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Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Paperback)

by William Noble (Author) "WHAT MAKES A STORY interesting? ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing) + Description (Elements of Fiction Writing) + Characters and Viewpoint (The elements of fiction writing)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 185 pages
  • Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; New edition edition (Jun 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0898799074
  • ISBN-13: 978-0898799071
  • Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 230,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #84 in  Books > Reference > Writing > Fiction

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Product Description

Product Description

Using this work, writers will learn how to create stories full of drama, tension and surprise. Noble walks writers through setting the stage of a great narrative and then builds on this foundation taking it all the way to a gripping close.'
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
WHAT MAKES A STORY interesting? Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best in the series, 23 Jan 2003
By HLT (Wales, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Hardcover)
Here's a list of chapter topics:

Nuts and Bolts of Drama
Stage-setting
Openings
Leave-em Hanging
Dialogue
Mood and Atmosphere
Character Development
Point of View
Subtlety and Misdirection
Time and Place
Pacing
Endings

If you look at the list, you'll see many of the "usual suspects" of writing subjects - things that you may well have studied before.

What this book tries to do is to show how each of these areas relates to the subject matter - conflict, action, and suspense. So, for example, building these through dialogue, or point of view, is covered.

This worked well for the first few chapters - even with topics with which I'm very familiar, I felt I was learning new ways of looking at the tools available, and using them in the service of better conflict.

But I'm afraid it got very flabby towards the end, as if the author was running out of things to say, or had left the things he's less comfortable with until last. All in all, the points he has to make could be distilled down into a far more compact form, which would be quicker to read and easier to refer to.

Also, I'm afraid the samples he offers to illustrate his lessons are dreadful (except where he's culled them from other, more accomplished writers). That shouldn't make a difference, perhaps, because they're only examples after all, but in a series that includes people like Orson Scott Card, who's a superb writer as well as teacher, I expected better.

Overall, while I've certainly gleaned some useful insights from this book, I came away disappointed. I was far more impressed by other titles in the series: Character and Viewpoint, and Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, come to mind.

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2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In depth analysis, practical advice, 9 Oct 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Conflict, Action and Suspense (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Hardcover)
A great book, useful even for experienced and professional writers. I picked up several useful tricks.
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