I’m such a sucker for writing craft books! I appreciate everything that K. M. Weiland puts into the world, so when her new book came out, I grabbed it. I’d never seen a plotting book that focused heavily on chiastic structure. That’s what sold me.

Chiastic structure is an age-old technique that I recognized from the Bible, but it spans a range of literary traditions over time. It’s where the first half of the story mirrors the second half in such a way that the book has a pleasing symmetry, and the story feels complete. The midpoint, as the mirror moment (made popular by James Scott Bell) has no pair but instead mirrors itself.

I was surprised to read about how each of the plot points has a chiastic structure within itself, and how scenes have a type of symmetry to them as well. It’s helpful to look at structure like this, as a series of questions and answers or openings and closings.

This book could be a tad more relatable and the writing jazzier, but Weiland does insert a good amount of her personality into the text.

One day, I will write a novel and pour all of my knowledge into it…just kidding! For now, at least, I will just read writing craft books like the junkie I am.