The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life - Hardcover

Lukeman, Noah T.

3.83

1,108 ratings by Goodreads

9780312284671: The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312284675 ISBN 13: 9780312284671

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

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As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman hears thousands of book pitches a year. Often the stories sound great in concept, but never live up to their potential on the page. The Plot Thickens analyzes the classic elements of storytelling, showing beginning and advanced writers alike how to implement the fundamentals of successful plot development, such as character building and heightened suspense and conflict.

With a warm and conversational tone, Noah Lukeman offers writers innovative principles, techniques, and numerous thought-provoking exercises. His frequent references to book, film, and TV classics make for a lively and accessible read. Writers will find it impossible to walk away from this invaluable guide-a veritable fiction-writing workshop-without boundless new ideas.

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About the Author:

Noah Lukeman is currently a manager in the New York office of Artists Management Group and was previously founder and president of Lukeman Literary Management, Ltd. He is the author of the bestselling The First Five Pages.

From Publishers Weekly:

Lukeman's second book on writing after 2000's The First Five Pages (a third volume on dialogue is still to come) discusses the craft of writing well-plotted fiction. Lukeman, a literary agent, rallies against the lazy and mundane that cross his desk in the form of 50,000 manuscripts submitted in the last five years. Initially, at least, he is less concerned with artfulness than the simple need to make the book compelling beyond the first few pages. He asserts that the foundation (and often the first casualty) of a book is character, and accordingly, Lukeman dedicates the first two chapters to an exhaustive list of questions a writer should ask about the "outer" and "inner" life of each character. He encourages a Dr. Frankenstein-like approach to creating realistic fictional characters: devising them with the intention of bending them to the writer's own will, but at the same time investing them with enough life that they are capable of making their own way in the world and ultimately surprising their creator. A third chapter called "Applied Characterization" discusses how to use this knowledge to form a plot. The remaining five chapters cover different aspects of plotting: "The Journey," "Suspense," "Conflict," "Context" and "Transcendency." Lukeman's advice is practical and often entails multiple, time-consuming steps without a hint of the flakiness that creeps into many writing guides. The closest he ever gets to sounding like a guru is when he sagely stresses, "Real life is the best teacher." Though Lukeman works with books, he wisely asserts that the observations in this volume are applicable to all types of imaginary writing, from film to poetry. Indeed, it is a worthy addition to any narrative writer's reference shelf.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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