Hello all! I need something to help me finish my project. (Read: I need all the help I can get!) I was discussing my projects with family and they recommend I see out further learning on story structure to help me learn the process and organize my time and thoughts to be more effective and - gosh darn it - actually finish my books. I have taken one class in particular on the topic: Dan Schwabauer's One Year Adventure Novel, which has gotten me this far and taught me that I do indeed want to write for a living, and structuring my novels helped me to get closer then I ever have. However, I need to keep growing, in skill and knowledge, so I was hoping some of you could recommend good books on the writing process and story structure for me to study to improve? Something to aid me with writing fantasy adventure books. Thank you.
Anything by James Scott Bell is golden. Try this site. I think Writer's Digest is the most consistent with high-quality titles. JSB's book is there, no surprise. . .
That's another Writer's Digest title. I swear they rule the roost. (And that's an EXTREMELY good book. Good recommendation.)
Not only does The Fire in Fiction cover the structural elements of fiction, but just about everything else one can imagine. The biggest thing I came away with after the first reading, was to not write fluff. Not one paragraph, sentence, or even word of it. To engage the reader from the very first line, and never let them go until the last sentence is rendered. It's easier said than done, to be sure!
