As a writer, I find myself struggling trying to get my thoughts on the page. If you are a writer like me, you’ve probably taken a few visits to “Writer’s Block,” not being able to transfer your story from mind to printed page. As a solution, go to Amazon.com, your nearest bookstore, or the library and grab a copy of James Scott Bell’s “Plot & Structure,” a part of the “Write Great Fiction Series,” by various authors.This book has exercises at the end of each chapter to help new authors create exciting plot lines that will grab the reader from the beginning and keep them reading till the last page.
In this book, Bell makes use of quotes from famous people pertaining to the writing craft in the chapter headlines. For example, Ray Bradbury is quoted in Chapter Three: “There is only one type of story in the world–your story.” In Chapter Two, there is a quote all so familiar to many of us from Otherworldly Advice in “Field of Dreams”: “If you build it, they will come”.
The first chapter explains some of the myths about writing stories of any genre. One in particular that I found interesting was the “Big Lie,” the idea that writing can not be taught and that writers are born. I vaguely remember something about this being mentioned in my Creative Writing Drama class a couple quarters ago. The solution Bell said was buying books on how to write fiction. After reading this, I too found that writing could be taught.
The second chapter explains in detail about plot, giving many references to the structure of playwriting using the “Three-Act Structure.” Act I is the beginning of the story and the conflict. Act II is explaining how the characters in the story react to the problem and try to achieve a solution. The third Act is the solving of that problem.
The third chapter gives many examples of how to generate plotting ideas. This ranges from writing what you know about to writing under inspiration.
Bell’s use of examples and illustrations make this book enjoyable and clearly understandable. In each of the 14 chapters, he teaches us about the do’s and don’ts when writing stories. Plus there is an appendix for making sure plots are consistent, using the techniques outlined in the previous chapters. There is even an appendix that helps writers create a back cover for their novel!
I’ve been writing for over eleven years. This book has helped me elaborate on my current novel, and it became a reference for future stories. Now with what I’ve learned, my novel will be complete. You may see it in stores sometime in early 2008. For those who want to start writing, I recommend “Plot & Structure,” along with others in this series.
This book alone is well worth the $17 you pay for it! I suggest Amazon.com for this purchase because you will save $6.