What makes a book a page-turner? How do you grab your readers from the start and hold them through the last sentence? How do you make your plot t...
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reviews
May 06, 2009
Becky
rated it: 
I got as far as chapter 10 of this, but didn't finish. I just lost confidence in the writer, because of a couple of annoying errors I found when he cited examples from books. Like he referred to Gatsby and "Dolly". Well unless that's a different Gatsby than the obvious one, that should be Daisy. Okay, so that could have been a typo, I let it pass. Until I came to where he started talking about Sherlock Holmes' "curious incident of the dog in the night" time and referring to t
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Jul 13, 2010
Jennifer
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I read this as preparation for a workshop on conflict, and it wasn't exactly what I was looking for at the moment, but it was well organized, well thought-out, and well expressed. I liked all the angles he covered, up to and including the fact that grammar plays a role in building tension in a story. (Any argument for better grammar goes a long way for me.) Noble makes several very good points I'd never considered, and he explains better than any other book I've ever read how to handle pacing in
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Jan 29, 2012
Kat
rated it: 
I read four of the books in the Elements of fiction Writing series, but I found this one particularly useful.
My favorite tips for the beginning fiction writer are (paraphrased):
Create both hurdles (problems that can be resolved in the given chapter) and baggage (problems that don't get resolved until the end).
Dialogue is performance conversation (cut out all the boring yammering that people actually say).
After writing a passage, go back and scan for passiv More...
My favorite tips for the beginning fiction writer are (paraphrased):
Create both hurdles (problems that can be resolved in the given chapter) and baggage (problems that don't get resolved until the end).
Dialogue is performance conversation (cut out all the boring yammering that people actually say).
After writing a passage, go back and scan for passiv More...
Dec 14, 2009
Bruce
rated it:
An interesting book on how to improve your writing. As its title implies it deals with those elements that spice up one's fiction. Examples are given which are drawn mainly from the mystery and suspense genres. What surprised me were a couple of editorial errors which I would not have expected from a book published by Writer's Digest Books.
Jun 07, 2011
Takim
rated it:
Great advice here especially on writing dialogue, which to me is one of the hardest aspects of fiction. Ill be coming back to consult these pages many times, and Ill probably check out some of the other books in the Elements of Fiction Writing series
Aug 08, 2010
Andrea
rated it: 
I wonder how a book about conflict, action and suspense can be such a dull read. Now I can cope with that, but if the author does not manage to communicate a clear message and tell me what the book is about... then he's lost me.
Jan 05, 2011
David
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Another great book in the Elements of Fiction Writing series by Writer's Digest Books. This is a book, I could review again and again. The information here can help any book stay interesting through the creation of drama.
May 12, 2009
Kari
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Really helpful to me. It brought up questions I could pose to the piece I'm working on and dug into various ways of developing conflict that were new to me.
May 24, 2007
Femmy
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Another great book from the "Elements of Fiction Writing" series. Learned a lot about creating, well, conflict, action, and suspense. A must-read for any aspiring or established authors who wants to add some punch to their stories.
May 09, 2008
February
rated it: 
His exhortations grew a little tiresome after a while. There are things one can learn from this book, which is the only reason I didn't send it back.
May 05, 2008
Kristen
rated it:
This is a great book for all novelists to have and look back for future reference who needs help on conflict, action and suspense for their novels.
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