The Weekend Novelist

by Robert J. Ray, Bret Norris

Who doesn't dream of writing a novel while holding on to their day job? Robert J. Ray and co-author Bret Norris can help readers do just that, with this practical and accessible step-by-step guide to completing a novel in just a year's worth of weekends.

THE WEEKEND NOVELIST shows writers at all levels how to divide their writing time into weekend work sessions, and how to handle character, scene, and plot. This new, revised version is far more skills-based than its predecessor, and includes both classic and contemporary literature models, contains a sample Novel in Progress, and at the end offers readers the choice to rewrite their novel, draft a memoir, or turn their rough draft into a screenplay.

Readers for a decade have been instructed and inspired by THE WEEKEND NOVELIST.

This new edition will help many more strive to realize their writing potential.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Education, Crafts, Adult, Research

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Robert J. Ray is the author of the writing guide The Weekend Novelist and eight Matt Murdock mysteries, including Murdock Cracks Ice.

He has taught college literature, writing, and tennis. He lives in Seattle.

Reviews

[Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this book five stars because, in addition to the original edition of this book, it is the reason I made my first sale. Even if I hadn't, the technical craft of my writing has made leaps and bounds and it would only be a matter of time before I became published. It only makes me want to write more, and work the system again and again. I actually work the character development exercises first, then plot, but the system is easily adaptable to your writing needs. You can certain finish in way less than 52 weeks, or way more, but the heart of the matter is that the system STILL WORKS. For example, I actually used the program to write a novella, not a full-length novel, and the whole process took me three months. My novella will be published with Samhain Publishing in November 2011. I'm now using it for a second novella, as well as my full-length WIP.

I wish I could have given it ten stars. I can't recommend it more highly.

[Tchatchke · Rating 2 out of 5]

So 'The Weekend Novelist' has officially lost me. Besides choosing 'The Alchemist' as a main example, the authors wrote 'Readers love this kind of simplicity. They also like stories with happy endings...'

Wow. What a way to say 'Dumb down your writing to reach the LCD. And make sure not to make anyone uncomfortable for too long.'

Yeah. Ok. One could argue that Coelho's facile tripe-fest has sold a lot of copies. And I think that many people who buy 'How to Write Novels' books have ridiculous dreams of churning out some tat, getting an insane contract, selling film rights and living the sweet life. They want simple instructions in order to get to an easy payday. They don't really care about writing well. The problem is that writing a decent novel and assembling an Ikea bookcase are two very different activities.

The authors of this how-to book have also picked apart 'White Teeth', 'The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay', 'Amsterdam' and 'The Great Gatsby' then diagrammed the stories to create some sort of simple schematic. However, the schematic is too simple. They have given a budding writer all the tools to do a hack job. I suspect that the writers of these excellent books did not pick a plot type (of which there are two, according to these guys), pick an object, settle for clichéd characters...no. These writers found a theme, a premise, a subject, a problem, a person or a detail from life that interested them first. Then, each in their own way, they tackled their tales by building characters, creating conflict and not necessarily providing a happy ending. Is a double suicide of the two protagonists a happy ending?

The authors of 'The Weekend Novelist' manage to insult the writers they cite by oversimplifying the writing process. By diagramming these complex novels, the authors kind of insinuate that anyone can be Zadie Smith or Michael Chabon if they follow a formula. They also insult beginning writers by assuming that they want to copy other novelists.

This book doesn't even go into what a writer really needs: a keen eye for detail, knowing when to cut a word, making a character use an unexpected gesture. That has to come with practice and...reading good writers.

There is one useful tool in this book (Spinning Down the Page), but I am so turned off by the attitude that readers do not ever want to be challenged, I can't read this book and take it seriously at the same time.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has some good tools in it, but also, wow, stop telling me what to do

[Kimberly [Come Hither Books] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Weekend Novelist outlines a systematic, analytical approach to harnessing ideas and turning them into a novel. I thought that would suck the creativity right out of the process, but it manages to find a good balance.
Some of the sections weren't useful for me, particularly some of the character exercises. The plotting section, however, streamlined my path from idea to complete draft, and has completely changed my approach to writing. The section on chapter building was excellent too, and something I've never seen explained so clearly.

I recommend the Weekend Novelist for writers of novel length fiction, any genre, but with the caveat that it does require sticking with it to get the benefit. Some early exercises felt like a waste to me, but the genius of Weekend Novelist is in the way it builds systematically on itself, and gives you a blueprint to follow to do the same.

EDITION NOTE: This positive review is based upon the original first edition (the yellow cover with the typewriter). There is a later edition which adds several extra model novels, mucks up the organization, and generally makes the system unusable. One of the worst revisions I've ever seen, which takes a 4 star book and drops it down to a 1, so I only recommend Weekend Novelist for those interested enough to track down the first edition.

