Story Trumps Structure

By Kelly Bridgewater

During 2015, I took the time to come up with twelve different writers who have inspired and influenced my writing. But for 2016, I have decided to come up with ten suggestions of writing books that I have used to improve my writing. Some of them won’t be long posts, but I will show how they inspired me to write better.

Let’s get started.

One of my favorite books was written by my favorite author. Steven James. He is a master at capturing my attention in his Patrick Bowers series. He also captured my attention at a Writer’s Conference in February 2014 where he was the keynote speaker. James’ is a regular contributor to Writer’s Digest, and I LOVE reading his writing suggestions in there, so when I found out, from him, that he was written a writing book, I purchased it right away.

The book is titled Story Trumps Structure. 

From Amazon

James’ is a huge supporter of writing without an outline or a plan. Too many writers create a story with an outline, and they don’t allow the story to take them where it needs to go. They are controlled by the outline that they made before they started writing. Even J. K. Rowling has admitted to this recently. She outlined that Hermione and Ron should be married, but she felt a tugging to have Harry and Hermione get together, but she stayed with her outline, so she didn’t do what she should have. She has regretted that decision lately.

He has an entire section devoted to writing organically. James’ shares his secrets to creating a story and allowing the plot and characters to dictate where the story needs to go. I have underlined a lot in this section.

Most of the book features on how to create tension and how to make it harder for your characters. As I write, I need to make the reader believe that something worst is going to happen and there is nothing else that could go wrong. Wrong! Something worse needs to happen. Something to push the characters further from accomplishing their goal. I need a lot of help doing this. As a suspense writer, I come up with ideas, but I don’t think I push and push until my characters break. But James gives a lot of tips showing how to do this.

My copy of Story Trumps Structure has a lot of underline and post-it notes sticking out of it. I need to keep reviewing sections to include in my writing. It isn’t a book for the faint of heart. It has a lot of practical advice for writers in any genre.

I highly recommend every writer buy this book.

If you have read Story Trumps Structure or any of Steven James’ books, what is your favorite part of his writing? Share your favorite quote from the book and let’s start a discussion. 

What Steven James Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

From Amazon

This is the seventh month of me writing about the authors who have influenced me as a writer. If you missed any previous posts, please return to them and read up on how these certain authors influenced me. There were C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, and Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Today I will be talking about a contemporary author who I personally met in February 2014. He was the keynote speaker of the Advanced Writer’s Boot Camp Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. I attended with my husband and loved listening to Steven James talk about his rejection letters. He read snippets of them, having the audience rolling in laughter. It made us feel better about the rejection letters we receive.

I was first introduced to Steven James when I was roaming the bookshelves at my local library. If I don’t have a certain author whose book I want to read usually I scan the spine for books by the Christian publisher. I found the Revell Publishing symbol on a book spine, which read The Rook  James. I had never heard of Steven James, but the book was published by a Christian company and the book was thick, so I withdrew it from the shelf and took it home.

I was hooked.

Luckily, for me, The Rook was the second book in the Patrick Bower’s series. The Pawn and The Knight were already published and The Bishop was just about to come out. I loved how Patrick Bower used a unique system to hunt for the serial killers. The killer surprised me in practically every book. When I met James in February, 2014, he was impressed by my copy of The Knight because I had scribbled all over the margins and highlighted key phrases with post-it notes sticking out of the top. I was studying how James crafted a story where the killer was a total shock.

From February 2014 when I got to meet Steven James

Steven James taught me to push the limits when it comes to writing Christian suspense. Not all Christian suspense books have to be completely planned out and PG for the “saved” audience. We are like the secular audience in that we like a story that grips us and tightens more and more as the story progresses. Likewise, he encouraged me to not choose the first bad thing that happened to our characters. Make a list and allow them to squirm. As a writer, you don’t want the reader to guess the ending before they arrive there.

Have you experienced any of Steven James’ Patrick Bower’s series? If so, what is your favorite book of the series? Have you ever studied a book so much that you have marked up your copy of their book in order to improve your own personal writing?