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I Have Thoughts About This Writing Advice…

Lisa Siefert | Cozy Mysteries

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Buy it here https://link.amazon/B02AcPHlm

Is Make Your Story Matter by Abbie Emmons worth reading? In this honest book review, I’m breaking down what I liked, what I didn’t, and whether I think Make Your Story Matter is actually useful for fiction writers trying to write stronger, more emotionally compelling stories.

Abbie Emmons is known for her writing advice on storytelling, character development, story structure, and creating stories that connect emotionally with readers. Her book Make Your Story Matter: An Interactive Guide to Unlocking Your Brain’s Storytelling Power and Writing a Book Readers Love promises a hands-on approach to developing meaningful stories—but how well does that advice work in practice?

As a published fiction author, I wanted to look at the book from a working writer’s perspective. In this review, I’ll share the ideas I found most helpful, where I think the book shines, what I questioned or disagreed with, and who I think will get the most value from it.

If you’re an aspiring author, fiction writer, novelist, or fan of Abbie Emmons’ writing advice and you’re wondering whether Make Your Story Matter is worth buying, this review is for you.

📚 In this video:
• Make Your Story Matter review
• My thoughts on Abbie Emmons’ writing advice
• The best lessons from the book
• What I agreed—and disagreed—with
• Who this writing book is best for
• Whether I recommend it to fiction writers
• Is Make Your Story Matter worth the money?

💬 Have you read Make Your Story Matter? Tell me in the comments what you thought of it—and whether Abbie’s storytelling methods work for your writing process.

Subscribe for more writing advice, author experiments, writing-tool reviews, book reviews for writers, AI for authors, and behind-the-scenes looks at the writing and publishing process.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:45 Point 1 | Is this book for Plotters or Pantsers?
1:33 Point 2 | It feels like I ALREADY read this because it was previously written by Cathy Yardley in Rock Your Plot
3:05 Point 3 | Examples in the book I hated
4:10 Point 4 | Was the workbook worth it
4:45 Point 5 | Is her paid membership Story University Worth $45 per month
6:30 Final Verdict
6:52 Did I like it?
7:10 Recap

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20 Comments

@HarperHolmquist 2 weeks ago

As a pantser, this book actually helped me out of a writing rut I had been stuck in for months. I think for larger scale stories such as my WIP require a bit of plotting and Abbie really presented a fun easy way to go about it and fall in love with writing again. Of course this is just my own experience, but I loved the process and would highly recommend Make Your Story Matter for plotters and pantsers alike. As for story university, Im not a member because im super broke, but i think there is more than enough value in the free YouTube videos without a monthly subscription. Thanks for your review, I enjoyed it!! <3

@courtneymiller2768 2 weeks ago

I’m part of story university and she does trainings each month in there and live calls that are not on YouTube for free
So it’s worth it for me

@beccacoffindaffer 2 weeks ago

I really appreciate this video because I've been super curious about this book based on what I've seen in her videos

@paulapoetry 2 weeks ago

Great video. Abbie does use examples from her own novels throughout, mainly The Other World. I have read her novels, but it would be hard to follow otherwise. She also uses her sister's book as an example, which I haven't read, and overall, it could come across as self-promoting and plugging her sister's work. I sort of agree with you regarding examples such as Pride and Prejudice, but the positive aspect there is simply that most people relate because we all know the stories. Save The Cat Writes a Novel made me feel that I hadn't actually read that many novels, based upon the examples, which is far from true, but not much overlap between my reading history and that of the author...! In terms of the book by Abbie, I find it theoretically interesting, but won't follow the advice step by step. I just like to absorb the information. Her videos are awesome, but I agree that there is enough free content there, and I don't really understand about the paying option, unless people just really want to support Abbie out of love.

@kotrena 2 weeks ago

Thank you so much for your Rock Your Plot recommendation! I haven't heard of this book and i should definitely check it out

@aubriannecarpitcher-lz1ej 2 weeks ago

I love her live streams, and I have watched her videos on the book. Personally, I am more of a pantser, and her writing advice is a bit too structured for me, but I love her live streams; they are very helpful

@lauriegermaine6506 2 weeks ago

There is content Abbie offers that is not for free, but it is behind a paywall, so one might not be able to see it being offered if one is not a paying customer.