[Josette · Rating 4 out of 5]

My writing group and I read this over about five months. We read a chapter a week, trying to follow the advice the author gives for someone writing a novel in a year using only weekends. But we used the book a little differently. Many of us had already written a good part of our books and were using "The Weekend Novelist" as a way of helping us edit them.

The author has a lot of great ideas that I think are helpful. He suggests various ways of drawing diagrams as a way of planning out your story, and I enjoyed some of his suggestions for building back story.

Overall, I think it was worth the read. I'll use a lot of his suggestions in any other books I write or edit, so for me, that's a win.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good description of Robert Ray's specific style of outlining and writing. I picked up some really useful ideas but this probably wouldn't be a great book for beginners.

[Juneta Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many have called this a book for plotters. It is true. Some have said it is heavy on the structure in the writing, which is true.

BUT I consider myself a pantser in writing. I struggle with too much plotting. Plus I am definitely a "right brain dominant thinker" and have had to learn to make left brain thinking and approach stronger by practicing, learning how, techniques, and I still struggle. Check out right brain dominant learning style. http://www.funderstanding.com/brain/l...

This book has a section that uses mind mapping or diagrams in a unique way that appeals and thrills my "right brain" and made it Ooo, ahh, and PICTURE the plotting technique delivered with word pictures in the describing and word in picturesque word language that thrilled my pantser part too.

So right brain dominates and pansters I think you will get something out of this book if you do not let the structure talk overwhelm you. View with the picture of the mind and let the words he uses to make his points play like movies in your head. This made up for the heavy on structure and plot that overwhelms this right brain dominate learner. Which meant I learned a lot I can use in the reading. The language for me was very visual. I loved this book. I plan to read his other two books of a similar name because it inspired me.

For me, it was a fun read, helpful and excited my muse.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray's book is, bar none, the very best resource for the person who is just starting to write their first novel. The book takes as its premise that while you desire to write a novel, you also have a life that requires your attention, hence the title, the "weekend" novelist. Saturday and Sunday are spent working through the exercises in the book, writing sample chapters, and at the end of 52 weeks, lo and behold, you have a complete novel. I used this marvelous book as an aid to write my first novel I Hated Heaven and still use it regularly to sharpen my writing skills. Indespensable.

[Brad Huestis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second favorite craft book. Once you set aside the ridiculous’write a book in a year of weekends’ schedule this book is pure gold.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and my other reviews from this year can be found on my blog, drinkingandink.

Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge: A self-improvement book.

I struggled to find a book for this category. I can safely say it’s a genre I’ve never seriously investigated, and every one I peeked at with the reading challenge in mind made me want to vomit within a sentence or two. But recently I decided that the only thing required to qualify a book as a self-help book is that it imply that only following its recommendations to the letter can get you what you want. And hey, improving myself as a writer counts as self-improvement, don’t it?

I’ve been writing since I could, well, write, and I’ve had a strange relationship with books on writing since anyone asked me to read one. The first “how to do creative writing” book I encountered was Writing the Natural Way. It was for a community college writing class, I was 17, and I hated the book as only a smart, self-important teenager can hate a book. I’m pretty sure my professor was shocked that a how-to book on “unlocking the right brain” could arouse that amount of passion one way or the other. Looking back now, I’m pretty sure it was nowhere near as bad as I thought at the time. What I do remember is having the sense that the author was telling us that only through using her technique could we write successfully. Excuse me, lady, I’m pretty sure Jane Austen didn’t use fucking “clustering”! I don’t think so! I wasn’t old enough or wise enough to plumb the book for what could usefully be gotten out of it while taking some of the more absurd claims with a grain of salt. So, instead, I just really, really hated it.

So when I approached The Weekend Novelist it was with the lessons of Writing the Natural Way in mind. I flipped through it at the bookstore and said “oh! Writing exercises!” Those I like. Writing prompts, characters sketches, excellent. Even better, the book contains advice on plot structure, which I have always desperately needed. Characters I can do. Dialogue is fun. Plot kills me. Give me plot structure advice. I beg you.

I got advice on plot structure, and writing exercises, and examples from classic books. The examples were interesting: some of them went better because I was familiar with the book, others went worse because I was familiar with the book (my inner 17 year-old is insisting I mention that they clearly don’t understand Jane Eyre at all). Others just made me want to never, ever read the book they used as an example ( Amsterdam sounds like a book I would hate even worse than Writing the Natural Way). I’ve started working on some of the exercises and I see the value to them. I’m not going to do the ones that seem pointless (“write your character’s dream” might be good advice, but, no thanks). Yes, I had to ignore some “only our way will work” rhetoric, but not all that much. I definitely recommend this if you’re restarting your writing, prepping for National Novel Writing Month, or otherwise trying to get moving or find ways to deepen what you’re working on.

