Customer Reviews

Building Better Plots

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Robert Kernan's experience as an Emmy award-winning scriptwriter for film and television certainly qualifies him to write this book. It also explains a good deal of his theory as well as his outlook on writing fiction. That outlook is heavily influenced by Syd Field's classic theories of story development and script writing. At the moment, Kernan is developing projects for Web TV networks.

It's always a pleasure to review a book by an author who clearly states his goals, then sets about methodically achieving them. In BUILDING BETTER PLOTS, Kernan makes three promises to his readers:
First, he'll introduce "tried-and-true" elements that make good plots and examine them in depth.
Second, he'll teach the reader to outline and how to "tinker" with a plot.
Third, he'll offer questions and exercises to keep readers focused and to give them insight into how to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their projects. Kernan accomplishes these goals with finesse by covering all aspects of plot and illustrating their functions with examples from a wide variety of novels and movies.

In fact, he has put together one of the most insightful, practical and useful books I've ever seen on constructing a story. He begins with how to choose a subject and writes, "A plot isn't merely a string of occurrences; it is a carefully orchestrated telling of events that might include breaking up their temporal order." He takes the reader through developing the story arc from the inciting incident through conflict to climax and resolution, all the time showing how to unify the project through devices like subplots and setting.

BUILDING BETTER PLOTS is far more than a basic treatise on story construction. It is a complete and careful analysis of each element of story, and provides a series of useful exercises designed to make each plot a page-turner. You'll find fill-in questions, timelines and quizzes aimed at clarifying the focus of your plot. At the end of the book there's a comprehensive plot tutorial. All of this adds up to teaching readers how to keep the focus of the plot and how to stimulate story progression through a variety of plot devices including nonlinear structure and framing.

The book is divided into three major sections: The Building Materials of Plot (with chapters on narrative, on structure, on the inciting incident,on rising action and climax, and one on resolution); Building the Plot (chapters on archetypical plots, on creating characters and back story, on constructing an outline, on subplots, and also on deepening the story's resonance); ending with the aforementioned tutorial.

Kernan is a great believer in using an outline and his explanation for why it's useful is most convincing. So, too, is his argument for using one. An outline "frees your mind and your intuition to work on the writing of your story, the characters, the dialogue, the language, etc., unconcerned about whether the construction is sound." He convinced me; I tried his method, and it worked.

My favorite quote (possibly because I've seen more book reviewer than writers forget it) is: "Every audience and author have an unspoken part. The reader agrees to suspend belief, to give the author a little flexibility with reality in return for good drama. The author accepts the audience's forbearance and promises not to abuse that suspension of belief." His point here is that the author cannot afford to raise the story stakes too high but if you throw the reader a well-timed, well-aimed curve ball the reader will become more involved and more sympathetic.

In a refreshing statement at the end, Kernan challenges his reader to master his techniques, then toss them aside. "Only your reader will be able to judge whether or not you've challenged them successfully or unsuccessfully," he says. IF you work your way through this book, you'll find it time well spent and your stories as well as your readers will be well served.

This is one of two writing guides I've found that are worth more than the purchase price. It is absolutely essential if you are looking to write a well-structured novel (or any other type of fiction), as the author explains the traditional plot structure better than any other book I've seen. He also outlines nine plot archetypes, including various characteristics of each, and makes great suggestions about how to change the dynamics and resonance of your plot. The index card outlining process he recommends seemed hokey at first, but when I tried it, my plot became much more defined and it was easier to plan. I also recommend "Structuring Your Novel" by Robert Meredith, which is an excellent companion for both plot and scene structure.

Except for your own story idea, this book provides it all. I imagine anyone would be a better writer using only this one reference. Too bad it wasn't published before I bought the other 30 references in my library! It's imminently practical with plenty of illustrations--succinct and provocative. If you're an organizer, you'll love it. If you need organization, you have to have it!

This work is a masterpiece. It is a thoroughly practical guide on how to plot. Kernen teaches in detail and gives an overwhelming amount of top tips. He shows you how to avoid getting stuck, take control of the plotting process upfront and avoid getting lost in subplots and various other pitfalls. If your story idea is failing to make progress, especially somewhere in the middle, just get this book. It will give you a new perspective/approach.

I really enjoyed his informative step by step guidelines on plot. I never fully understood the connections between the generic plots until now, and thanks to his wonderful examples I do. As a downside, I was dissapointed with the chapter on outlining, which I felt should have been covered better and more than it was. Overall, a book you should definitely invest in if you have trouble with plot structure. Although be warned: If you're looking for a book that helps you get inspiration for plots, this isn't really the one -- although learning more on the structure may jar a few ideas loose.

The reviewers of my screenplays keep commenting that my dialog and characters are great, but my plot is weak. I made a pact with myself that I would absolutely follow every direction in this book to really give it a shot. I found the book to very readable and imminently "doable," there were no busy exercises. The definitions of important events in screenplays "raising the stakes," "point of no return" are more clearly defined than in other screen writing books. This book is only about plot building: it ends when you have drafted the index cards and have laid them out on your bed.

Lots of very focused techniques for planning out your plot and story structure. Very hands on and a huge help for determining if your idea can even fly, which makes it useful for screenwriters, too, and not just fiction writers. This book is most helpful if you already have a story idea in mind, but you can't go wrong learning the concepts if you don't. (Note to previous reviewer: 'shooting your wad' is also a phrase related to the wadding used in early firearms.)

I've been through two decades of writing teachers and fiction guides but I've never found a lesson in plotting with this expertise, and depth.

Thank you, Robert Kernan. You're a master. Your guidance in the use of archetypes (and your plot arc) greatly inform my start on the second novel of a quartet I am writing. The first book, which comes out in harcover by a royalty-paying house next month, took five years to write in a non-structured fashion. Following your excellent model for structuring, I'm betting my second book will be far better than my first and will be ready to print in less than four months.

Another invaluable book for your screenplay friend: Robert Kernen's deceptively simple "Building Better Plots". It's the clearest, most helpful delineation of story development that I've encountered. I keep it close at hand for every story. Again, like McKee's Story there are immediately useful elements and some absolutely basic concepts that take years to grasp.

The outline I build around each story has been derived from Kernan's suggestions. Story is my weakest point; I think it is for most writers. Kernan offers some hope; the book takes on astonishing resonance as the building blocks are slowly learned, year by year.