The Marshall Plan software is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
writing software to assist in the technical aspects of novel writing. The software automatically plots a novel based on literary agent
Evan Marshall's novel writing system in his three-book series,
[Eden, Deidre A.]
"Interview With Literary Agent Evan Marshall"
A Storybook World, April, 2011. ''The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing: A 16-Step Program Guaranteed to Take You From Idea to Completed Manuscript,''
[Evan Marshall]
The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing: A 16-Step Program Guaranteed to Take You From Idea to Completed Manuscript.
Writer's Digest Books, 1998. ''The Marshall Plan Workbook,''
[Evan Marshall]
The Marshall Plan Workbook: Writing Your Novel From Start to Finish
Writer's Digest Books, 2001. and ''The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published.''
[Evan Marshall]
The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published: 87 strategies and techniques for selling your fiction
Writer's Digest Books, 2003. Marshall Plan software is published by Evan Marshall
[White, Claire E]
"A Conversation With Evan Marshall"
Writers Write: the Internet Writing Journal, September 1999. and Martha Jewett, literary agent and consultant.
[The Marshall Plan, Novel Writing Software Creators]
Martha Jewett
[Kathleen Bolton]
Author Interview: Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett, The Marshall Plan® part 2
October 8, 2010.
Background
Evan Marshall was a correspondent for ''
Writer's Digest'' and covered commercial fiction. He wrote cover stories on novels
[Evan Marshall, "How to Write Blockbuster Novels," ''Writer's Digest,'' October, 1986, 30-33.][Evan Marshall, "Six Classic Elements of the Bestseller," ''Writer's Digest,'' November 1988, 28-32.] and how to find and work with agents.
[Evan Marshall, "Guide to Agents," ''Writer's Digest,'' September 1989, 22-25.] Marshall's articles appeared in reference anthologies and collected works.
["Producing a Knockout Novel Synopsis" in Meg Leder and Jack Heffron, eds]
The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing
Writer's Digest Books, F&W Publications, Cincinnati, OH, 2002.["How to Write Blockbuster Novels," reprinted in Thomas Clark, ed]
The Writer's Digest to Good Writing
Writer's Digest Books, F&W Publications, Cincinnati, OH, 1994. He is often interviewed for his expertise in novel writing, and helping novel writers.
[Jennifer Mattern]
Novel Writing: An Interview with Evan Marshall
All FreeLance Writing, April 29, 2009.[Jeff Rivera]
Lit Agent, Evan Marshall Hates When Writers...
AdWeek, April 15, 2010.
Marshall and Jewett own the trademark The Marshall Plan® for software. After several unsuccessful attempts at working with developers, he took computer programming classes at
County College of Morris and created the first version of The Marshall Plan software. Professional developers from LogicalVue Software and BKeeney Software, Inc., programmed subsequent versions.
Book Series
The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing
The first book in the series describes novel writing as a 16-step process, taking the novel's intended finished length into account from the beginning. Marshall focuses specifically on
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
, identifying it as the writing genre most likely to be picked up by a publisher. Drawing from
Dwight V. Swain and
Jack Bickham
Jack Miles Bickham (September 2, 1930 – July 25, 1997) was an American author who wrote 75 published novels, of which two were made into movies, ''The Apple Dumpling Gang'' and '' Baker's Hawk''.
Life
Jack Bickham was born September 2, 193 ...
's techniques, Marshall identifies two core plotting units: the action section and the reaction section.
[Jim Jackson]
The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing
January 8, 2011. Marshall recommends the number, and the type of action and reaction sections in relation to a novel's length. He also recommends the corresponding story arc with plot points all in a specific order, the number and type of viewpoint characters, the type of opposition, and other elements of plot and character development.
The Marshall Plan Workbook
The second book in the series concentrates on the fundamental details of producing a novel. The first half of the book assists the writer in building characters, developing plot and setting goals. The second half is the ''Plan Blueprint,'' a 58-page section of fill-in-the-blank sheets to help writers produce a novel. The marketing information included focuses on the manuscript itself, how it should look, how many pages, paper weight, etc.
The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published
The third book in the series focuses on how to take the next step of sending work to editors and agents, and promoting a novel.
Software Features
NovelCreator™ integrates character development, viewpoint writing, and scene-by-scene plotting within a flexible novel structure. The Marshall Plan story engine creates a novel outline with a click, which the user can customize to their specifications (change the novel's story arc, viewpoint characters, roles, scenes, word length, genre, plot points, and more). Users can also start a novel by creating an outline to their own specifications. The novel outline has moveable scene cards with a complete story arc with scene-by-scene plot points. Other features include novel writing and
plotting guidance, a
word processor, career guidance, advice on technical aspects of novel writing like
character development,
story arc and development,
[Arthur Gutch]
5 Novel Writing Software Tools to Up Your Game
Infinity Publishing, January 16,
2016. viewpoint and main characters, sections, a name dictionary and 138 genres.
External links
Official Website
The Evan Marshall Agency
References
2008 software
MacOS text-related software
Windows text-related software
2010 software