Fulminata reviewed Beating the Story by Robin D. Laws
Review of 'Beating the Story' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A book on writing focused on the author's story beat mapping method first introduced as an aid to role-players in his book Hamlet's Hit Points.
This isn't just a rehash of the previous book with a different focus. It's a complete guide to writing fiction from conceiving the story to revising drafts. There's also a few notes on using the tools provided as an editor or collaborator, and even a small section on using them for critical analysis.
As with the first book, three full examples are broken down using the author's method. In this case a Mad Men episode, an X-Files episode, and a section of the novel The Color Purple.
While I'm not the core audience, I would recommend this book to any authors looking to add to their writing toolkit.
