Building Fiction: How to Develop Plot & Structure

No one looks at structure like Jesse Lee Kercheval. She builds a work of fiction just as an architect would design a house - with an eye for details and how all the parts of a story or novel interconnect. Even with the most dynamic language, images and characters, no piece of fiction will work without a strong infrastructure. Kercheval shows how to build that structure using tools such as point of view, characterization, pacing and flashbacks.
The designs of Frank Lloyd Wright were always influenced by the terrain, says Kercheval. The building site helped him determine the materials and methods of construction. This book will help you envision the landscape of your fiction and build great stories there.

Short story writer and novelist Kercheval (The Museum of Happiness, LJ 10/15/93) compares writing fiction to designing a house. All the pieces must come together and form a whole structure to achieve a desired effect. Kercheval's first nine chapters cover basics such as finding ideas, beginning a story, characterization, and revision. The final three chapters talk about specific forms like the novel, short story, and experimental writing. Each chapter ends with a set of exercises to help students understand and practice the concepts explained. A well-written and useful work with pertinent examples from Kercheval's own writing and other popular fiction as well as classic authors such as Hemingway and Austen; recommended for public libraries.?Lisa J. Cihlar, Winfield P.L., Ill.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.