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teuliano's review against another edition
5.0
what a great book. Short, succinct, actionable. Might be my favorite craft book for structure
ester_ku's review against another edition
4.0
Great for starting writers. I found the inside outline to be interesting and something to try with my future stories. Also learned to ask why as I'm writing a story. Why is the character doing that?
Jennie Nash has written a great book for writers of any amount of experience.
Jennie Nash has written a great book for writers of any amount of experience.
julieartz's review
5.0
This book is packed with tips and exercises that will help you refine an idea into a viable story. I use many of its gems with my clients and in my own writing. Highly recommended!
jill's review against another edition
4.0
Slender volume comprised of a useful approach to outlining, but especially to revising, your novel. I used Nash's "Inside Outline" technique for writing a synopsis and found it helpful, lending more drive ("because of that...") to an otherwise dry plot summary. I'll try using her approach for revising my current novel. I would have liked less pages devoted to cut-and-paste examples (with no commentary on what was working and what wasn't), and more pages on craft.
the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
This little writing craft book is light, only 123 pages, and super easy to read. Unlike a lot of other craft books by writing gurus who spend a lot of time and pages trying to convince you to outline your story (Larry Brooks, especially, Jessica Brody, Shawn Coyne and most of the others do it, too), this one skips a lot of that and cuts right to what you, an author with a story idea and possibly starting on an outline, need to do. I liked that, a lot. It felt like it gelled well with my writing style, but then I've done a ton of reading other craft books, and I didn't need to be convinced. My critique partners know, I'm an outliner. It also offers a concrete strategy (as opposed to amorphous suggestions) for getting there -- the Inside Outline. And THAT I really liked, but you know I'm a planner / plotter, so take that for what it's worth.
However, I picked this one up for revision, not drafting, and so my eye was drawn not to the exercises it asks writers to do to develop their stories in the beginning, although they're great, too. What does your character want, what's her emotional journey, write the query blurb, the logline, etc. A workbook is available for free if you're interested.
But I'd done all those exercises, and I have a darn good idea of what I want to accomplish with my MS. The problem is, it's in my head and not on my pages.
With my writing it's a matter of execution. Prior to this I was just not… accomplishing on the page what I wanted my story to do. I'm on version 6 (six) of my MS, which I know still has issues because beta readers weren't responding to the story the way I wanted. I don't want to make anyone sob over my book, that's not my writing goal on this one. A fun romp with a light heart-string pull is what I want to achieve. My beta readers and CPs had some great suggestions for tightening what was on the page, and I employed most of their suggestions for another version, but even after that rewrite, I knew in my gut, there was something still missing.
I will say, the traditional "show don't tell" advice that litters most writing craft books was definitely getting in the way of my figuring out what I needed to do with my MS. The Blueprint doesn't engage in any of that. In fact, the emphasis in the Blueprint is on making sure your character's emotional struggles, during and as a result of the external plot struggles, feed into their emotional journeys, every step of the way.
If you're interested in reading more, I'll be periodically posting my progress with the Inside Outline on my blog, amb.mystrikingly.com
However, I picked this one up for revision, not drafting, and so my eye was drawn not to the exercises it asks writers to do to develop their stories in the beginning, although they're great, too. What does your character want, what's her emotional journey, write the query blurb, the logline, etc. A workbook is available for free if you're interested.
But I'd done all those exercises, and I have a darn good idea of what I want to accomplish with my MS. The problem is, it's in my head and not on my pages.
With my writing it's a matter of execution. Prior to this I was just not… accomplishing on the page what I wanted my story to do. I'm on version 6 (six) of my MS, which I know still has issues because beta readers weren't responding to the story the way I wanted. I don't want to make anyone sob over my book, that's not my writing goal on this one. A fun romp with a light heart-string pull is what I want to achieve. My beta readers and CPs had some great suggestions for tightening what was on the page, and I employed most of their suggestions for another version, but even after that rewrite, I knew in my gut, there was something still missing.
I will say, the traditional "show don't tell" advice that litters most writing craft books was definitely getting in the way of my figuring out what I needed to do with my MS. The Blueprint doesn't engage in any of that. In fact, the emphasis in the Blueprint is on making sure your character's emotional struggles, during and as a result of the external plot struggles, feed into their emotional journeys, every step of the way.
If you're interested in reading more, I'll be periodically posting my progress with the Inside Outline on my blog, amb.mystrikingly.com