Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Story Equation: How to Plot and Write a Brilliant Story from One Powerful Question (Brilliant Writer Series)

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2020

Warren presents her approach to story construction in this book. While some of it is simply a warmed-over traditional Hero's Journey -- better explained elsewhere, btw -- there's enough which is new-with-her to make this a very worthwhile read.

I especially liked her approach to creating story action organically with character development.So, in her approach, character development informs the story and (in turn) story informs character. She does this through such constructs as The "Dark Moment Story" which is the prior source of the protagonist's angst in the story. From this flows the character's: coping mechanism ("The Lie"), the external manifestation of this ("The Flaw") & its internal manifestation ("The Wound") among other useful considerations. Ultimately, all of this guides character development as well as plot development.

It's a very cool approach. Not the only approach, but useful and unique. I've developed my own but I'll be incorporating at least some of her suggestions.

The only thing wrong with this book -- and it's a biggie -- is its organization. In short, it has none. The author has structured this such that she refers to some of her constructs BEFORE she's introduced them (at least in my reading of it) so I was left wondering what some very interestingly-titled concepts (e.g. "Voice of Truth") actually meant. She eventually got around to explaining those mystery terms, but not until later. Then there was her repetition (she repeated herself an awful lot) and her (several) approaches to story structure which were strewn throughout the book -- in no particular order -- like little accident victims in a train wreck.

It was ... frustrating. And it was unnecessarily confusing. To make the most sense out of this book, plan on taking extensive notes and shuffling them into an entirely new order when you're done . Readers shouldn't have to do that, so off come 2 stars. If you are prepared to do so, though, then I'll add those 2 back and add another couple for good measure.

I'm glad I read this book and I think you will be, too

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Denise A. Barker

Brilliant and Genius Approach Using Character-Driven Concept

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016

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As serendipity would have it, I read yesterday (all in one sitting) this wonderful book by Susan May Warren, which confirms my own thoughts as to my character-driven mind-set when it comes to storytelling. So I abhor those articles and books and such that say I must answer a one-hundred-question form as to each main character's (trivial) backstory, including high school attended and pet's name. Rubbish! And what a waste of time. [I read a Kaizen book two days ago, so I'm even more into efficiency, plus loving this main principle of Kaizen: DO NOT PRODUCE, TRANSMIT OR ACCEPT WASTE].

As Susan explains in her book, her process, dubbed the SEQ (shorthand for the book's title), is about emotions and values, more intrinsic descriptions that define our heroes and heroines.

Amen!

Plus, once we have the main plot points drafted (via her special brainstorming timeline), she teaches us about a unique concept: starting from the end and working backward. That way we know what to foreshadow, and we stay on track with our main plot, the character's growth, the theme of our story. She actually has a separate step where we focus on the conflict, making sure we escalate the three try/fail cycles and also give our hero(ine) enough motivation for his/her journey.

I highly recommend this book. Can be read in about two hours and fifteen minutes. Take notes!

101 people found this helpful

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Clark R. Newbold

A Good Intro to Basics Plus Some Hidden Gems

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018

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This books provides a solid introduction/review on the basics of story structure. It also has some wonderful gems inside regarding character motivation, development, and change.

Unfortunately, I felt very mislead by the title. With a name like “The Story Equation,” I expected a rigorous and methodical breakdown with clear diagrams and steps. Instead, I found the topic to wander from topic to topic without giving me enough to truly grasp the “Equation.”

34 people found this helpful

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N. Kern

Good for character depth, suffers from poor reference material

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2021

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This book was so frustrating. One on hand, Warren digs deep into characters and helps a writer get at deeper motivations for why they do things. I picked up this book well into working on my novel and while I have good info on my characters I was able to pull out so much more from them using the Dark Moment Story diagram.
However, and this was a HUGE minus for me, much of the book references other books or films which were either unknown to me or uninteresting. The author references much of her own work (okay fine, I get that even if I don’t read her books) and uses a popular film alongside it sometimes. There’s a clear bias for Mel Gibson here so if you’re cool with him, fine. This book probably won’t annoy you.
I even understood her football analogy for plot and I’m not a sports person at all.
But constant references to movies I will never watch because they star a raging antisemite are a big strike against the book for me
So okay, maybe I’m not this author’s target audience. She’s a Christian, open about her beliefs, writing cozy sounding romance thrillers. I’m an atheist refugee from fundamentalism writing space opera. But—if you want your how-to book to really be effective, you need it to be relatable to more people.
So many use the Harry Potter series. Ugh I’m sick of Harry Potter. I’m glad she didn’t use it. I don’t care what her reasons were.
But one entire chapter in this book was practically useless because I didn’t know the author’s references.
SO—imagine my surprise when slogging through the last stage of reading this boo, Warren uses the movie The Princess Bride as an example.
A popular, well-loved movie, meme’d all over so that everyone knows it and everyone I know who has any interest in storytelling can quote lines from. A highly relatable example! Why not just use it?? Why??
High marks for character analysis tools
Low marks for unrelatable material in a book that would be more effective if the references were well known.
3 stars

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Amazon Customer

Rounds Out Flat Characters

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016

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This weekend, I bought this book on the recommendation of Randy Ingermanson and gave it a read. I ended up highlighting and writing throughout the book as I found a lot of wisdom. Before offering the positives, I'd like to poke at the editor and typesetter for petty errors that even I noticed.

