Plotting and Editing a Snap with the Guide

1. Creating and developing a plot idea.
2. Controlling and filling in the plot details as you write the story down.
3. Having a good enough understanding of your type of story to recognise what is ‘good' and ‘bad' about your own plot.
4. Remedying any problems, which may mean cutting out passages or characters or situations you love, or adding new elements.

This isn't a formula, either. Every book is different, and Jacobs acknowledges that the plotting methods are different for each one. ". . . I have not yet found any single absolutely ‘correct' way to write, nor have I approached writing these books in the same way each time. And not only does each person approaches the task of writing differently . . . but the same person can change methods over time, as that writer's skills develop and her/his goals change."

In Part One, she'll show you the main components of the plot. These include: Emotion, Genre, Setting, Period, Characters, Conflict and Complications, Actions/interactions, Mood or tone, and Point of View. Jacobs examines each of these in depth and offers exercises to aid the process.

She also discusses plot complexity based on the chosen genre and word length. Interweaving all the elements of a complex plot can be difficult, but Jacobs offers tips and suggestions, and offers the changing plot of one of her own novels as an example.

She'll lead you through choosing the right place to begin, avoiding saggy middles, and tying up the loose ends.

A discussion on first drafts versus the finished manuscript leads into Part Two, Editing. Many of the tips here are pertinent to any type of writing. Learning to view your own work objectively is one of the first and hardest lessons a writer must learn in order to be published. And Jacobs leads you through the process of getting feedback, beginning your revisions, learning what editors check in a manuscript, and what processes are involved in editing a novel.

All in all, this is an excellent book for anyone who's planning to write a first novel. It's also an excellent resource for someone like me, who tends to underplot and find that the book is nowhere near as long as it should be. I'm on my fourth attempted novel right now (the third, and the first I tried to plot) is currently cooling off, just as Jacobs suggests. I'll take another look at it in a few months. And this

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