Thursday Review—The Dance of Character and Plot

by Lynn H. Blackburn

Plenty of people know that DiAnn Mills is a fantastic novelist, but they may not realize that she is also a wonderful mentor to new writers.

I’ve had the privilege of attending her classes at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, sitting in on webinars she’s taught through the Christian Writers Guild, and having her critique my writing.

So when I learned that she had taken time from her fiction schedule to write a book on the craft of writing, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Reading TheDance of Character and Plot is like having DiAnn in your home for a writing seminar.
 

If you’re a new(er) writer, The Dance of Character and Plot is a foundational craft book that would be an excellent addition to your bookshelf. DiAnn covers formatting, plotting, characterization, setting, symbolism, voice, POV, revisions—all the basic steps to the dance of writing a novel.

The more experienced writer will find the stretching exercises at the end of each chapter to be a wonderful way to hone your skills and take your work to the next level.

The Dance of Character and Plot is written in tight, concise chapters that make this a great read for the busy writer. Take a chapter a week and use the exercises to jumpstart your writing sessions. Or use it as a guide to find the weak spots in your completed manuscript.

With so much writing wisdom packed onto each page, this is the type of craft book you’ll find yourself returning to again and again.

Lynn Huggins Blackburn has been telling herself stories since she was five and finally started writing them down. She blogs about faith, family, and her writing journey on her blog Out of the Boat. Lynn is a member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and the Word Weavers, Greenville. She lives in South Carolina where she hangs out with three lively children, one fabulous man, and a cast of imaginary characters who find their way onto the pages of her still unpublished novels. She drinks a lot of coffee.