Day 452: Story Fix: Transform Your Novel from Broken to Brilliant

Long story short, this is a great book with just one annoying flaw. Author Larry Brooks puts together a straightforward roadmap to help from conceiving a concept all the way to editing the final version of your story to a publishable standard. It has taught me a ton about editing and revision, story structure, and what makes a story appealing in the first place. I can't stress enough that this book is absolutely worth a read for anybody who has found themselves stuck on the editing stage wondering why on Earth their novel isn't nearly as good as you'd hoped, struggling to find a way forward. For anybody like me who has seen consistent rejections, this book will absolutely help you identify and solve those problems that keep your favorite stories from getting published.

Like I said, I love this book, but there is one big thing holding it back. Brooks just can't seem to stop himself from making an analogy out of literally every single point he makes throughout the entire book. And I don't use the word 'literally' lightly here. At best, they are unnecessary to understand what he's trying to say, and at worst, they are often confusing or even misleading. I'm not sure why he's so obsessed with putting everything in terms of some unrelated phenomena, but it just doesn't work, and it adds a huge amount of fluff to the book. I could have read this in a single sitting if it weren't for the constant rephrasing and recontextualizing of every single topic.

That said, it has been extremely helpful. My biggest takeaway from the book is that the best thing you can do for your story is to identify and focus on the core problem your protagonist faces, or the 'spine,' as he sometimes refers to it. This seems obvious, but Brooks gives a ton of great advice on how to accomplish this without driving yourself mad figuring out what it is your story actually needs to focus on.

Besides the spine, he is also one of the few authors I have read who isn't afraid to say that some stories just don't work that well. Conceptually, some stories need more work. It's a simple fact that a lot of books about writing either gloss over or deny entirely. 'Story Fix' gives some great advice on how to make a compelling concept, how to conceive of a good premise from a good concept, and how to carry through on the execution. Rather than making it out like the best authors can make a story out of any old idea, Brooks asserts that the best authors start from fertile soil, turning a worthwhile concept into a powerful story. It's often difficult to face up to the fact that a story you've worked so hard on might just not be interesting from a conceptual standpoint, but 'Story Fix' is happy to face down this difficult topic and come up with several techniques for fixing the problem. It's a breath of fresh air to see advice that treats concept and ideas as something that's worthwhile to consider before tackling the structure or prose that a story is told in.

I have learned so much from this book (despite some of my misgivings about the prose) and I'm happy to recommend it to any aspiring writer. I'll also be buying Brooks' other books on editing, writing, and story structure in the future.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley