book, I had borrowed a copy from the local library and read it. I was skeptical initially, because I always thought that plotting was my strong point in writing and I probably wouldn't need a book to tell me more about it. Boy, I was wrong! There are so many things I learned from this book that it has improved my writing tenfold. The author shows us how to make each scene, each chapter full of tension and suspense, and to weave this in and out in a such a way as to make the entire book unputdownable.

When I had the library copy with me, I found myself making plenty of notes based on the tips provided. Then I said to myself that I might as well get my own copy so that I save the time spent on note-taking and use it for actually writing something!

I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to take their writing a notch (make that several notches) higher.

Beginning your very first novel may require some guidance, especially if you plan on taking it beyond the confines of your immediate social circle. If you're not sure how to go about coming up with a plotline for your novel and how to structure it, Bell's 'Plot & Structure' is not a bad way to start.

Bell's style is very straightforward and friendly. He introduces some tried-and-true concepts that have worked for professional authors, but also provides his own take, including his LOCK system for devising a well-structured story that should keep a reader interested. His ideas work well for those who want to write in the bestseller or genre fiction style, but they can be applied to literary novels as well. There is no attempt to dictate a standard procedure for plot writing and Bell tries to be accommodating to every style of author, from the pre-planner to the free-wheeler.

He also provides practical exercises for the budding writer to follow, so there's lots to do in getting the process moving.

For more experienced writers, this book may be too basic and it does not delve deeply into the finer points of plotting structure. But as an overall guide for new writers, it fits the bill.

This book on plot and structure, in itself, has excellent structure -- author goes to great lengths to make sure that everything he is presenting in his work is brought to the reader in systematic clarity.

Although some concepts, which are very basic to the creation of fiction, have been presented before in other works, this author reworks them and serves them up in new and fresh ways.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the art/science of fictional creation.