Plot and Structure

Yesterday, I started re-reading a book that I had bought years ago: Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. I bought the book because I fail miserably in the areas of plot and structure. I find characters, setting, and dialogue much easier to write.

I could try to make all kinds of excuses for why I never got past chapter two of the Plot and Structure (full-time job, laundry, time with the grandchildren, and so on). The busy-ness of life makes such a wonderfully legitimate reason for almost anything, doesn't it? Ha! But it doesn't write books, or sell them either.

So I started reading the book again. Ideas and encouragement are indeed helpful: 

• I realized that I need to take some of the backstory from Penny and the Seer's Ballad (the first children's adventure novel that I started working on) and infuse it into the introduction so that the dilemma draws in the reader. 
• I figured out that my style tends to be more literary; I tend to focus on setting and character more than action. No wonder I've let myself get side-tracked writing backstory for my fantasy land: Legends from the Land of Hoi. Hopefully, the seven short stories I've finished will come in useful sometime in the future.
• Surprise! I learned that to keep readers, I need to move the story along much faster. That fact spread woefully across my son's face when I button-holed him over the holidays and asked him to read the plot summary for the sequel Penny and the Song of Seven. The good thing is that his reaction made me pick Plot and Structure off the shelf again.

Time will tell whether I can persist in reading about how to plot without becoming overwhelmed with all the things that I need to change. Hopefully, you'll hear more from me!