I’m glad you found the information useful. If you’re interested in reading more, we’re currently discussing the subject of motivation on my writing blog at The Marshall Planet. You can find it here [ http://themarshallplanet.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=Gnarus ] or click on my name at the top of this comment. The author, Evan Marshall, hangs out there as well.

Say hi if you stop by.

Cheers,
Scott

Do you have any other writing book suggestions?

Cheers,
Scott

thanks for the feedback, but I think I’ll take a pass on this one.

Thanks,
Mark

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who wants to write a novel. Especially since you can get it at Borders at up to 40% off right now. For $12 or less, it’s a fantastic deal.

The book contains a plethora of information. So much, in fact, you’ll want to read it several times just to absorb everything. While I am also skeptical of “shoulds” and “musts” and some ideas don’t exactly sync (particularly if you already know many of your characters and have a rough outline of the plot in your head), the ideas presented (i.e. creating “sections” and templates) certainly make for good practice and you may find them far more valuable than you might initially think no matter how much of your novel’s plot is in your head or what you think you know about your characters.

Since a large portion of the book is devoted to these section templates and whatnot, I must warn you that if you are already a procrastinator, this book will not help you overcome that. You WILL need to get off your duff, sit down and do what the book says. The alternative is to buy the software for $160 or so. While that might be useful to some, I’m not going to shell out that kind of money for software. Unless I find something better and more reasonably priced, I’ll just stick with CeltX and OpenOffice since they’re both free .

If you’re sitting there reading this, go outside during daylight, buy the book and judge for yourself. Even if you don’t use half the stuff in the book, what you will use is certainly worth the cover price (let alone the huge 40% discount you can get from Borders right the heck now).

The “shoulds” were mine, not the author’s. However, The Marshall Plan is a system, much like following a recipe, designed to guide you through the process of writing a novel. And, as with any good recipe, people may want to tweak it to suit their flavor or style. Nothing is cast in stone. Anyone can use the system as rigidly or flexibly as they desire. It’s The Marshall Plan, it’s not Marshall Law.

Regardless whether anyone uses The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing exactly as suggested, I think the book gives excellent advice to anyone who wants their novel to stand out. The above review is only my opinion.

To get a second opinion, you might want to go to Amazon and read some reviews if you are still curious.

Best,
Scott

PS There’s actually a community of people who are using the Marshall Plan. -> http://themarshallplanet.ning.com/

Before reading The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, had you tried to write a novel yet? If so, how did it go?

Scott

I had planned to do an audio version of the review but kept putting it off. Finally I decided just to release the text version. I’m planning to review the companion software that was recently released by Evan Marshall. I’ll try to release an audio review for that one, but I’m not making any promises.

Please leave comments here after you’ve read the book. Let us know what you think about it. Thanks and good success with your writing.

All the best,
Scott

I hope it’s as good as promised. I saved 30% and shipping costs by getting a coupon online for the local Borders bookstore.

It was around $12 after taxes.

Second: For people who are interested in using The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, or are interested in communicating with people who are using it, check out: http://themarshallplanet.ning.com/

Third: Evan Marshall told me that he has created software that is based on his “Plan”. The software makes putting his plan into action a snap. I’ll be reviewing the software in the future. I expect it to be quite helpful…perhaps even essential in applying the Marshall Plan as effortlessly as possible. You can read about his software here: http://www.themarshallplanet.com/

Cheers!