Book Review: James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish

Posted November 21, 2011 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish

Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish


by

James Scott Bell


It is part of the Write Great Fiction series and is a business in Paperback edition that was published by Writer's Digest Books on October 6, 2004 and has 234 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises

Excellent how-to manual on writing fictional novels.

My Take

Wow! Bell has created an amazing work that gets right down to business in explaining plot and structure for your novel. Without going into a great deal of theory, he provides the framework to get you started, keep you writing, and polish it up from soup to nuts with plenty of suggestions for hooking the reader, the need for (and the basics on how to create) the hero/heroine of the story and the requirements for their Opposition character, and maintaining the readers’ interest.

Bell also provides an explanation of plot patterns, problems, and tips.

This one is a “buy”.

The Cover and Title

The cover is rather fun in bright colors with a bit of an abstract effect as characters rush back and forth on the street, each involved in their own world.

The title says it all, for it’s definitely about Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish.


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