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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
Had a lot of promise then kind of falls apart by the end. Later chapters have quite a bit of self-contradictory statements and poor copy editing and the whole "oh by the way this is a tool not a formula" thing feels like an afterthought. Worth a read but probably not as game changing as you might hope. A lot of what might be useful suggestions (e.g. obligatory scenes) are mainly only useful to the thriller writer due to the obsessive focus on The Silence of the Lambs as the example.
Many writers are storytellers but I don't know how many understand the structure of a story. I think I have written a great story, but I am not sure it could stand up to the story grid. This book does not teach you how to write. This book teaches you how to edit your story. It will make you think about your genre, your characters, your scenes, your stories setting, and how all your pieces fit together. There are a lot of published books that did not go through this process, and they may be profitable, but are they good? This is not the only tool out in the world. If you find something else that works, you should use it. But, if you want to know how to edit a novel and you don't know how, this book is a great place to start. Don't be intimidated (I was). Own your lack of knowledge (don't think of it as a negative) and let this book show you there is nothing to be afraid of. This book gives you the tools to break down your story and see inside it. You will see your gaps, your highs, your flaws, and your possibilities. If you are open to it, it will show you how your story could be great (doesn't translate to contracts, but it could still be great). I hope what I learned in this book will allow me to have a career(fingers crossed) as an author. It is worth the read.
informative
slow-paced
The Good:
I think Coyne has a lot of interesting things to say about story and plot structure, and he’s given me a lot of food for thought about how to approach reworking my novel. For that element of gratitude, I’m totally throwing in an extra star.
The Bad:
It’s frustrating how SUPER focused on thrillers Coyne is - it almost feels like he really wanted to write a book on how to structure a thriller, but realized a more general approach would have broader appeal and well, here we are. He also is heavily focused on the “arch plot” - while mentioning other plot types, he never really goes into detail about how they might be plotted out.
All of which is to say, if you were planning to write a literary state of the nation type novel, heavily focused on the internal world of your protagonist, this book might be of pretty limited use.
There’s also a lot of lengthy explanations of how he maps plot to get through - sometimes this is interesting and useful, but sometimes you’ve heard the same thing five times already and you’re just wanting to move on.
The “Huh?!”:
It’s interesting/weird to me that Coyne - who was an editor at a big 5 house - relies so heavily on movies to elaborate his points. Even when there exist both book and movie versions, he tends to default towards the movie. Which is fine, I guess, but a little weird.
Overall, there is a lot that’s interesting here and I’m looking forward to trying some of what Coyne suggests out - but like most advice focused books, perhaps taking what works, discarding what doesn’t.
I think Coyne has a lot of interesting things to say about story and plot structure, and he’s given me a lot of food for thought about how to approach reworking my novel. For that element of gratitude, I’m totally throwing in an extra star.
The Bad:
It’s frustrating how SUPER focused on thrillers Coyne is - it almost feels like he really wanted to write a book on how to structure a thriller, but realized a more general approach would have broader appeal and well, here we are. He also is heavily focused on the “arch plot” - while mentioning other plot types, he never really goes into detail about how they might be plotted out.
All of which is to say, if you were planning to write a literary state of the nation type novel, heavily focused on the internal world of your protagonist, this book might be of pretty limited use.
There’s also a lot of lengthy explanations of how he maps plot to get through - sometimes this is interesting and useful, but sometimes you’ve heard the same thing five times already and you’re just wanting to move on.
The “Huh?!”:
It’s interesting/weird to me that Coyne - who was an editor at a big 5 house - relies so heavily on movies to elaborate his points. Even when there exist both book and movie versions, he tends to default towards the movie. Which is fine, I guess, but a little weird.
Overall, there is a lot that’s interesting here and I’m looking forward to trying some of what Coyne suggests out - but like most advice focused books, perhaps taking what works, discarding what doesn’t.
Yep. This one helped me out of a writing hole. When I graphed out the Internal and External polarity shifts in my manuscript and it made beautifully opposed and crossing lines, I knew my manuscript was worth pursuing.
Quite repetitive in places, but also useful. And a bit daunting. Oh who am I kidding: a *lot* daunting. Writing books is hard and complicated, and the more you know, the more you know nothing...
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
Almost dnf but i finally finished it (ok skimmed the last bits)
Definitely a great practical guide on structure. He breaks down the mechanics of story in a really understandable way.
Biggest lesson was thinking about every unit of story, from a beat to a scene to the global story itself, as a complete cycle of incident, complication, crisis, climax, and resolution.
Definitely a great practical guide on structure. He breaks down the mechanics of story in a really understandable way.
Biggest lesson was thinking about every unit of story, from a beat to a scene to the global story itself, as a complete cycle of incident, complication, crisis, climax, and resolution.