Every writer struggles with trouble spots in their manuscript that "just aren't working." Fiction First Aid shows you how seemingly fatal errors can become both manageable and fixable. Novice and more experienced writers alike will appreciate the Fiction First Aid's techniques for identifying and revising weaknesses in their work. It shows how to repair wounded manuscripts through easy-to-follow steps, patterned after those found in a typical first aid manual: 1) Diagnose the problem 2) Suggest specific remedies 3) Prescribe therapies to avoid the problem in the future It couldn't be easier!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential help for revising your book!,
This review is from: Fiction First Aid (Paperback)
This is my favorite self-editing guide, crammed with good advice in a fun, easy to read style. Manuscript symptoms, ailments, diagnoses and treatments leap off the page thanks to humorous "first aid" icons. Each chapter summarizes its contents upfront with common symptoms and a FAQ with page numbers called out for where your question is answered.For example, take Ailment: Wallpaper Settings. "The two most common mistakes writers make with setting is to 1) underdescribe (bland wallpaper) or 2) overdescribe (gaudy wallpaper). The setting, whether it be the city where the story takes place or the various locations of each scene, must emit some degree of lurking presence. How intense that presence should be depends on how significant a role the author wants the setting to play in the tone, atmosphere and motivation, or even theme, of the story." Underdescribed and overdescribed settings are then defined, followed by Doctor Obstfeld's Diagnosis, which goes into the details and possible reasons why the ailment has occurred, such as the underdescriber is negligent and can't be bothered, or so enamored of his characters that he puts their dialogue over "mundane interruptions" of setting. On the other hand, the overdescriber is too enthusiastic--or just showing off. Description of setting is a tool to achieve a goal, not the goal itself, thus the Treatment: "First, determine the role that setting plays in your story. To do this, you need to answer the Big Picture question: How significant is setting to the development of the characters' personalities and/or to the plot conflicts?" Obstfeld then goes into detail about how to enhance your settings to paint a more vivid picture or, more minimally, to sketch them out to evoke mood instead. He offers many examples and ideas on how to do either incredibly effectively. He also explains why: what makes each technique work, so you can decide which way is right for you. Setting is then wrapped up with a brief section outlining Physical Therapy for setting ailments, which summarizes the importance of setting and asks the three most important questions you should be asking yourself about it. The chapter on setting then goes on to deal with other setting ailments, such as Description Overload and using the Wrong Setting. All the chapters are set up this way and go into similar amounts of helpful detail, usually with sidebars listing various "case studies" of specific books and/or movies that show how and why certain techniques succeed or fail. Raymond Obstfeld's other writing guide, Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes, is also wonderful, except that it shares (so far as I can tell) the exact same opening and ending chapters as Fiction First Aid--kind of a bummer paying for the same material twice, but the meat of that book is all-new and it goes into stuff not covered in Fiction First Aid, so it's still worth it. For example, it has great advice on crafting believable, Stephen King-worthy throwaway characters for prologues to show the readers just how bad the bad guys are, and/or set up the mystery, or whatever you need them to do. If you're looking for other self-editing guides, I also recommend Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print; it's not as much fun to read, but it definitely is helpful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Advice,
By Whamo (San Clemente, California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fiction First Aid (Paperback)
Raymond Obstfeld's book reflects his background: author of twenty-seven novels, "The Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes", ten "sold" screenplays -- obviously this is the voice of experience -- as well the head of a writing program at Orange Coast College (that's a community college so he sees Freshman and Sophomore writers' work), so he has experience helping "baby" writers solve problems. Osterfeld covers the "Common Ailments" in fiction writing: "The Flypaper Effect"; "Rushing"; "Underexposure"; "Overly Mechanical Plots"; "Ho-hum suspense"; "Uninvolving Characters"; etc. Screenwriters, as well as novelists, with "problematic" projects, will find this book a lifesaver. If you find better advice anywhere, I'd be surprised.
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