Amazon.com: Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure (9780898799064): Jack Bickham: Books


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $0.22 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure [Paperback]

Jack Bickham (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.99
Price: $10.04 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.95 (33%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, February 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
Textbook Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Paperback $10.04  

Book Description

March 15, 1999 0898799066 978-0898799064
Using many examples from his own work, Jack Bickham shows writers how to construct solid, believable narratives that keep editors and readers anxiously turning the pages.'

Frequently Bought Together

Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure + Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends + Elements of Fiction Writing - Description
Price For All Three: $28.79

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends $10.19

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Elements of Fiction Writing - Description $8.56

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details



Product Details

  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Writers Digest Books (March 15, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0898799066
  • ISBN-13: 978-0898799064
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

71 Reviews
5 star:
 (39)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (12)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (71 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Looks like it'll be dull--it's anything BUT!, May 6, 2000
By 
This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure (Paperback)
Where was this book when I was writing my first three novels? Halfway through this book, I threw out everything after chapter two of my current book (and I had 13 chapters already written!) and started rewriting feverishly. Powerful stuff. If you haven't read this book, you probably don't know enough about how to write captivating scenes and what to do with the characters AFTER the scene is over. I only put this book down long enough to apply what I was learning. It's worth every penny. A heartfelt wish Jack Bickham had written much, much more about the art of writing...
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Nuts and bolts for your creative engine, June 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure (Paperback)
With due respect to other reviewers (below), I think they overlook the central strengths of Bickham's "Scene & Structure" and home in on peripheral weaknesses.

An absolute prerequisite to success in any craft is acquiring its vocabulary. If you go in for graphic design, you'd better know how to use concepts such as contrast, repetition, proximity and alignment. And if you go in for fiction-writing, you'd better be able to use concepts such as scene, sequel, conflict, stimulus-response, and so on.

You might have a layman's understanding of what a scene is, but from the writer's standpoint, exactly what is a scene? What is its purpose? What work does it do in the overall structure of a story? What are its elements? What sorts of variation are possible? How do you control the pace of a scene? How do you effectively connect one scene with another?

These are the kinds of questions Bickham answers in useful detail and with comprehensible illustrations. If the excerpts from his own writing in the appendices aren't masterpieces, as some reviewers complain, they do serve to illustrate specific principles and techniques discussed in the text, and these are what make the book worth studying. To mention just one example, before encountering this book I had never grasped -- never even heard of -- the distinction between a scene and a sequel. Yet it's an essential distinction that a fiction-writer must know how to use. Bickham tells you, shows you, how to use it -- and many, many others.

Bear Bryant was no Joe Namath. Bob Fosse was no Fred Astaire. The best coaches and teachers are rarely top-notch practitioners of their arts. Jack Bickham is no Charles Dickens, granted. But he is an insightful teacher whose book can be of value to any writer who approaches it as a source of instruction rather than a model of artistic excellence. And as for "rules" about ending every scene with a disaster or explicitly stating the goal of every acene, if these strike you as wrong, vary them. If you aren't creative enough to think of exceptions to an "all or nothing" rule, are you really creative enough to write fiction?

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


152 of 177 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Formulaic and patronising, March 3, 2002
By 
HLT (Wales, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Elements of Fiction Writing - Scene & Structure (Paperback)
This is the third "Elements of Fiction Writing" book that I've read. The previous two ("Characters and Viewpoint" , and "Beginnings, Middles, and Ends") are truly excellent, and I have no hesitation in recommending them as both readable and usable.

Unfortunately, this work falls far short of the standards set by the previous two books.

Here's an example of Bickham's writing, excerpted from one of his novels and presented in this book as an example to be emulated:

"A sound like air gun pellets loudly peppered the front wall of his cabin."

In my world, air gun pellets might pepper a wall, but a sound cannot. Perhaps that's just his style? If pulling the reader up short and making him say "huh?" is style, then fine - but personally, I'd expect his examples to be cleaner than this.

As for the assertion that every scene must end with a disaster (OK, he means setback perhaps, but disaster is the term he uses), once again: huh? I've carefully checked several popular novels on my shelves - the sort of work I'd be proud to write - and it just ain't so. That's not to say I've never read novels that follow that formula to a large degree, but they've been just that: formulaic. Perhaps there's money to be made down that road, perhaps it's a way to get published, but it's not for me.

He actually goes further than that. Every scene must begin with a clear statement of goal ("most of the time, the character states his immediate goal in obvious, unmistakable fashion"), to be followed by development of conflict, and finalised by failure to reach the goal. Then there must be sequel - again precisely structured (Emotion, Thought, Decision, Action).

I also found the writing style problematic. The two books I mentioned above were fascinating and engaging, and I finished each in a day or two, but this one is a slog.

As you can probably tell, I'm irritated with this book. If it was a case of Bickham offering guidelines, it would be one thing... but he's implying that this has to be the rule, and that exceptions must be carefully justified. ("Once every hundred scenes, maybe you can get away with allowing the goal to be implicit"). Perhaps that's appropriate for particular genres, but few of the (mainstream) writers whom I admire follow these recipes.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
MENTION WORDS SUCH AS STRUCTURE, form, or plot to some fiction writers, and they blanch. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
conflict portion, hero viewpoint, sequel structure, scene goal, viewpoint character, conflict segment, thought segment, story goal, major subplot, thought portion, scene fragment, scene structure, scene question, hidden story
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Collie Davis, Brad Smith, San Francisco, Will Fred
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:





Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject