Search This Blog








2022 Literary Escapes Challenge








The 52 Book Club's Reading Challenge 2022

2022 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

So-so Writing Book Helps My Scary-Bad Rough Draft. Kinda.

If you, like me, have dreams of publishing a novel some day, you've probably read a few books about writing. More than a few. Probably tons. I know I have. Some writing tutorials are better than others, obviously, even though most cover about the same material. Still, I'm always interested in finding new and different techniques to deal with old and perplexing problems. Since plotting is something I pretty much suck at, I picked up Plot & Structure by mystery/suspense author James Scott Bell, hoping for some good advice. I didn't learn anything completely new from it, but it still offered a few gems.
I don't agree with everything Bell says, of course. I mean, seriously, is the following paragraph really "one of the greatest opening paragraphs in any thriller you'll ever read" as Bell seems to think:
"At two-thirty Saturday morning, in Los Angeles, Joe Carpenter woke, clutching a pillow to his chest, cllin ghis lost wife's name in the darkness. The anguished and haunted quality of his own voice ahd shaken him from sleep. Dreams fell from him not all at once but in trembling veils, as attic dust falls off rafters when a house rolls with an earthquake." (From Sole Survivor by Dean R. Koontz)
Yeah, I don't think so either.
Overall, though, I found the book helpful. Not monumentally so, but enough that I enjoyed the reading experience and found it to be a good use of my time. It even helped me write some killer back cover copy for my soon to be bestseller (hee hee). Now, if it could just help me shape my scary-bad rough draft into something that's at least readable, if not publishable, then, well, I'd really be singing its praises.
(Readalikes: similar to The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall and How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey)
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for a couple uses of mild language
To the FTC, with love: I bought Plot & Structure with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
3 comments:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!




Reading
Farm to Trouble by Amanda Flower

Listening
The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
-
-
Adult Assembly Required [Book Review]3 hours ago
-
61. Rivals (American Royals #3)3 hours ago
-
Sunday Post #45310 hours ago
-
FO Friday: Goth Kitty Socks13 hours ago
-
-
-
Book Quotes of the Week19 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
The 20 Books of Summer challenge1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
Audiobook: Call Me Chef, Dammit!2 days ago
-
-
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday #183 days ago
-
-
-
-
The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth4 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher3 weeks ago
-
Chirp Audiobooks - A Review4 weeks ago
-
-
-
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova1 month ago
-
-
-
-
Cybils Awards 2021: The End3 months ago
-
2022 Reading Log3 months ago
-
Back to the Classics 20224 months ago
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
I personally like Stephen Kings - On Writing. After reading this, I may however have a look at this one.
ReplyDeleteJames Frey has a great series of books with titles like "How to Write Damn Good Fiction."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rebecca. Stephen King's is da bomb.
ReplyDelete