Author: K.M. Weiland
Rating: 5-Stars
I have read many outstanding books on improving my writing craft and business skills over the last year. In fact, I made a video on them that has over 40,000 views and has been well received. In that video, I recommend six books to improve your writing craft and writing business skill. K.M. Weiland’s great read, Structuring Your Novel, in my opinion, stands out as the most important and useful book on that list. It has improved my writing more than any other book I have read on writing craft.
Writing my First Novel
I started to write fiction to improve my narrative non-fiction writing skills. I did not think I had a story in my worth telling. Then a strange thing happened. I fell in love with writing fiction, and also found out that I was reasonably good at it. Even with my non-fiction writing experience, it was still a challenge that required a massive investment of time to improve my fiction writing skills.
In writing FALSE TRUST, I did so on intuition and my experience being a massive reader of the crime thriller genre. However, I did not have a plot plan or template I followed. I did a reasonably good job of outlining my first novel, but without knowing what my goals or my end-game were. I was reading books on self-editing, universal fantasy, and so on, which helped me understand and strengthen my manuscript. Then I read Structuring Your Novel and my rewriting started in earnest.
I was fortunate that my intuition drove me to an outcome which contained elements of Weiland’s approach to structuring your novel. Still, I had four major revisions to tighten my approach and increase the pace and tension. The novel became much more engaging and readable.
The Value of Templates
Many beginning writers believe using a template will limit their creativity and voice. This is wrong. There are still a million different stories to be told and ways of telling them by using a template. There are many good templates out there, but Weiland’s approach resonates with me more than others for writing a thriller.
Why use a template? I believe the main reasons include:
- They are proven for the genre and have helped millions of books be successful
- They improve quality and align to what the reader is expecting
- The keep you honest and help avoid writing unnecessary material that needs to be stripped out later
- They integrate plot and characters into a seamless reading experience
- They save a great deal of time when rewriting and editing – and we all know writing a book requires rewriting and editing!
Further Help From K.M. Weiland
Weiland has a great understanding of the writing process and what it takes to structure an amazing novel. Following her approach is a sure-fire way for any beginning or emerging writer to improve their craft skills. Some of the initial feedback I have had from beta readers is that my protagonist is not wholly believable in terms of his transformation and his reactions at various points in the story. I am now reading Weiland’s great companion book, Creating Characters Arcs, which is helping me improve my characters’ transformation and better integrate it with the story. This will improve the manuscript further.
As I am plotting and drafting the second book in my series, I have created my template plot and story progression using Weiland’s method into a template in Plottr. This has provided a much clearer idea of how the book is developing and how to draft it without wasting energy. I have plotlines in Plottr for the main story arc and each main character arc to ensure both develop consistently.
A Highly Recommended Read
Structuring Your Novel (as I currently see it) sells for about $1 for the Kindle version, based on what Amazon store you buy it from. It is great, great value. I also suggest you look at K.M. Weiland’s website to find and download an abundance of resources related to story structure and character arcs. And check out my highly viewed video on TikTok on six books to help writers improve their writing and writing business skills, but if you only have the time to read one book on writing craft, I recommend it be Structuring Your Novel.
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If you liked this review, then check out my other book reviews for highly recommended reads and keeping up with my author journey on my Blog.
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