Monday, December 11, 2023

Janice Hardy – Plotting Your Novel

Writing / Book Review.

I've recently bought some books to become a better writer, and some of those were Janice Hardy's.

At 300 pages this one’s a bit bigger, and of the three Janice Hardy books I’ve picked up this one feels the most like a real ‘text book’, something to study. You can actually buy a companion ‘work book’ to work out the questions at the end of each chapter, but you don't really need it.


Topics

  • working out an idea to a plot
  • antagonist, protagonist, other characters
  • working out characters
  • determine what drives your novel
  • point of view, narrative distance, tense
  • first versus third, past versus present tense
  • several ‘classical’ story structures
  • type of novel, genre, marketing (this section is a bit thin)
  • size and scope
  • summary line, blurb, synopsis (this takes up a third of the book)


Missing (somewhat)

What could have made the book better is:

  • why someone would write (instead of flipping burgers)
  • tools (what to use when writing or documenting)
  • tips (how to keep track of notes, characters, events, locations, plot)
  • publishing platforms (from the classic big 5 to Amazon to WattPad)
  • purple prose


Fortunately, most of the topics above you can find on the web on all sorts of pages and blogs. I understand why some topics were not addressed: the book would become way to big and too confusing. As it is now it is a great tool to structure yourself and your story. It's just that I'm a completionist -- is that a thing?


Verdict

Verdict: good, but could be better. I suggest you buy this one as an e-book as it isn’t a reference guide you want to browse through. Unless you're like me and you don't handle study books well on an e-reader...

If this is your first attempt at writing a book you’d better get this one… It will save you a lot of heartache and rewrites.

To experienced writers it still might come in handy building up your summary, blurb and synopsis, three things most writers struggle with.


More


Dapper / TellTales #118


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