I zero in on those areas that feel weak or wrong and try to decode where the story has departed from its own specific, individual plot logic. I map out the plot as it unfolds, scene by scene, and see what it has to tell me. Rather than rely on story templates, I lean on my reader sense to tell me when a manuscript I’m editing drags or zigs when it should zag. The truth is I think every story has its own unique rhythm and structure. Outside genre fiction, I’m seeing more interest in non-Western story structures or structures that follow shapes that aren’t an arc. One writer or editor might be able to distill the story structure that works for them into a generalized template, but that structure might not be workable-or even comprehensible-to another writer. Each time, however, I find that whatever template I’m trying to apply doesn’t naturally fit the work I’m trying to apply it to-like I’m trying to fit a tiny, exquisite doll’s coat onto a toddler having a tantrum. I’ve even considered their structures as I developed the plot of my own novel. I’ve tried applying them to my clients’ work. (I’ve discussed many: see these reviews of Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid, Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, James Scott Bell’s Write Your Novel from the Middle, and John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story.) I’ve spent time mapping them out against one another, seeing if I can spot commonalities. If you pull out your writing craft books and look for advice on plot structure or search online for plot templates, you’ll find an enormous variety.
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In his writing, Dickens was the champion of such physically abused women as the sympathetic prostitute Nancy in Oliver Twist (whom the smitten Oliver of the musical so sweetly serenades). Perhaps that is why, when I reopened it this time, I was not only surprised anew by Dickens’ demonization of Fagin “the Jew,” I also could not ignore the depth of a second disconnect between Dickens the author and Dickens the man: his treatment of women. I must also admit that I chose to mostly avoid being reminded of Fagin by only infrequently taking my copy of Oliver Twist off the shelf. In 1865, after being admonished for his anti-Jewish portrait of Fagin, Dickens created a very positive - and rather forgettable - Jewish character in his final complete novel, Our Mutual Friend.Īnd so, over the years, I came to regard Fagin as a stain but not an obstacle to my vast enjoyment and admiration of Dickens’ great literary genius. Still, I must also give Dickens credit for his late-in-life attempt to offset his demonic portrait of Fagin, even if it took almost 30 years ( Oliver Twist was published in 1838 as his second novel). Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather-and the hot, grumpy local-that she’s more than a pretty face.Įxcept it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong. Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl” who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town. |