Natalie's review
Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Nancy Kress
I love Nancy Kress's books about writing, especially since she writes science fiction and will touch on speculative literature particularly.
This book is way more helpful than I had expected it to be. The way she approaches plot -- beginning, middle, and end -- is helpful, and having read the book has made it much easier for me to pinpoint exactly what I haven't liked about some novels and exactly what mistakes I don't want to make. She says that a story, from the beginning to the end, is a promise to the reader, and this has had a huge effect on my writing. Furthermore, she outlines exactly what each section of the story needs to do and to avoid to fulfill that promise.
The thing that has really stayed with me, and which I wish all writers would pick up, is that the ending of a story needs to feel inevitable, though not predictable. When a story ends, the reader should feel like "of COURSE it would happen that way!" I've read so many books where the ending was just ran...more
This book is way more helpful than I had expected it to be. The way she approaches plot -- beginning, middle, and end -- is helpful, and having read the book has made it much easier for me to pinpoint exactly what I haven't liked about some novels and exactly what mistakes I don't want to make. She says that a story, from the beginning to the end, is a promise to the reader, and this has had a huge effect on my writing. Furthermore, she outlines exactly what each section of the story needs to do and to avoid to fulfill that promise.
The thing that has really stayed with me, and which I wish all writers would pick up, is that the ending of a story needs to feel inevitable, though not predictable. When a story ends, the reader should feel like "of COURSE it would happen that way!" I've read so many books where the ending was just ran...more
