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A review by writejenwrite
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story by K.M. Weiland
5.0
Outlining Your Novel is one of my desert island books on writing craft, and I've been looking forward to a follow-up from K.M. Weiland ever since. Structuring Your Novel is a worthy successor, covering one of the most mystifying concepts in fiction writing: story structure. Probably the biggest factor in determining a story's success, structure is a concept that puts the fear in some writers (me!), but a good understanding of it can unlock the power in your story, so I'm always in search of good books on the subject. Weiland delivers with this and more. As always, she takes an intimidating subject and makes it not only approachable, but helps you comprehend it and put it into practice.
Most structure books focus on the various turning points in the story and go deep into the theory of why they're placed where they are and what their function is. Weiland takes it a step further by also examining what story elements look like at each of the key parts of the story: what should I show about my character in the First Act? How do I show my character evolving in the Second Act, without taking away from the full transformation at the end of the story? How does the setting get deepened in the Third Act to echo and contrast what we saw in the First Act? Throughout, she gives examples from classic movies and novels to solidify each concept so each point gets reinforced and you see what it looks like when it's done well.
Structuring Your Novel will give you the blueprint for making your story more powerful. I'm taking this one with me to my desert island, too!
Most structure books focus on the various turning points in the story and go deep into the theory of why they're placed where they are and what their function is. Weiland takes it a step further by also examining what story elements look like at each of the key parts of the story: what should I show about my character in the First Act? How do I show my character evolving in the Second Act, without taking away from the full transformation at the end of the story? How does the setting get deepened in the Third Act to echo and contrast what we saw in the First Act? Throughout, she gives examples from classic movies and novels to solidify each concept so each point gets reinforced and you see what it looks like when it's done well.
Structuring Your Novel will give you the blueprint for making your story more powerful. I'm taking this one with me to my desert island, too!