Tag Archives: plot
Fiction Writing 101: Part 8 — Janice Dick
In my Fiction Writing 101 series, I often refer to James Scott Bell and his writing books and tools, especially Plot & Structure. My copy is well-marked and highlighted. That’s where I first heard the differentiation between an OP and a NOP. OPs are Outline People, NOPs are Non-Outline People. The abbreviations are easy to… Read more »
Fiction Writing 101:Part 7 — The Plot Thickens — Janice Dick
What is plot—besides a piece of ground used to bury dead people? (That’s from James Scott Bell in Plot & Structure.) In my mind, plot is the story itself, with a beginning, middle and end. Of course there are literary works that don’t follow any of the rules, not even as guidelines, but I’m thinking… Read more »
The Basic Elements of Fiction — Janice Dick
When I present a talk on novel writing, I often ask the audience for their input on the basic elements of fiction, and they come up with several immediately: plot, setting and character. Let’s begin with these. Plot, according to James Scott Bell in his excellent how-to book Plot & Structure, is: “1) a small… Read more »