Break Into Fiction: 11 Steps to Building a Story that Sells [Kindle Edition]

Mary Buckham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Getting a book published is hard enough--getting a novel published is doubly so! But a writer seeing his story on bookshelves everywhere is just a rewrite away with this book! Written by two award-winning novelists, this workshop-in-a-book is all aspiring authors need to master the art of fiction and see their novel in print. Based on their popular workshops, Mary Buckham and Dianna Love Snell have created a novel-writing system that anyone can follow. Their innovative method shows writers how to create stories of depth, excitement, and emotion with: Easy-to-understand templates that guide the new writer through building a novel and show more experienced writers how to deepen a plot and take a first draft to the next level; Reference examples from a strongly-plotted popular genre films like suspense, classics, children, and romance; Simple worksheets to build a strong story one plot point at a time for any genre; Troubleshooting tips that reveal how to find and fix holes that weaken the plot; Insights from best-selling novelists representing a variety of fiction genres; A bonus dialogue guide that reveals how to make a character come alive through conversation. Inspiring authors shall struggle no more with the help of this step-by-step guide!

About the Author

DIANNA LOVE is the New York Times best selling co-author of the Belador urban fantasy series. BLOOD TRINITY, the first book in this new series, debuted on the NYT, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and Walmart best seller lists. ALTERANT, book two, will be released Sept 27, 2011. 
Visit AuthorDiannaLove.com for more on this author who rides motorcycles, loves to saltwater fish and enjoys meeting fans everywhere.

Mary Buckham (Port Townsend, WA) is an award-winning romantic-suspense author who, before becoming published in book-length fiction was a freelance article writer, selling hundreds of articles to local, regional, and national publications. In addition, she's been an editor of a regional magazine. Mary is a sought-after speaker and writing craft teacher for both online and in live presentations throughout the United States and Canada. Visit MaryBuckham.com for more on Mary.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 483 KB
• Publisher: Adams Media (January 1, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0047DWNPG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,003 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should have been edited, August 11, 2009

By 

C. Anatolios - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Break Into Fiction: 11 Steps to Building a Story that Sells (Paperback)

The premise and some of the ideas in the book are intriguing. Some of the templates are interesting and helpful, and give food for thought. However, the book seem "unfinished" to me, in many ways, and was ultimately frustrating to use for that reason. One example of this is a Glossary at the beginning of the book, which includes several terms that don't appear anywhere in the actual body of the book, or are only referenced very slightly (example: "Twist Points", described as "key areas of your story", are referenced in only one question in any of the templates, and don't stand out as being that important).

The book also seemed "unfinished" because the parts never seem to add up to a whole.There are a bunch of "template" writing books on the market, and some of them are very well thought out and quite complete as far as character building, plot building and so forth. This is not one of them.

I was also very much distracted by the grammatical errors that sprinkle every chapter and, to my mind, are especially damning in a book on writing technique. They had me shaking my head in disbelief at times. Example: "The character has refused to take action while they weighed the risks, even briefly, and most likely have been persuaded to act either due to strong motivation or a mentor." I feel it shouldn't be so difficult just to read a book that intends to help you write.

It is also very odd that while films are analysed as to how they fit the authors' theories, no books at all are used. If I had known it would not give examples of any books, I would not have bought it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gut wrenching, but worth it, June 11, 2009

By 

Joy Smith "Author" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Break Into Fiction: 11 Steps to Building a Story that Sells (Paperback)

Working through the templates provided in Break into Fiction is painful. The questions make you think. Harder, and then harder. Fresh ideas pop into your head, and-- voila--your characters come to life as real people with deep-seated issues, and your plot thickens. Where was this book when I needed it nine drafts ago? I highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about writing a book that will sell.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must buy for the serious author, June 6, 2009

By 

varmint kitty (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Break Into Fiction: 11 Steps to Building a Story that Sells (Paperback)

Once you have grasped goal, motivation, and conflict, once you have done Story, if you have struggled through Techniques of the Selling Writer, then read this book because it will all become clear, at least it did for me.
Plotters will love this technique, the worksheets take you all the way through the story and help you nail the plots and subplots. The worksheets on the character will help you sift through all the facts about your characters and distill the important parts.
Pantsers will love this after the first draft. The not so comfortable parts in your first draft will become clearer and help tie the story together. It will help you find the missing puzzle pieces.
This book won't write the story for you, but it will help take some of the frustration out of the process and what more could you want?
Oh yeah, a winning lottery ticket.