Off the Bookshelf: THE STORY EQUATION, by Susan May Warren

 

I've had this book sitting on my bedside table since the Mt. Zion Ridge Press writing conference, when Rachel Hauck recommended it. Nice thing about online conferences (besides being able to wear shorts and not having to shave your legs) is that you can look up a book recommended by the teacher and order it, while she's talking, and nobody knows you've been shopping!

HIGHLY recommend this book. No matter how many books you have under your belt, it's always very helpful, refreshing, to learn other approaches to organizing and understanding your story, the characters, their flaws and wounds and goals and dreams. This one came in very handy, the perfect timing, because as I started reading I was preparing to work on the second draft of two books, both of which have very close deadlines. One I imposed on myself, the other imposed on me by my publisher. 

Relief! As I read through Warren's examples I found some answers to questions I hadn't really been asking my characters, and realized I had huge holes in the story. In one book, my heroine was basically living the story of the heroine of the previous book in the series, standing on the sidelines and cheering for her friend, and not getting on with her own story. Well, duh!

The subtitle says it all: How to Plot and Write a Brilliant Story From One Powerful Question.

Dang, I really need to get more books by Susan May Warren, creator of My Book Therapy. I really do. We all need help sometimes. Thanks!!

Read it. Apply it. You'll be happy you did.