Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Rating:
Summary: Slow...
Review: I have been reading through this book slowly, it just doesn't give me enough to get me to just sit down for hours with it. This would be a good book; it's got great things to say, but it is quite slow at getting out what few points it does have on it's many pages. I'd love a condensed version. Over all it's okay.
Still I have found nothing to top Self Editing for Fiction Writers. If you are looking for a book on writing take a look at that too!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant for writers or RPG designers...honest!
Review: I have been writing professionally now since the mid-1980s and this book is one of the most useful volumes I've ever owned. Not only is it of great help in writing fiction or prose, it is a wonderful assistant to anyone trying to work out plots for role-playing game adventures as well! Whenever I get writer's block, I simply reread this book and it's like magic. I have read many books on this subject and none of them even comes close to this one. The fact that it's a light, often funny, read only makes it more wonderful!

Rating:
Summary: Impressive. Most impressive!
Review: I was impressed by this book! Ansen Dibell not only has an keen eye for plot, but can explain his ideas well. This book is a technical "how-to" manual, so it is devoid of any plot, and writing a review of the book is like writing a review of a plumber's training manual. Unless you are a plumber, you will get bored, and the technical jargon does not lend itself well to review. I guess the real test is if I get publishes, and the jury is still out on that one . . . so far!

Serendipitously speaking, anyone who is a book-hog, devouring books by the megaton, will enjoy this book. It helps you reverse engineer what you are reading. For example, in his chapter on literary mirrors, Mr. Dibell uses "The Empire Strikes Back" as a test study. Well, I have seen that movie more times than you can shake a stick at and have read the book just as many times, but the analysis that Mr. Dibell made opened my eyes. "The Empire Strikes Back" was finally unlocked to me, and became of the analysis provided, I think that "Empire" is literary-wise the best film of the second trilogy!

The cover is classic-so much of writing feels like a pinball game as you bunce from rejection to rejection, and ricochet from bad idea to bad idea. Well done!

The prose is readable, and the examples he uses are mind-catching. I am impressed that Mr. Dibell was able to take these ethereal concepts and magic of creativity and bring them down to earth so that someone as stupid I am could understand them! And that is the true test of genius!

Rating:
Summary: A Must For All Fiction Writers
Review: I've read a lot of books on writing and this book ranks with the best. She presents a straightforward and easy to understand approach to plotting anything from a short story to a novel. This book is an invaluable tool for planning a story from the grand opening scene to the blockbuster ending. Her explanations and instruction on set-pieces and harnessing melodrama are the best I've seen from any book on writing. If you are serious about writing then this must be on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Not about Plot
Review: I've read this book twice, the first time several years ago, and just recently when deciding if I needed to keep it. From the time I first read it, I've had a couple novels published. If this book had been named "Some Stuff About Writing," it would have been okay. But unfortunately, it does not address the subject of Plot in a organized fashion, and was not useful to me when I was trying to learn how to plot. As other reviewers have mentioned, the author's use of some terms is unique. If I went to a meeting of writers and started talking about The Rule of Three, I would receive strange looks. Some neat things in the book, but it does not live up to its title.

Rating:
Summary: Nix on 'muddle'
Review: If you already have `Conflict, Action & Suspense' or `The Marshall Plan' you probably won't actually find a great deal new in this book. New perspectives are always good though. For the most part I think it is very direct and to the point; but there are a couple of things I tend to disagree with in `Plot'.

The author gives the impression that it is okay to just `muddle through' (my phrasing) the first draft, letting it flow where it will with only very general direction, and then be prepared to do a complete rewrite after you see what parts work. Is it just me, or does that seem a bit... sloppy? It seems to me that a book about `Plot' should give a little more emphasis to the mechanics of getting it (at least close to) right the first time.

My second objection may be a nitpick, but it did bother me as I was reading so I'll mention it anyway. The author seems to have completely redefined the meaning of `melodrama' for his own convenience. The usual connotation of drama taken to comedic absurdity is pushed aside for a view of melodrama as anything out of the ordinary at all. All that is left to be `drama' is apparently something like the conflict evident in a courtroom episode about a neighborly disagreement on poodles. I don't think so. Inventing a new term might have served to obscure his idea less.

If you have the extra bucks to shell out, by all means get it, but otherwise you might want to stick to the above mentioned two on the same subject.

Rating:
Summary: What a Pro!
Review: Not only does this book contain an obvious wealth of experience and solid practical advice, it is also extremely well written (which I guess shouldn't be too surprising) and even funny in many spots ("...like reading by strobelight," "...exciting as watching a puddle," etc.). This lady is really, really good. Techniques like The Rule of Three and Mirroring never occurred to me before when reading fiction (maybe because I never had formal training, which is why I buy these books!); these are the types of things Dibell (who is she really?!) describes well. She has good examples for the things she discusses. It is obvious she has spent many, many years studying and teaching (she was the president of a university, as well as a published author!) the art of fiction. I'm going to begin reading the book again tonight!

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Craft-of-Writing Book
Review: Someone left this book in Starbucks and I devoured it with interest before giving it back to their lost and found; it didn't take long--moved right along. There is a lot of hard-won adviced distilled and served up in a straightforward way. (Parenthetically, I found Dibell had written a science fiction tale based on the myth of Orpheus--I just had a variation of this idea a couple of days ago: Greek myths seem a natural place to mine for strong plots!) I appreciated her comments on letting the plot come to life as opposed to the hackneyed advice of obeying a strict outline. Unlike an earlier reviewer, I found the concept of melodrama as used here comprehensible and quite helpful. I also like her analyses of beginnings and endings, and what she calls mosaic and collage novels. Dibell's use of examples from contemporary and historical fiction (e.g., Melville to Star Wars) convinced me she knew whereof she spoke. A good, easy-to-read book on the writing craft, although she apparently failed to recognize that the comment about happy families being boring is not just an old saw but derives from the first line of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina! (It also seems strange that someone would need a nom de plum for a rather tame book on craft!) A great set of guidelines and ideas from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: This book is not really about plot but about writing fiction in general. Dibell says, "Plot is the things people do, feel, think, or say, that make a difference to what comes afterward. ... if it has significant consequences." (p.6) Well, yes and no. It depends. And therein lies the problem. Dibell has not really got at what makes some elements of fiction plot and other, similar elements, not plot.
She discusses "openings," viewpoint, exposition, "middles" and subplots, "big scenes", "melodrama" (which she defines as "large things grappling and clashing" (p.7), patterns, pacing, transitions, endings. There's also a final chapter "beyond plot" about static novels: the mood piece, the character sketch, the slice of life, the collage, etc. Dibell does her best to make these sound like good ideas, good techniques to use. So, beginning writers need to be forewarned not to take this too seriously, unless they want to remain unpublished.
If you haven't read too many books on fiction writing already, this book is still worth checking out. The chapter on "Melodrama" (or what most people would call "fantasy" or "sci-fi") is especially useful.

Rating:
Summary: The best practical advice on writing anywhere!
Review: This book offers the best practical advice for writing I've ever found -- testing story ideas, selecting viewpoint characters, handling exposition and flashbacks and creating satisfying endings. This book is a real benefit to anyone seriously working on writing fiction. The clear and understandable specifics make it completely different from typical writing books filled with inspiring essays and hints on finding time to write. If you're already inspired and looking for a real advice for writing successful stories, definitely get this one!