I'm reading a FANTASTIC book on writing. INSIDE STORY: The Power of the Transformational Arc by Dara Marks is written primarily for screenwriters, but everything in it applies to fiction. Absolutely fanstastic book that's bringing a lot of good information to me in a way my little pea brain can handle.
She breaks a story--any story--down into bite-sized pieces, explains each piece, and then demonstrates through famous movies exactly how they can be pieced back together. Even though there's structure, those of us who break out in hives at the very thought of being 'told' how their book 'should' flow can get through this because the structure, as she explains it, is no more than a general frame on which you can hang anything. Action/adventure, romance, romp, mystery, thriller. . . so long as whatever you're writing has guts, or an inside story, you can go anywhere with the exterior.
I'm seeing so many ways this book can apply to my writing and make it better.
Anyone else read this book? Have you applied the concepts? What do you think of it?
2 comments:
I haven't read this book, but I've learned a lot from screenplay training, like Michael Hauge's stuff. I find that I pick up bits and pieces of what I read or learn about writing and incorporate them into my style. Do you do the same thing?
Laurie, I do, BUT this book has been particularly enlightening. I just finished it this morning, and I'm still in awe. Going to go back through it and take the pieces now and apply them to the mip.
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