The thing I did find hard to ignore about this book was…okay, let me put it like this. I’ve been listening to this podcast, “Classic Film Jerks,” while I run, okay? And they have this segment where they observe things that hopelessly date movies, see? And it’s called “so old” but it’s in this unbelievable geezer voice and…well, anyway, there were a lot of moments when reading this book that I’d hear that “so…old…” cue in my mind. For example, when they mentioned movies as something you really should accept as a touchstone of culture, and how you can get one from your “local video emporium” (so…old…). Now, when this book was originally written, you could probably get something from your “local video emporium.” But they’ve revised since, certainly enough to bemoan the “Age of Screens” we live in and coincidentally sound even more SO…OLD.

I also couldn’t help waiting for the advice that went “finally, run your novel-in-progress through a little process we like to call ‘the real world exists’ for any perpetuating of harmful stereotypes. For example, consider the fact that your bisexual character seduces absolutely everyone, and carefully review your descriptions of your Native American female lead for fetishistic language.” I waited in vain. I know, I was hoping for too much. And based on the rest of the book the authors would probably fail to understand what I was getting at and remind me that I am a product of the Age of Screens, young whippersnapper that I am.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Ray's Weekend Novelist is an excellent reference book. However, I wouldn't necessarily use it as a template for writing a novel . . . unless you plan on writing novels similar to Mr. Ray's or to Ann Tyler's "The Accidental Tourist", the novel that Ray uses as an template throughout citing it as a perfect example of a well written novel.

For those new to the daunting task of writing a novel, this book can pigeonhole you into thinking this is the only way to tackling writing. I came across that dilemma. After getting halfway through the book, doing the exercises and starting to write my own novel I began to abandon my old habits of writing and started to adopt Mr. Ray's. I started to feel that I couldn't put pen to paper UNLESS I completely plotted my novel, developed my characters and set up every scene. This didn't work for me. The natural flow I usually feel when writing was taken away and eventually I completely gave up on the process returning to my methods of writing: sitting down with a pad and pencil and allowing the ideas to flow. Then fine tuning the story only after I have a huge chunk of it written and some idea of what I want to convey. Not all novels are structured in Mr. Ray's manner, not all novels use Aristotle's incline to develop plot and storylines and not all novels can be written in 52 weekends.

Not to say this is a bad book at all. It's a wonderful reference book full of ideas and exercises to help you strengthen your writing. For example, it never occurred to me to create backstories and timelines for each of my characters giving them dimension and realism. Ray also offers exercises to help you set up scenes, write dialogue, write action and plot your novel. I now find that I refer to these exercises to help me develop my writing but I no longer follow the program.

This book is a great starting point for those interested in writing a novel but do not have an idea how to start (one more thing: you definitely have to have some idea of what you want to write BEFORE you start). However, for experienced writers you will find that this book is more useful as a reference guide rather than a program to follow.



UPDATED REVIEW FOR REVISED EDITION DECEMBER 24, 2007
A few years ago I wrote a review for the 1st edition of this book. I felt, and still feel, it's not necessarily the best way to write a novel but the exercises are excellent and I use this as a reference guide anytime I set pen to paper.

The interesting thing I didn't realize when I initially wrote my review is that Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris both live in my hometown of Seattle. I had a few compliants about the 1st edition i.e. that the Accidental Tourist isn't the only example of a perfect novel or that not all novels use Aristotle's incline.

Now I can't help but think that maybe Mr. Ray read my review. In this new revised version he uses several different examples of a perfect novel and gives two other ways of plotting out the novel besides Aristotle's incline, two of my complaints. It's nice to see more options available this time around but the overall cohesion of the 1st edition is lost. Like others have stated: if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I still HIGHLY recommend the 1st edition while using the revised edition as supplemental information

[Toi Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and am already applying some of the things I’ve learned from it; plus, some of the things it teaches, I had already taught myself out of instinct and necessity. While I find this book to be quite helpful in the development and writing of a novel, I don’t think it’s for all writers simply because of its restrictions.

I consider this book to be more of a writing method reference guide. A new or aspiring writer, a veteran writer looking to try a different approach (like me), or a writer truly struggling with limited time and organizational skills could and should be able to apply the nuggets in this book to help them achieve their writing goals.

Free-flowing writers, pantsers, genre-specific writers, and left-brain dominant writers will have difficulty applying the structure of this writing method to their style and creative process.

