Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100527 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Customer Reviews

Very useful
This is one of the better "how to write" books that I've brought over the past few months or so, and i found myself rather pleasantly surprised by it. The tone was light, comfortable to read and each chapter is very in-depth. Rather surpring to me was the initial starting chapters-which I expected to be boring page filler/introductory text. But, they actually turned out to be some of the most helpful and informative tips on the subject of plots that I've read.

What I particularly found good about this book was that it raises points that made me think about my own story and its plot, and I found myself mentally applying the principles discussed in this book's pages to my own work.

The author uses clear and friendly writing to get accross a point, drawing from examples in both fiction and film. The author does not assume that you've seen most of what they discuss, so whenever a title is discussed, the author gives enough information to those that might not be familiar to the work being discussed. I didn't feel like I had to go and do several hours of reading homework before I could access this book and know what the hell the author was talking about.

I'll be referring to this book again as I write my own story. There are no winning solutions, but lots of sensible advice, much of which is pretty logical---but to a beginner like myself, it was invaluable and highly useful.

Finally some one who talks sense.
I've just finished reading it and I really like his writing style; clear, to the point, and humourous. It's nice to read a book that starts to make sense within the first paraghraph. It's 20 plot summeries are not the be all and end all the title at first surgests, in fact he goes out of his way to state that there are many more, but it is not the total amount that's important here.
I've often been told that a plot is like the skeleton that holds our bodies together, along with other similiar describitions. But that never felt right to me. Ronald B Tobias writes about plot in words that feel more intuitivley truthfull to what a plot is and its use within the story. The guide lines after each well writen describtion of plot are also very useful.
The only downer's to the book I can find is how he overly repeat's and restate's certain idea's, that he clearly explained the first time round. It's almost as if he feel's we need reminding just in case we have forgotten his earlier words of advise. Also some times his words are alittle patronzing. These points do annoy me somwhat but overall the book is well written and a good read.

Good overview with useful info
A cut above the usual stuff that fills most of the "how to write" genre over and over again. A useful look at the major categories of plot and what readers expect from each. This is NOT a write-by-numbers book. It could be especially useful for anyone who wants to experiment with writing different, and perhaps unfamiliar, types of stories.