Review: Storyteller Tools by M Harold Page

[Brian G Turner]

These days a book about writing tools has to demonstrate that I'll learn something before I buy it.

In the Amazon's preview sample, this book did that by quickly talking about conflict diagrams.

Conflict diagrams??

Storyteller Tools by M Harold Page is a relatively short book - concise, sharp, and to the point.

And the point is conflict.

This remains at the heart of this book - but rather than simply talk about the importance of it, M Harold Page shows how he creates a series of notes that detail the story conflict, and expands from there.

He talks about playing conflict diagrams, to determine the parts of the story, and then uses something he calls QABN to determine how the conflict pushes the story forward: Question, Answer, But, Now.

In effect, this book is all about writing more efficiently, and I found that a real eye-opener.

Especially when he demonstrated just how easily you can create and structure a story in this manner.

I like to sit around imagining my stories and characters, and write down what they do. The trouble with this organic approach is that it's easy to lose sight of the conflict that is supposed to be driving the story.

The result - for me, anyway - is over-written prose that requires a lot of editing and rewriting down into a sharper form.

If I followed M Harold Page's method, I could explore structure while keeping conflict at the heart of the story, and merely expand my choreography from my short QABN notes.

Any changes made result in the loss of perhaps a couple of hundred words, instead of thousands of words from removed scenes.

Even better, I would expect that following this method would make it much easier to write a synopsis and pitch - something I know many of us struggle with, because we haven't been writing with that focus in mind.

I'm not a full disciple as yet - I take what many books say about using writing tools, and try and find my own way of working with them.

However, I'm totally sold on his way of notating conflict, and am going to apply the QABN principle to my current WIP. I've already briefly played with it, and aspects of the story are coming out stronger for it.

Overall, a book that can provide a concise but rich learning experience, and could benefit any level of writer, from novice to expert. Certainly would recommend anyone take a look at it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K6PBXY6/?tag=brite-21

 

[Foxbat]

Just bought this for my kindle. Pretty reasonably priced so even if I only learn one or two important points, I'll be happy.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Last night I sat down and applied QABN to my next project.

I already have a lot of scenes drafted, a basic outline of the four acts, and a scene order for Act 1.

But applying QABN was a real eye-opener - it really forced me to put some degree of conflict into every scene. This was especially important as some of the scenes I'd drafted were just transitions - showing a piece of information, or connection between two other scenes - and by themselves, were lifeless.

Applying QABN forced me to think about the POV character more, what they wanted, and what stood against them - and made these transition scenes powerful in their own right.

In the end, I've changed the scene order, have additional notes for the scenes, and have a clearer idea of some aspects of character arcs in this book and after.

It's not that QABN is a magic formula - it's just a series of questions to ask about every scene so you know where the conflict is - but it's a handy tool for doing so.

Will shortly look at applying this to my current WIP. Should be very interesting, as I'm already rewriting for conflict.

 

[Foxbat]

Haven't tried anything yet but the QABNs looked an interesting point. Right now, I'm thinking over the advice to learn touch-typing (I 'dance' to put it in M Harold Page's words). Problem is that I've done it my way for so many years now...I have the same problem with playing guitar - self-taught with own style but not very good at the traditional methods of playing.

Bad habits die hard

 

[Brian G Turner]

Meh, nothing wrong with writing longhand. Typing on a computer is simply a more efficient way of doing it. You can still QABN by hand.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I learned touch typing at the local secondary school whilst attending thd grammar school next door. To date, it's the single most useful thing I did....

 

[Foxbat]

Found this: Touch Typing Online Lessons

It's actually a bit like playing guitar in that it seems to be all about muscle memory. The problem with this is that it all starts to fall apart when you engage your brain.

However, I think this may help me

 

[Foxbat]

Hmm. 15 words per minute in lesson one.

 

[JonH]

Found this: Touch Typing Online Lessons

Thanks for the recommendation. I gave the first lesson a go.

I'm normally a four fingered typist, so this is going to be a strain. I can still remember the angst moving from printing letters to "real writing" when I was about eight, and how I hated having to slow down while joining the letters up. If I get to the end of the course, I'll be amazed, but it's probably worth trying.

 

[Foxbat]

I've given up on the touch typing (for now) but I'm finding the use of conflict diagrams and (especially) the QABNs quite helpful in working out what I want to (or should) happen. I'm only applying it to some short story ideas (never had the inclination to write a novel) but it does seem to help.

 

[M Harold Page]

The touch typing takes a while. You have to accept an initial loss of productivity.

 

[Hex]

Hello

Must admit I didn't try to apply the typing part of the book. I liked the focus on conflict too, and the idea of push and push-back. I find that really helpful as a technique for balancing what's happening to the character and what should happen next (it also makes your character active by default, rather than waiting around for something to happen).

 

[Tony Jones]

Yet another book for the suggestion list. Not the cheapest though. Comments - is it worth the money?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Personally I thought it was great - one of my top picks.

Short, concise, to the point - and a really great way of working with conflict.

 

[Tony Jones]

I see it can be borrowed on Amazon Prime for free - one more reason to think about subscribing;-)

 

[tinkerdan]

I've been touch typing since 1967 I wasn't aware there were any other acceptable ways to type.

Of course, I find it frustrating to text anyone from my telephone.

 

[cyprus7]

Interesting post on collaborative tweeting plus QABN...

distantlights.net/collaborative-storytelling-over-twitter/

 

[M Harold Page]

Just popping in to say that I'm teaching a writing workshop at Conpulsion, Edinburgh on Sunday morning, and have therefore temporarily dropped the price of Storyteller Tools. If you want it for £2.99 or $3.99, then buy it this Easter Weekend...

 

[Hex]

I'm doing a writing course at the university of Edinburgh and they're using the conflict diagrams from Storyteller Tools, because they're such a good way to structure the conflicts in a story. I was kind of excited when the tutor started talking about that

 

[Boneman]

Thanks Hex. I missed this first time round, but does look interesting.