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| Author: James Scott Bell
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $11.55
You Save: $5.44 (32%)
Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 2013
Media: Paperback
Edition: 5
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 158297294X
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.394
UPC: 035313109423
EAN: 9781582972947
Publication Date: October 6, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Fabulous! November 26, 2004
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
The best testimony I can give about James Scott Bell's writing book is this: I haven't finished it yet. That's because the first 100 pages inspired me so that I put down the book, got off the sofa (on Thanksgiving Day, no less!) and wrote the first 1,000 words of my next novel. More importantly, I also wrote a more detailed outline than I've ever produced for a book (as an, I thought, confirmed seat-of-the-pants writer). I haven't been this excited about my own writing in years! I honestly can't wait to see what's in store in the next 130 pages of Plot & Structure...but first, I'm getting my story down while the inspiration is flowing. ~Deborah Raney, author of A Nest of Sparrows and Playing by Heart
Flat-out the best book January 5, 2005
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
"Plot & Structure" is without a doubt the best book ever written on how to write a novel. Whether you are sitting down to write your first novel or your fifteenth, keep this book handy and your task will be much easier. I've read other books on the subject-there are countless of them out there-and many of them have been very helpful (though more theoretical than practical). But "Plot & Structure" enlists a no-nonsense, roll up your sleeves how-to approach. Simply said, if writing a novel seems a bit daunting to you, read this book from cover to cover-digest it-and soon you'll be on your way!
How not to drive down dead end streets May 14, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I needed a book like this and you do to if you find yourself off to the races on a new novel idea, only to reach page 75 and have everything fall flat. I needed a book to tell me about the fundamental structure of a story in a manner that would allow me to examine an idea, or plot outline, and see if it had enough going on to sustain me to the end. I think having read this book that instead of driving down those 75 page dead end streets I can spend time working on an idea until I have something with the needed components to sustain a longer piece.
Having said that I blush to tell you this book really didn't tell me anything I hadn't read scattered throughout 20 other writing books. What made it stand out is that it put all those pieces of great advice side-by-side and showed me how they're connected and, more importantly, why they're connected.
Looking at a few ideas I've worked on in the past I'm frustrated because I see why they won't make it, but I'm also pleased because for the first time I see why they won't make it.
This book rings a "Bell" March 18, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
James Scott Bell brings them all in with this grand slam. I now have completed all the "Write Great Fiction" books from Writer's Digest Books. All four books are surperb.
I have several books on plots and yet this one brings it up yet another notch. Excellent advice that leaks out into other necessary areas such as the character's arc and the three portions of a book, the beginning, middle, and end. How these three parts all need unique, special treatment.
Something new in this book that none of my other thirty-plus books on writing have is the mysterious two doors of your book. Each located about a quarter of the way from the beginning and end of your book. The first door is when the lead takes that step of no return into the heart of your book. Where his previous normal life is forever left behind. The second door is when the hero takes another action placing him on an inevitable path to the climatic ending scene.
In short, this book is a must buy, perhaps the best overall look at plotting available with enough extra material to make it truly indespensible to the writer.
Great Insight for Any Would-Be or Published Novelist May 10, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Have you ever read started a novel but not finished it? I've had this experience repeatedly because I read a great deal of fiction. These authors started with a terrific premise but the middle of their story fell apart and I lost interest then quit reading.
Whether you are a beginning fiction writer or an experienced novelist, from Bell's carefully crafted book, you will learn how to keep readers turning pages. With a personal yet easy-to-learn teaching style, he explains the distinction between the structure and the plot or how to have a strong beginning, middle and ending. How can you create a complex plot and maintain your character's arc in your plot? Step-by-step, Bell covers these aspects and illustrates them from well-loved general market novels like The Firm or The Godfather. Each chapter encourages the writer to try the techniques on their own writing. As Bell writes in some of the early pages, "Just reading a book on plotting is not going to make you a better writer. You have to try out what you learn, see if you get it, and try some more. You test the principles in the fire of the blank page."
You will need a yellow highlighter as you read Plots & Structure so keep it handy. Then I recommend you return to it often to absorb some more insights from this bestselling novelist.
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