I just finished reading K.M. Weiland’s book “Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story”. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant about buying what, at first glance, appeared to be just another “how to” book. I’m glad I overcame the initial objections. This book was incredibly well organized and made learning what could have been incredibly dry material fun and energetic.
Weiland walks the reader through the elements of story structure including the hook, where characters should be introduced, plot and pinch points, and the climax (to give just a glance at what’s inside the cover because there’s much more). She dives into common pitfalls across the spectrum of the entire story, scene development and even sentence structure. Weiland tops off each topic with a host of concrete examples from both novels and movies which made the points easy to relate to.
I plan on applying the lessons learned in this quick read to my own writing. Weiland’s book will be kept close at hand.
You can find her book at Amazon.
Also, check out Weiland’s blog “Helping Writers Become Authors” which is filled with great articles and advice.