Review: The Marshall Plan® book and program

The Marshall Plan® is a book (e-book in my case) and a computer program that helps you write a novel. It’s for the kind of people who say to themselves, “Hey, I’m creative, I’m a pretty good writer, I want to write a book… but I don’t know what I want to write or how to start writing it.” It’s for the people who want to write because they want to be a writer, not for the people who want to write because they have a specific story in mind. 

With that in mind, it didn’t help me one bit.

I’m the kind of person who says “Oh my goodness… what if… and then… oh my! I have to get to a computer NOW!” See, that’s me.

So when I opened up the e-book and started reading, I didn’t see anything I didn’t already know. When I went through the “decide your genre” thing, I kept thinking “but I already know…” When I started using the program with a testing-this-out kind of mindset, I found it very restricting and limiting… like I was going context to content instead of the other way around.

Here’s basically how it works.

You pick a character. You pick an enemy. You pick their love object, you figure out everyone’s personality, you decide on their pasts and their goals and the main plot.

Then you follow the outline the program gives you, based on how many words. It might say something like:

“Action: Alexandrovna Victora: main story line: crisis”

and you start writing your book, knowing you’re supposed to introduce the crisis. Then, later,

“Action: Jacob Clarke: start Jacob Clarke's story line” and “Action: Alexandrovna Victora: Alexandrovna Victora's romantic subplot”

So you write that part.

Basically, you’re following a pre-set outline, and the outline changes based on how many words you aim for.

Again, I’m the kind of person who starts writing because I have an idea. The idea grows in my mind and I find out the plot the same way the reader does… one word at a time. The characters tell me what to do. So this pushing the story into an outline thing wasn’t any good for me personally.

However, if you’re someone who wants to write a book, or has a basic idea or some characters and doesn’t know where to turn, how to start, or what happens, this is perfect for you. If you’re a fan and loyal NaNoWriMo-er, this is DEFINATELY for you!

But if you’ve got your idea and you just don’t quite know where or how to start… my only suggestion is pick up a journal and start writing your characters thoughts.

To learn more about The Marshall Plan®, click here.

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