Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent advice & easy to follow but..., 20 Aug 1999
By A Customer
A bit too structured for me. The sections on how to refine your story idea, be your own editor & prepare your manuscript for submission are excellent, as is the chapter on how to write action, summary and dialogue. But the bulk of the book sets out a rather rigid method for planning your whole novel before you start to write. I think his method would be really useful if you're writing a novel involving complex plotting - a murder mystery for instance, but if like me you are writing romance or something else that depends mainly on characterisation, you'll need to make some adjustments. For a 100,000 word manuscript for instance, he suggests you use 4/5 viewpoint characters, but most romances work because they concentrate on just 2, but go deep. If your writing problems are to do with structure & keeping things under control, you'll find his suggestions great, but if you follow them verbatim they might just kill your story
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Covers everything it takes to write a successful novel., 16 Dec 1998
By A Customer
THE MARSHALL PLAN FOR NOVEL WRITING is a unique guide covering everything it takes to write a successful novel. Drawing on his extensive experience as an agent, editor and novelist, Evan Marshall has perfected a simple, methodical approach to novel writing. His clear-cut, 16-step "Marshall Plan" breaks down the complex novel-writing process into a series of parts that the aspiring writer can put together one piece at a time. The novice writer will have his or her whole story planned and plotted before actually beginning to write so that there is no chance of working themselves into a corner or making critical mistakes in pacing and plotting. THE MARSHALL PLAN FOR NOVEL WRITING is a practical, workable, effective program to take the novelist from idea to completed manuscript, one that will seize the attention of readers, agents, editors, and reviewers.THE BOOKWATCH
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