If you are familiar with Randy's Snowflake Method, it balances Plot and Story/Character development. While he suggested in his newsletter it would revolutionize how he develops stories, I respectfully submit it will only enrich.

Snowflake 3 involves basic character motivation, the kernel of the story. Snowflake 5 expands on that to a rich character emotional portrait. The Story Equation provides what I consider to be meaningful questions and rationale that feed into those two steps. Her method works well with Randy's.

For those authors who have feedback that their characters are flat, Ms. Warren's method here should provide you the insight you need to remedy it. The method is rather straight forward, as I used it to build the lead character for a novel I'm planning to start during NaNoWriMo.

She did try to build this method into plotting, which I found to be of minor use. But, as I am the target audience (flat character syndrome), I'm not going to doc a star.

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mswans

A good primer but has its issues

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2020

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This book needs to be plotted a little better, imo. While the basics are there and clear enough and it's a helpful idea--plot using the character arc (though by no means the only way to plot), there's something about it that feels a little random in the overall picture. The author repeats her stated process using different terminology here and there, emphasizing certain points seemingly at random, while leaving others out that are mentioned earlier, leaving you wondering "Okay, so is THIS the important thing now, or was it that other thing?"

The author would probably say it's all important, but unfortunately that's not how it feels when reading. That said, it's short. And you can get the gist. I will say I was not at all pleased with the football analogy...I am not into sports at all and thought that was really misguided, given that most artists and creatives I know aren't into sports either--though apparently this author is.

I would guess by her mentioning of her own writings, too, that her work is fairly mediocre. She describes her child's messy room in a way that's heavy handed, and her discovery of a need to paint a room in her house is as boring as the paint drying.

Can you find something useful from this? Probably. Do you need it to write a novel, probably not, if you have other resources at your fingertips for story structure, etc.

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DDW

A MUST HAVE For All Writers and For Those Who Want to Learn to Write

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016

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Susan May Warren has done it again. I have every one of her writing books, not to mention her novels. Believe me when I tell you that she knows how to write a story. Check out her Christiansen Family Series as an example. She also knows how to teach you to write a story. If you ever thought that you wanted to try your hand at writing a novel, you need this book, The Story Equation. It not only tells you what to do, it gives concrete examples of how she did it, or how it was done in some of her favorite movies. I liked this so much, that I first had it on my kindle, and today I purchased it in paperback. I cannot wait to get my hands on that one so that I can begin to highlight, write in the margins, dog ear and use it to help me on my writing journey. Thanks, SMW. Job well done!

23 people found this helpful

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AmazonCustomer

SIMPLE AND CONCISE—AND THE BEST STARTER BOOK EVER!

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2020

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Susan May Warren is brilliant and gifted and is the only author I know who has deconstructed story writing into such bitesize pieces, that anyone can learn to write a decent, compelling story—if they follow her map.

If you are frustrated with your own storytelling, tired of not getting to the finals in contests, or not getting asked for your proposal? You might want to take a look at this book. It’s the basics of good story writing and believe me when I say, you will find yourself returning to again and again for solid answers on story construction that gets you noticed.

I have read and own every Susan May Warren book on writing she has written and everyone of them is absolutely crammed full of easy to understand direction and samples on how to accomplish each step along your writing journey. I’d give her books more stars if I could.

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S. D. Smith

Lots of confusing turns. Not well laid out.

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2019

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I got some really good stuff out of this book, but the explanation of how to do the SEQ (story equation) was just so disjointed that it was hard to follow.

Ironically, and what is saving this book from a 1 or 2 star review, is that it has helped me quite a bit in my editing. Since I tend to write from the seat of my pants, even when working from a rough outline, I apply these concepts in reverse, adding sections or deleting as I rewrite.

5 people found this helpful

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Susan L Stewart

A good book for serious authors who want to delve deep

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017

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This is a very good book for authors who have difficulty building complex characters and intricate plots. I have been writing for a very long time and tend to like to write - and read - novels without quite so much detail. Still, I picked up a few good ideas and that's always good. I know I will refer back to this book when I start my next novel. I recommend this for people who are serious about writing good novels with interesting characters. If you are just playing around with the idea of writing a novel, it might be a little too intense.

10 people found this helpful

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5 star		69%
4 star		15%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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