Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Structure Your Plot to Surprise and Satisfy Readers! Plot twists are a unique element of the craft of writing used by writers of all genres - from memoirs to thrillers, screenplays to stageplays - to create unexpected twists and turns. A surprising plot twist can hook an audience and keep readers turning pages, right down to the final scene. Mastering Plots Twists is your essential guide to crafting a quick pace with more focused narrative and action, all by using the artful, unexpected plot twist. The result is more nuanced, multifaceted books that sell and develop a devoted readership. Using similar structure and techniques as the Agatha Award-winning Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot, award-winning author Jane K. Cleland will teach you to integrate thrilling moments in every genre. Inside, Cleland will show you how to: Use plotting, structure, pacing, and subplots with the intention of developing plausible, yet surprising, twists. Integrate plot twists into any story - not just mysteries and thrillers. Study novels of any genre, to recognize the specific techniques writers use to surprise their readers. Improve your writing craft with scores of cases studies, checklists, decision-making models, and exercises. Packed with pages of usable, hands-on material, Mastering Plot Twists is the key to engaging your readers throughout your narrative. AUTHOR: Jane K. Cleland writes the multiple award-winning Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series. She is well-established and well-respected in the global crime fiction writing community. She chairs the Black Orchid Novella Award, one of the Wolfe Pack's literary awards, granted in partnership with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

Reviews

"Jane Cleland's Mastering Plot Twists is a master class in crafting plots that twist and turn, sparked with conflict and fired with human emotion." --Hallie Ephron, New York Times best-selling author of You'll Never Know, Dear

"Mastering Plot Twists provides a unique and absolutely invaluable toolbox for any author (new or experienced) who wants to produce a riveting, twisty, un-putdownable page turner. And who doesn't" --Kate White, New York Times best-selling author of 13 suspense novels and former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan

"Jane turns the process of plotting inside out and lays bare the bones of a compelling story that will capture your readers' attention and imagination. She gives you the tools to think like an editor in the crucial early stages of planning: exploring character motivation and conflict, perceptions and expectations, and sub-plots and pacing. This excellent how-to is much more than the twists." --Linda Landrigan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine

"The Queen of Plot Twists, Jane Cleland has done it again. In this brilliant follow-up to her Agatha-winning Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot, Cleland reveals the secrets to writing page-turners that sell. From the basics of pre-plotting to the subtle art of surprise endings, this is the ingenious guide you need to take your story from good to great--one plot twist at a time. A must-have for every writer's bookshelf!" --Paula Munier, author of the Writer's Digest bestseller Plot Perfect and A Borrowing of Bones, a Mercy and Elvis K-9 mystery

Author Bio

Jane K. Cleland is the author of the best-selling and multiple award-wining Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries (St. Martin's Minotaur). Jane also writes short stories (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine) and articles and books about the craft of writing (Writer's Digest magazine and Writer's Digest Books), including the bestselling and Agatha-winning book,Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot. Jane is the chair of the Black Orchid Novella Award (www.nerowolfe.org), a mentor in Western Connecticut State University's MFA in Creative & Professional Writing program, a guest author at universities and writing conferences across the country, and a member of the fulltime faculty at Lehman College, part of the City University of New York, where she is also the director of the Program for Professional Communications. In addition, Jane was the president of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America and a member of the national board. More information is available at www.janecleland.com.