Theme, Plot, and Structure: The Critique Doctor’s guide to helping writers (and yourself) build a story readers can’t put down (Craft & Critique)

What is a story about? What are the events its characters experience during the course of the story? Do those events flow in a logical, easy-to-follow sequence? These are the kinds of questions Theme, Plot, and Structure examines in detail, especially when there are problems.

In this book, long-time critique group leader Ross Lampert (a.k.a. The Critique Doctor) provides detailed, practical articles on how to help you and your critique partners improve your:

• Story’s theme and how it affects everything else in the story
• Beginnings of stories, chapters, and scenes to turn them from ineffective to irresistible hooks
• Plots components—like story arc, turning points, stakes, conflict, tension, and pace—to keep readers turning pages
• Scene and chapter endings so they’ll launch readers into the next one, and story endings that leave readers satisfied.

Each article ends with questions you can ask yourself about the piece you’re reviewing to identify the exact problem you’re seeing and offer the author usable critique.