I did pre-order this book, and am slowly making my way through it. Slowly, since I finally have a good writing momentum going and would rather write than read about writing. That said, I did skip over a lot of fluff in the beginning couple of chapters. And I continue to skip over all the examples from her book, The Otherworld, since 1. I haven’t read it, and 2. Even if I had read it, how does seeing her flesh out her characters—which were already done long ago (how long had it REALLY taken her to figure them out?!)—help me in fleshing out mine?
Also, while I do love the fact she emphasizes that most stories (she might argue all stories) are ultimately about the characters, she tells us to take our theme and flip it on its head to figure out the false belief. Well, many writers DON’T start with the theme. For many of us, the theme doesn’t finally become clear until later drafts. So it doesn’t help me in. the. least. to be told to start with a theme when I don’t know it yet.
We’ll see how far into this book I actually get. I hv found over the 2 1/2 decades that I’ve been writing that the shorter books on the writing craft pack way more of a punch than the longer ones. I still return to James Scott Bell’s Write Your Novel From the Middle when first trying to figure out the bare bones of a new story. I love Marcy Kennedy’s books on description and showing vs. telling. Love Janice Hardy’s book on the latter, as well. Excellent for novice and expert writers alike.

@chriswildfire 2 weeks ago

I prefer shorter content too my time is too short. I need it for writing my my book and I do like STC.

@CatLadyLaura 2 weeks ago

Thanks so much for the review!! I expected the book would be a lot of info from her videos. (Nothing wrong with that!) Thanks for your feedback ❤

@clyde.dl.spyvey 2 weeks ago

Thank you for this video. Though I am a huge Abbie Emmons fan and I have read her new Make Your Story Matter book, I like this objective, alternative point of view from your video. I haven't heard of Rock Your Plot, so I will definitely check it out.😁

I too hate the Save the Cat structure and I consider myself a plottser that leans 60% pantser, 40% plotter. Abbie is a 150% plotter, so her book is perfect for that group. I like her style of instructing otherwise and take valuable information I find from her and adapt it to my style.

I liked her book and found it helpful (just my opinion). But I do agree with you that if you're a 100% pantser, her book may not be for you. For a true pantser you may feel very pigeonholed by the advice she gives. If you're in between plotter and pantser then there's some value to her book but mainly her channel is where you'll get the most value.

Oh and I just subscribed to your channel as well 😁

@yasai22 2 weeks ago

I think the review might be a little strict since you don't need to actually use every writing technique but understand why she use it. Also the University include 20$ livestreams. So if you already enjoy the free content you might be happy to pay just to get extra knowledge on specific content.

@seriousmaran9414 2 weeks ago

I started off with a character, a location and some background. No plan except for "epic ending at some point" and a word count of 100,000 words plus. I managed it. The ending was 'epic' and totally unexpected. Had I planned it I would not have got that ending. That became my first draft.

Then I found it fit 'save the cat' almost perfectly. I previously had no idea what 'save the cat' was. A constant series of escalation and some failures.

This book is interesting, but obviously not intended for me.

@wh0wh4t 2 weeks ago (edited)

Rock your plot. Never heard of it. Interesting. It looks like an adapted Seven-Point Plot Structure (popularized by Dan Wells). It even uses the same labels. I have usually adapted Dan's structure similarly: adding an explicit Inciting incident and Dark moment.

@coffeecreateconnect 2 weeks ago

Great video. Subscribed ✅

@amy-suewisniewski6451 2 weeks ago

Honestly, if I have to pay for a course on top of paying for a craft book then I think you're doing it wrong.

@EmyCustodio 13 days ago

1:46 that's literally the three act structure, neither Abby or Cathy invented these story beats, they are just teaching them

@diannebdee 2 weeks ago

None of these books are good for people like me who write historical fiction. The only one who I felt came close to being whatI I needed is Ken Follett Rules-Based Architecture for Historical Fiction. These YA authors think people are desperate amd need to pay oodles of money better authors gave for free.

@AlythCorriganCallahan 13 days ago

I'm a low- income South African (I make R500 a month/ USD 30.76) and I physically can not justify subscribing to her story university. One month is literally more than what I earn monthly. I'm not saying that she does not deserve money for her work, everyone deserves to be be paid fairly for their time, I'm just annoyed that specific questions I have might be behind a wall I can not access.