Power Up Your Fiction: 125 Tips and Techniques for Next-Level Writing

by James Scott Bell

Competent fiction is not enough.

Today, if you want to make fiction a career, your writing has to have that added “something” that turns browsers into readers and readers into fans.

This book will show you how to do it. In a practical, easy-to-understand style, #1 bestselling writing teacher James Scott Bell offers a packed tool chest of “extras”— tips and techniques that will kick your fiction into higher gear. Such

Plotting for pantsers, and pantsing for plotters.A trick to get you through Act 2.How to craft memorable secondary characters (the “spice” of fiction).The 3 types of opening lines.How to transition from scene to scene.3 easy ways to strengthen a scene.The right use of flashbacks.How to write a fight scene.Dialogue as action.How to freshen details.A checklist for revision.Plus, never-before-published entries from Bell’s personal writing notebook, full of craft secrets he discovered or developed over 30 years of writing and teaching.

“I expect Jim’s teaching to inform my writing for years.” – Jerry B. Jenkins, 7-time #1 New York Times bestselling writer.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2023

About the author

Jim is a former trial lawyer who now writes and speaks full time. He is the bestselling author of Try Dying, No Legal Grounds, Presumed Guilty, Glimpses of Paradise, Breach of Promise and several other thrillers. He is a winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Inspirational Fiction, and was a fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine. He has written two books in the Writers' Digest series, Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure and Revision & Self-Editing.

Jim has taught writing at Pepperdine University and numerous writers conferences. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where he studied writing with Raymond Carver.

Series:
* Shannon Saga (with Tracie Peterson)
* The Trials of Kit Shannon
* Ty Buchanan

Reviews

[Jessica DeLand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. It would be great if you’ve never read any of Bell’s previous books on writing, but as someone who’s read several, this book was worthless. I was really looking forward to reading it even, but honestly, it doesn’t say anything that I didn’t already know, isn’t just common knowledge, or hadn’t been in one of his other books already. And I mean that literally. There are actual whole sections lifted word for word out of his other books and pasted into this one without attribution.

So my advice? Don’t waste your time. Instead of this random, rambling collection of disjointed advice that often had me scratching my head and wondering, “Okay, but so what?”, you’d do better to read his Plot and Structure and Super Structure books instead.

[Dallas Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Using an upbeat, chatty style, the author provides a heap of helpful tricks to getting a novel written and hopefully published. Once I’ve finished this review I will be opening my Notes and jotting down all the best bits. A highly recommended book.

[Aimee Nicole Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent advice for all writers, regardless of their experience or success.

[Jac Filer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful reference

I've read several JSB books on writing craft, and like the others, this one did not disappoint. This book doesn't go in depth on any one topic, but it does exactly what the title says it does.

With bites sized pieces of wisdom and encouragement, this book is best experienced in small but regular doses. I'll have this book going on repeat, either with an entry or two per day or a section by section refresher that coincides with different stages of my own writing projects.

[Susan Anderson Misey · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS! What a shot in the arm for any fiction writer in need of a reminder of why you love what you do. Great strategies and tips--many so fresh I can't wait to try them out. James Scott Bell is a writer's writer whose hard-earned wisdom, long-term study, and true dedication to the craft is such a gift to the rest of us in the trenches. Loved the format, too--a look inside the man's own, personal craft notebooks.

[Dave Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great book with many really important tips and techniques for novel writers. I gained a tremendous amount of guidance from this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Reading it has already helped me as I work on re-editing and refining my novel. The author's wisdom is impressive and his sense of humor makes it a delight to read. If you're a writer or you want to be one, I highly recommend this book.

[Alice Aagaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let læst og underholdende bog med mange gode skrivetips. Også om emner, man ikke normalt støder på i "skrivebøger": om synopsis, skriverutiner, citater forrest i bøger, brug af synonymordbog, mind mapping ect.

Det trækker lidt ned, at trykket (især bogens billeder) er i dårlig kvalitet. At der er (for) mange filmhenvisninger. Samt links a la "læs mere her", som man jo ikke kan trykke på, da det er en papirbog. 🙂

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't have paid for this, but it was worth skimming over in Kindle Unlimited. It feels like (and maybe is?) a bunch of unedited blog posts, which means there's quite a bit of repetition and no real throughline. The information is pretty basic if you've read a bunch of craft books, but it's handy to be reminded of the tried-and-true.

[Madeline van Batum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating: 4.25
Writing: 5/5 - Enjoyment: 4/5- Knowledgeable: 5/5- Gain: 3/5- Total: 17/20
This would be a great first book for someone looking to read Bell’s writing help books. But it contains mostly info from all of his other books, which I found to be a good refresher. There’s not a lot of info to take away if you’ve already read the other stuff.

[Gwyn Haller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first writing craft book i purchased.

The first writing craft book I ever purchased was by j
James Scott Bell. Boy, was that paperback highlighted, marginal notes, I bought the same book about ten years later. My skills had improved and this time I got different tips, skills. So far, Write from the Middle and this one, Power up your Fiction might be my favorites.

[Steve Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I have read many of Mr. Bell's novels and writing how-to books and I enjoyed reading this one. The takeaways are worth remembering and applying to improve my writing. Thanks to Mr. Bell for another great read.

[Michelle Cornish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal resource for writers!

I have read a lot of craft books, yet this one is full of advice I haven't seen anywhere else! Comprehensive and full of excellent examples. Highly recommended!

[Joy Perrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good condensed review

I love James Scott Bell's writing craft books. This one summarizes a lot very quickly. Great for a short refresher to read before writing. It gets the creative juices flowing.

[Deb Gardner Allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super good book on writing. James Scott Bell gets to the point in each chapter and gives writing tips that will help our books do well. I highly recommend this book! I actually read this book in less than a week but forgot to write a review.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. I picked up many tips to improve my writing skills. I recommend for all writers.

[Drew Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid craft book, but if you've read any of Bell's other craft books, you've read this one. Great content, but a lot of it is recycled.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, Mr. Bell did not disappoint with this helpful book. If you follow his methods and instruction, you can become a best-selling author!

[Susan Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing tips presented with an enjoyable sense of humor.

[Raymond Paquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas and interesting takes on the writing process. I can see myself doing some of what he said and ignoring others.

[Caron · Rating 5 out of 5]

great

The author gave some great information. If the examples had been more contemporary, it would have been a 6 star.

[Ben Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful!

So many great nuggets of advice and actionable writing tips to improve my WIP. I’ve learned so much from his books!