This book is based on the concept that everything we do in live is planned and young or old alike wanting to venture into writing fiction are no exception. It is comprised of four parts: Finding; Creating; Writing and Revising, the most important being the first wherein the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme serves as a starting point assigning characters to populate the story and imagining their interactions. In a few pages, it shows how to develop a plan involving ten characters and make a determination of a crucial scene and a climatic event that will lead to the final resolution of the story problem and resolve the characters’ conflicts. The rest of the book expands on this concept, includes other examples, writing instruction, and ends with a detailed appendix written by a student who followed the procedure. She developed a character-driven plot by identifying four main characters, their strengths, weaknesses, conflicts and problems, with a pathway to a defined end. She was then ready to put her imagination to work, writing her story without wasteful floundering about hoping to find her way. She knew from the beginning where she was going and how to get there. In essence, she imagined the story before she began.

Your book sounds like a great resource for aspiring authors.

Your book sounds interesting. When I started writing, which was well before the Internet, even before word processors (I learned to type on a manual Royal office model), I assembled my own personal vade mecum. It was (1) A good dictionary (I used the "Webster's New Collegiate"), (2) "Roget's Thesaurus," (3) "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," and (4) the "King James Bible" (specifically for its archaic and poetic language). I still have all four books, though not the same physical copies I first bought.

Thanks for inspiring this trip down memory lane.