Ebook How To Write A PageTurner Craft a Story Your Readers Can't Put Down Jordan Rosenfeld 9781440354342 Books

Product details Paperback 234 pages Publisher Writer's Digest Books (March 19, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1440354340

How To Write A PageTurner Craft a Story Your Readers Can't Put Down Jordan Rosenfeld 9781440354342 Books Reviews

• With How To Write A Page Turner, Jordan Rosenfeld once again delivers a thoroughly engaging and resourceful guide to writing craft. Impressive are the vast examples from literature she cites that vividly illustrate ways for increasing narrative tension. The end of chapter prompts serve as concrete strategies for creating page-turning prose. Rosenfeld’s tone gives one the sense of working with an editor who helps writers engage in reflection about their choices on the page. In that sense, Page Turner is a fantastic resource for established, and aspiring writers alike.
• This book provides excellent advice to writers in a well-organized, systematic way, with a summary of the main points at then end of each chapter for easy reference. A key point of the book is that tension is crucial to keeping the reader's interest, and the author provides numerous examples of what it means to maintain tension while advancing the story. Oddly enough, this is where this book itself falls short. For large sections the presentation has a nonstop, predictable cadence--1) piece of good advice, 2) paragraph introducing an example, 3) an example from a published work, and 4) conclusion about how the example illustrates the advice--that made it feel too much like reading an outline of lecture notes. Also, the selected examples are drawn so heavily from fantasy, science fiction, etc, that there is an inherently unrelatable and unsettling quality to them already. It would have made the point much more strongly if the author had chosen more examples showing how authors contrived to create tension even when writing about seemingly boring, normal things. I get the impression that the author must be a constructive and skilled editor, someone great at helping to overhaul and refine flabby writing. This book would have been much more helpful if instead of just giving a laundry list of superb advice with examples of good execution, the author had given before/after examples demonstrating how weak passages could be improved by using the principles described. There was eventually a little of this "advice in action," but I didn't notice any until fully 3/4 of the way through the book. I kept wishing for more truly helpful examples of how to apply the author's points. A minor point the author's continual use of "they" and "their" as singular pronouns was offputting and distracting.
• Writer Jordan Rosenfeld has authored two books before this one about writing scenes, Make a Scene and Writing Deep Scenes. Having already delved deeply into two different approaches to writing scenes, she now pulls back and looks at writing a page-turner in a broader sense. The book is made up of four parts Part One is essential tension elements, Part Two is tension with characters, Part Three is plot tension, and Part Four is tension in exposition. As you can tell, what Ms. Rosenfeld sees as the key to a page-turner is tension. I particularly enjoyed Part Two character focus, as it made me laugh out loud to contemplate chapters like The War Within Your Character, Use Character Flaws Against Them, and Torment Your Protagonist
  
  I find it interesting that plot is not really looked at until Part Three. Rather, it seems like the author believes that the elements of tension and how tension affects character are more important than how it affects plot. The term *more important* might be too strong of a phrase, but I think you must first understand the elements of tension at a basic level; then, too, characters in tension themselves can inspire plot.
  
  In the introduction, she discusses ideas like scene versus plot, breaking down basic ingredients for a scene and then defining plot. Some of this is pulled from her previous books. The chapters within the book have a similar structure she defines what she's going to talk about, discusses her interpretation of the topic, gives examples from literature, and wraps up the chapter with takeaways that neatly summarize what you’ve just read and a *Now You* section that asked you to contemplate how this topic works in your own writing.
  
  This book does an excellent job of looking at conflict and tension both broadly and more specifically in terms of character, plot, and setting. I think most writers of fiction would find this a valuable addition to their library.
• Not only you will learn how to read a page turner, and the inside secrets to keep your readers in their tippy toes wanting to know more and finding themselves in that situation all great books leave you in, saying to yourself "just one more page", you will also learn all the basic steps to "craft" your story to the best potential.
  
  The description of this book reads "Tension is the heart of conflict, the backbone of uncertainty, the hallmark of danger. It keeps readers guessing and characters on their toes. When you've got tension in place, stories leave readers breathless and wanting more. When it's missing, scenes feel inconsequential, plots drag, and characters meander."
  
  Before reading this statement I never really though how this is true of most books I read. It was some form of tension that made me want to read until this tension or conflict was resolved. Only once the main character encountered him/her-self in a neutral situation is when I was able to pause and continue later. Or countless nights I stopped only because I fell asleep reading, and had to start all over, because I lost my place in the book by dropping it by the side of the bed.
  
  I always fantasied about writing novels, but never had the courage to actually start. I mention this, because this book is making me feel that I least I have a shot at trying. I won't need to start from nowhere, as this book will give me the guidance I feel I need as a newbie.
  
  This book goes into detail about writing conflict, tension, danger and other scenes that just will exalt any reader.
  
  A resource that can be used over and over again until you master the concept presented in this book.
  I received and advanced digital copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it.