Book Review - The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall

The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall

Okay I admit it. I am a writer wannabe.

Except, I haven't even written anything :p (school work didn't count).

A couple of years back I wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo, and I wrote 100 words (or was it 50?) Yeah, you get the picture. 

I have all these ideas in my head, but as soon as I tried to put words on paper (or rather on the computer screen), it just did not work. My biggest problem I think was plotting - how do you weave the storyline together that's not boring? How do you write 300 pages when I could summarize it in 500 words?! So I went to research on books that help you with plotting, and I came across this one.

From reading the reviews, some people may find this plan too structure. From what I'd read, some writers are "pantsters" (can write by the seat of their pants) and some are "plotters". Now when I write blog posts, I just write without any outline/drafts, but I can't do that when I tried writing a story. Normally though I am not into big structure either, but I think this book offered me some good insights about plotting in general, and I may give it a try (no, haven't started yet... work had been very busy, and with a teething 10 month old, I am choosing sleep when I could.)

There are other books on plotting but I haven't read them yet so I don't know how they compare. Ultimately though, there are really no right or wrong way, but I love hearing about how others write. So if you do write, I'd love to hear how you do it!

Some reviewers did say this book applies more to books like thrillers, and I don't know if it's true or not. But I do notice more about plotting when reading novels now :)

4 Stars - did learn something new and may be useful!


Note - The book was borrowed from the library.



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