Madison Smartt Bell

With clarity, verve, and the sure instincts of a good teacher, Madison Smartt Bell offers a roll-up-your-sleeves approach to writing in this much-needed book.

Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form

Narrative Design

Nelson Zagalo

I knew exactly what this book was about when I bought it, however it felt a bit short for me. Bell knows how difficult it is to teach expression through any art form, so he tried a different approach. He gathered short stories from students and others, presented them in full, and then deconstructed them completely in the categories he defined to be the core of Narrative Design.

I really loved the first chapters, where Bell introduces his concepts and ideas about narrative design, which I would put more clearly as story building, and I'm really thankful for the the new concept he presents to define non-linear stories, as modular. I'm a formalist, I really enjoyed his approach through form and structure, but then I wanted more. Bell deconstructs all these stories in the categories he previously defined, but I, as an academic, was expecting some kind of pattern analysis, kind of technical extractions from the overall stories, some more in depth perspective on all that deconstruction. 

My goal in reading this book was not to learn how to write better stories, but how to define better the creative process behind narrative building. And so I understand that I'm probably not the target Bell had in his mind.

Narrative Design Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form

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