Suffice it to say, I'm doubtful there are any novel writing models I haven't heard of, or bought a book about, or attempted in one form or another. If I were to stack up just the ones I found useful, they wouldn't be enough to prop a window open on a hot day. If I were to stack up all the craft books I've bought over the years they would probably reach the ceiling of my office. But philosophically, I’m not sure if I agree with the way writers hail this book as the standard for a good story or the golden rule for writing. I would certainly reference this book for when I’m stuck plotting a story and want an easy fix. It’s effective in helping you write by numbers, like you’re drawing inside a coloring book, without having to think very hard. The best way I can describe this framework is the Marvelization of writing - it’s formulaic and mainstream and totally dependent on following the structure of every ‘big hit’, but might not give you room for uniqueness or experimentation with craft. I have mixed feelings about this, because on one hand, I don’t believe good stories should be evaluated by a prescriptive set of rules (especially since they are Westernized standards), but on the other hand, I think it is helpful to have a baseline to compare your work to so that you can at least deviate from the standard with purpose (gotta know the rules before you break them, yada yada).

This book entirely hones in on one type of story structure, and is effective in explaining the different beats and providing examples to give you a crystal-clear template.

Save the cat jessica brody