Off the Bookshelf: POWER ELEMENTS OF STORY STRUCTURE, by Rebecca LuElla Miller

Today's book report is on a wonderful little -- as in short, fast read -- book on the basics and essentials in writing. POWER ELEMENTS OF STORY STRUCTURE applies to all levels of writing experience. I've heard Rebecca LuElla Miller's name for years now in ACFW, and seen her name on various loops and groups, but haven't talked to her or communicated -- and I'm starting to think I've been missing out. She knows how to teach without making you think you're utterly stupid and in need of remedial lessons before tackling her class or book. Have you run into teachers like that? Don't they make you want to just throw down your pen or turn off your computer and walk away for good?

Miller does NOT do that. Far from it.

For beginners, this is a great book of advice and guidance distilled down to the basics, with examples. Planning, story structure, suspense and tension, the hook, assembling the plot, backstory, description -- it's all there, in plain language and simple explanations. Whew!

For those of us with more experience, this is a great refresher course. I like books that remind me of what I've already learned either by reading other books or by trial-and-error, and yet present it in a different angle, a different viewpoint, different words. Sometimes doing that makes things "click" and you get one of those "Ah ha!" moments ... and you wonder why you struggled so long. Yeah, that kind of book.

Read it. Learn from it. And if you get a chance to attend a class Miller might happen to be teaching in the future ... I'll see you there!