Official Review: Creating Stories by Hank Quense

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 29 Jan 2018, 06:19

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Creating Stories" by Hank Quense.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Have you ever tried writing a story while your mind is dictating you to do so? How about believing that its outcome will be your best story, but you ran out of gas after a thousand words or two? What stops the story from moving forward? What happened? Where is the great story you thought, you had?

Creating Stories by Hank Quense is a nonfiction book that simplifies the mind-boggling concept of creating a gripping read that would linger in the minds of the readers. It is published by Strange Worlds Publishing. Its 135 standard pages, 250 words per page, 78 page turns on a Kindle, are fully packed with all the myriad of details revolving around creating stories, including the advantages of planning.

Hank Quense breaks down every chunks of details i.e. characters, plot events, setting, scene locations and a myriad of other topics, into little bites. I agree with the author when he says, "If you don't plan your story beforehand, sooner or later you'll have to stop writing to search for ideas." His systematic way of creating stories keep track of every details to keep the aspiring writers focused and not stray, both from the author and the characters limitations.

He includes graphics and tabulations, encourages to follow his templates, suggests useful sites for world-building, and most of all recommends an app where writers can store all data in one place. The author tackles an Empty Word Test in this book and asks follow up questions that will determine wether to keep or to discard some words. This book is worth reading. I experience "aha!" moments while flipping the pages.

I like a few quotes from this book. Here's one of them: "Humor doesn't come from mocking a character's disabilities or deformities. Humor comes from oddball behavior caused by bizarre inner characteristics in one or more of the story's characters, not through their physical appearances." The way Hank Quense creates the images in the reader's mind by not directly mentioning the flaws is superb. Just imagine how the Wyrd sisters look, with their tent-sized robes and the panicky reaction of men when they meet the sisters.

Misplaced "scene goal graphic", and "plot events and emotional arcs chart" cause random blank spaces. I found a few presence of punctuation and grammatical errors which made me rate Creating Stories by Hank Quense, 3 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to the audience who knows how to read and has passion in writing manuscripts, short stories and novels. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

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Creating Stories
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Sahani Nimandra · Post by **Sahani Nimandra** » 04 Feb 2018, 06:47

I believe you can get a list of insightful details through this book, seems its a good book for us even to get points and improve our ways of writing skills. Thanks!

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 04 Feb 2018, 07:09

Sahani Nimandra wrote: ↑04 Feb 2018, 06:47 I believe you can get a list of insightful details through this book, seems its a good book for us even to get points and improve our ways of writing skills. Thanks!

Thank you for leaving a kind comment. Yes, I agree. All of us can benefit the knowledge, the author had shared in this book.

Post by **kandscreeley** » 04 Feb 2018, 08:45

This is one book I would love to try. I have always wanted to write a story. These templates might be the perfect thing to plan everything out. Thanks for the review.

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 04 Feb 2018, 09:23

kandscreeley wrote: ↑04 Feb 2018, 08:45 This is one book I would love to try. I have always wanted to write a story. These templates might be the perfect thing to plan everything out. Thanks for the review.

Giving this book a try, to achieve your goal in creating a gripping read, will not let you down. Having all the details tabulated will keep you on track.

Rosariolara · Post by **Rosariolara** » 06 Feb 2018, 19:58

This book sounds very interesting. I would definitely would like to try since I love writing stories it will help me out to improve.

Rosariolara · Post by **Rosariolara** » 06 Feb 2018, 19:58

This book sounds very interesting. I would definitely would like to try since I love writing stories it will help me out to improve.

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 07 Feb 2018, 01:09

Rosariolara wrote: ↑06 Feb 2018, 19:58 This book sounds very interesting. I would definitely would like to try since I love writing stories it will help me out to improve.

Try it. You won't regret.

Manang Muyang · Post by **Manang Muyang** » 09 Feb 2018, 06:01

Hi, Inday! I would like to experience this book. It seems to be short and sweet and comes from an award-winning author, too. Hopefully, I will be able to create a worthwhile story with it.

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 09 Feb 2018, 06:46

Miriam Molina wrote: ↑09 Feb 2018, 06:01 Hi, Inday! I would like to experience this book. It seems to be short and sweet and comes from an award-winning author, too. Hopefully, I will be able to create a worthwhile story with it.

Give it a shot!

I can't wait to read your story. I'll be your number one fan. ^_^

CommMayo · Post by **CommMayo** » 14 Feb 2018, 17:49

Seems kind of counter-intuitive to take writing advice from someone who has typos and grammatical issues in their book about writing...but you know how I feel about proper punctuation!

Dolor · Post by **Dolor** » 14 Feb 2018, 18:09

CommMayo wrote: ↑14 Feb 2018, 17:49 Seems kind of counter-intuitive to take writing advice from someone who has typos and grammatical issues in their book about writing...but you know how I feel about proper punctuation!

There you go again. Perhaps, you have not read my reply when you pointed out an official review of a book of the day where the author replied on the first comment.

Here's a reply from Hank Quense in this book:
The fact is, editors and publishers don't buy stories because they are well-written. Editors and publishers buy stories that have superior story design and utilize storytelling techniques. If that story also happens to be well-written, that is a bonus, but it won't enter into the “buy” decision.

CommMayo · Post by **CommMayo** » 14 Feb 2018, 21:12

Touché

CommMayo · Post by **CommMayo** » 16 Feb 2018, 12:18

Dolor wrote: ↑14 Feb 2018, 18:09
CommMayo wrote: ↑14 Feb 2018, 17:49 Seems kind of counter-intuitive to take writing advice from someone who has typos and grammatical issues in their book about writing...but you know how I feel about proper punctuation!
There you go again. Perhaps, you have not read my reply when you pointed out an official review of a book of the day where the author replied on the first comment.

Here's a reply from Hank Quense in this book:
The fact is, editors and publishers don't buy stories because they are well-written. Editors and publishers buy stories that have superior story design and utilize storytelling techniques. If that story also happens to be well-written, that is a bonus, but it won't enter into the “buy” decision.

I just had a new review posted on a book that hits none of those requirements. I actually suggested the the person just hire a ghost writer if they wanted to sell their book

Ashiyya Tariq · Post by **Ashiyya Tariq** » 18 Feb 2018, 13:12

I think "Creating Stories" would be helpful for writers and this book offers many valuable advises. Thanks for your comprehensive review. Feel free to check out mine.