Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Media:	Paperback
Author:	Ansen Dibell
Publisher:	Writer's Digest Books
Release date:	01 August, 1999
List price:	~~$12.99~~
Our price:	$10.39 that is 20% off!

Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing)

Average rating: Stars

Great Start For Plot-Newbies

Look, the book isn't Shakespere, but for someone like me who smiled and nodded--and that's about it--when I head the term, "plot," there is good information to glean. However, even after finishing the book, I didn't feel like a master of plotting. Two of the best books on plots that I've read are "Scene and Structure," and the more recent, "Plot and Structure."

Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing) - Ansen Dibell

No Outline?

When you start to read, say, a thriller novel, what are some of the early questions you ask yourself about the plot as it unfolds? O.K. Let's assume the protagonist is the usual: no matter how hard he scrubs he is never able to get his hands clean. What next? Is the yarn going to be full of sound and fury? Is it going to be a biting commentary on something? Is it going to get your blood racing without having to go to the gym? Or, is the story going to be more buoyant and bubbly, full of nuance, echos, images, one that sorta backs into a suspenseful web of events? Lukeman covers all these contingencies well in his First Five Pages, as does Keman in Building Better Plots. And, in the latter case, Keman believes in an outline, a belief not shared by Dibell. ##### It's difficult for me to envision any book being written without an outline, much less a thriller novel. Suspense must be channeled. No way can it be randomized with unconditioned sequencing. This is the biggest failure I found in this book. Otherwise, much of the information put forth is helpful. It's obvious that Ansen Dibell has well-honed writing skills; she logically answers most of the questions of the kind raised above. I just think that-on the whole--these creative skills are a bit misused in Plot: Elements of Fiction Writing.

Ansen Dibell - Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing)

a mixed bag

This book is not really about plot but about writing fiction in general. Dibell says, "Plot is the things people do, feel, think, or say, that make a difference to what comes afterward. ... if it has significant consequences." (p.6) Well, yes and no. It depends. And therein lies the problem. Dibell has not really got at what makes some elements of fiction plot and other, similar elements, not plot.
She discusses "openings," viewpoint, exposition, "middles" and subplots, "big scenes", "melodrama" (which she defines as "large things grappling and clashing" (p.7), patterns, pacing, transitions, endings. There's also a final chapter "beyond plot" about static novels: the mood piece, the character sketch, the slice of life, the collage, etc. Dibell does her best to make these sound like good ideas, good techniques to use. So, beginning writers need to be forewarned not to take this too seriously, unless they want to remain unpublished.
If you haven't read too many books on fiction writing already, this book is still worth checking out. The chapter on "Melodrama" (or what most people would call "fantasy" or "sci-fi") is especially useful.

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