There are a great number of good things about the book. I like the concepts and learned a good bit. Alderson has a "new age" approach and I think it's excellent. I read the first few chapters of this book (it's not very long and a pretty quick read.) but I started to feel like the book was a little...smothering? I started feeling like all my creativity was leaking away I decided to take a break. I almost went back to finish it, and one day I might, but it was due at the library and I didn't want to renew.

Overall I think this a good book and helpful in many ways. I was looking for something to help motivate/inspire me and this was more a discussion of the nuts and bolts. I think I'm going to check out "Stephen King's On Writing" and "War on Art" instead.

A little bit too preachy. Inspirational, I guess, but it is light on actual techniques and heavy on writing to a formula and personal encouragement.

This book is just exactly what I needed, when I needed it. It is excellent advice on every practical level. I plan to read it again or at least use it as a frequent reference as I sort out the plot of my book. I would recommend it to anyone who is writing a book or who plans to.

The only complaint I have is that the author uses only female pronouns when referring to a protagonist, which feels jarring and unnatural. This is consistent throughout the book. It's a small thing in comparison to the value of the tools the author provides, however.

Like a lot of "how-to-write" books, The Plot Whisperer is a well-written and well-intention book that breaks down the fundamentals of story structure. But the age-old adage of the road to hell is paved with good intentions applies at times to this book. Martha Alderson bombards you with a lot of hacky New Age-jargon and an overly strict, overly reliant emphasis on story structure that feels more like work than actual writing.

There's nothing really wrong with this book, per se. It's simply overwhelming at times. I admire Martha Alderson for what she's accomplished and what she's taking on her, but she does come across as an overly-talky guru that spends way too much time talking theory, and not enough time getting you, the writer, to do the practical nuts-and-bolts things that make you a better writer. It's like the hitting coach that spends hours and hours and hours talking theory, and tinkering and tinkering and tinkering with your swing. Your head is filled with all kinds of ideas that are pulling you into a thousand directions, which is bad, and your mechanics are totally off. Sometimes, all you need to know is "see the ball, hit the ball."

Okay, forgive the baseball analogy.

My point is, sometimes, you just need to write the damn thing. If The Plot Whisperer helped you (and I did glean some tips), then three cheers for Martha Alderson. But a lot of writers would be better served if this book didn't come across as something akin to the manual to an air conditioner.

Very informative and helpful. It helped me with my writing a bit.

Been reading The Plot Whisperer during this NaNoWriMo crazyness and it's proved a very helpful tool. I tried to go through each stage as I was reading and trying to organize my story with all the elements that need to be there. But I know this won't be the last time I'd be reading it. It's one of these books you read and reread once and again and each time you find new things to work on your story.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it within one day. I really liked the way this book is structured. Next onto using the companion workbook.

If I wasn't such a pantser, I probably would have liked this book. But the idea of shoehorning a story into the Universal Story bothered me. Why bother reading the middle if the good stuff is at the beginning and the end?

A lot better than I expected. Being a writer who hates plotting, I was surprised how simple and engaging this book made plotting. I learned a lot. I didn't like some of the metaphysical things that were discussed, like releasing energy or something. It was kind of New Age maybe--I'm not even sure. It was just confusing and I didn't really get the point of those parts.