This Year You Write Your Novel

published	April 3rd 2007 by Little, Brown and Company
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0316065412 (isbn13: 9780316065412)
pages	112
description	No more excuses. "Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. Anyone can write a...more [close] No more excuses. "Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. Anyone can write a novel now, and in this essential book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Walter Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish it in one year. Intended as both inspiration and instruction, the book provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer. Mosley tells how to: - Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer's needs--and how to stick to it. - Determine the narrative voice that's right for every writer's style. - Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story. [close]
date added	03-01-07 edit book

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Karen rated it:

04/19/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: Someone who wants to write but has no clue where to start

Listening to the "Writers on Writing" podcast (which I highly recommend), I've learned that it's far easier and generally more profitable to sell a non-fiction book proposal than a novel. Perhaps that's why so many writers of fiction come out with "how-to-write" books like this one. Or perhaps I'm being cynical since I have a shelf full of writing books.

I listed to an interview with the author on the WOW podcast and it sounded different than other writing books. But,...more Listening to the "Writers on Writing" podcast (which I highly recommend), I've learned that it's far easier and generally more profitable to sell a non-fiction book proposal than a novel. Perhaps that's why so many writers of fiction come out with "how-to-write" books like this one. Or perhaps I'm being cynical since I have a shelf full of writing books.

I listed to an interview with the author on the WOW podcast and it sounded different than other writing books. But, as I'm now at the half-way point, I would have to say it's typical of the genre. It's a quick read at just over 100 pages, I'm half-way through in one sitting. And it probably covers, in a very brief overview, the basics someone would need to know to get started on a first project if he or she has never written before, or read any other book on fiction writing, or taken any creative writing classes. Since I've done all three, and have the embarrassing drafts of past projects living in the drawer (where they belong and shall remain) to prove it, this particular book has little to offer me.

It's not as motivating as "Bird by Bird" or "Walking on Alligators" or "Writing Down the Bones." It is far less technically useful than "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers." In fact, this book's brief examples of "good writing" frequently glow in a lovely shade of purple prose. And although the author says writing every single day for an hour and a half or more is mandatory, he offers no help for figuring out how to accomplish this feat. As a harried mom of two infuriatingly adorable distractions, I've found "Pen on Fire" a much better guide to the writing life, because it acknowledges the truth that women writers actually have lives, lives that do not consent to being put on hold for hours at a time. She teaches writing in 15 minute segments -- basically write any chance you get, even if you may be interrupted and you don't have time to finish (I've written this review in less than that time while my youngest reason for neglecting my writing naps on my lap).

If there's anyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, but doesn't know where to start and would like a guide that you can get through in about an afternoon, you're welcome to my copy of this book. After this, however, you'll probably want to check out the other books mentioned in my review.

*Note: no children were harmed in the writing of this review. References to a writers, ahem, "art" as more important that the living, loving, needing, people in her life were intended as scarcasm, although that it how most books on writing seem to treat them....less

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Rob rated it:

04/12/08

bookshelves: writing

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: aspiring prose pushers (e.g., John)

Somewhere out there is a handbook for writing and the writer's lifestyle; this is more like the "Quick Start Guide" falls out of the box. But if This Year You Write Your Novel is the Quick Start Guide of the writer's lifestyle then Writing Down The Bones is the in-depth, O'Reilly-published "Missing Manual".

I did not like Walter Mosley's bo...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

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