The book is broken down into six parts and each part is then broken down into numbered weeks with writing goals or prompts. While the weekly breakdown is crucial to applying this writing method, I felt that the six-part breakdown served more as a visual example of these authors preferred novel structure. It almost suggests that all novels need to be broken down into parts, which I don’t necessarily agree with. I think they all can be, but don’t all have to be.

The overall point of this book teaches writers that in 1 year, writing on the weekends, you can have a fully developed manuscript. The book focuses 28 weeks on the development of the story, 20 weeks on the drafting of the story, and a few more weeks on polishing (though this book does not discuss editing; this book is not going to help you edit your story in any way other than to clean up some word choices)

Ray and Norris take this reference guide to the next level by not only looking at other novel examples, they also include a test story for the reader to watch developing from week to week as they read the book and apply the steps to completion. There are so many examples in this book, which I think is a great attribute, allowing the reader a variety story ideas and plot structures to learn from. My only complaint is that Ray and Norris don’t spend much time explaining the importance of genre. What they are providing is a one-size fits most method to writing, but I don’t feel they did a good job of expressing that it’s not a one-size fits all method.

This book also contains lots of charts and graphs the reader can use as templates in their story development. Again, anyone not keen on charting, graphing, etc… will have difficulty benefiting from this book.

Outside of the step-by-step benefits of this book, I loved the way these authors explained the development of a screenplay from a novel and just how different they are. I liked that they recognized the unique storytelling style that both TV and film possess while acknowledging that those mediums can and should influence writers.

I also liked that the authors address the fact that even though the title is The Weekend Novelist, there are times when the writer, limited in their writing time, may have to write at other times, like while on their lunch break or waiting in line for something, etc…

I’d recommend this book to new or aspiring writers, a veteran writer looking for plotting techniques, and writers with very limited time to write and develop.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this has good guidelines - don't expect to be able to do the tasks in the timeline that he sets down unless:
you have no other life,
have no kids or other family,
eat only delivery food,
send out your laundry
have a maid that keeps you from living in a pigsty
and basically do nothing else except write.

I found it slightly unrealistic in that regard. I kept laughing and saying - this is a man with a 1950's wife who does all the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry and child care. He only has to come to the surface long enough to refresh his cocktail.

Other than that the guidelines are useful.

[James Heiney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good as long as you take it with the caveat that your chances in using it to actually finish a novel in 52 weeks are slim indeed unless you are already accustomed to his 'system.' That being said, the book is full of excellent exercises to deepen many aspects of your writing. From character profiles, to themes, to plot and more, he's got many good tips to enrich a new novel or an old one that got a little stale on you.

[Cassandra Mortmain · Rating 1 out of 5]

A truly awful book, with stupid advices such as: "To explore ther power of scene-sequence, let's take a close look at one of the film adaptations of Jane Eyre."

How about just going straight to the original, you know, the NOVEL?

[Aneesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this in 1996, and should have listened to his words of wisdom a good deal more. But being more of a pantser than a writer who provides himself with some structure - in those days - I struggled, in due course, with his insistence on more careful preparation. It's a lesson that I'm still learning, even though I've now written and published three novels. Here's what I wrote at the time:
I like Richards' method, which is quite strict and organised, but still allows lots of room for imaginative writing within that: you still have to be a writer. He’s quite taken with Natalie Goldberg, and quotes her at times, and uses her methods amongst his own – there’s a lot of exercise work to do and much more preparation work than I would have done before on any novel I’ve undertaken. But that’s all to the good – it means that you’re not spending a lot of time rewriting because you haven’t prepared. You can do rewriting, of course – but once you’ve done your preparation work, you don’t go back and do any revising or editing until you’ve finished the first draft – the problem being that too much energy is used up in the revision and not enough maintained for writing the work.
He’s thorough in his teaching, and I think provides plenty of scope for getting your teeth into lots of writing – much of which may not wind up in the novel, but is still essential to its production. And by giving yourself a goal of a certain period, and having a certain amount to get through each week, you can see progress.

[Christine Rains · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on the craft of writing for plotters. The author explains in simple terms the very basics and expands on things with thorough examples. It provides exercises for structuring plot, creating characters, and setting. For writers who have trouble getting started, these would be excellent to try.

The one part I found most helpful was about writing synopses. I've always had trouble with them, and the author provides a strategy that is easy and could maybe make all my synopsis anxiety melt away.

[Michelle Cornish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, when I purchased this book, I neglected to read the subtitle and thought Robert J. Ray had written a novel in a weekend. Of course, I wanted to know how he'd done it! Well, it turns out The Weekend Novelist is about writing a novel in several weekends--52 to be exact. Still a huge accomplishment, and even though this book was written in the early 90s, the advice still holds true. I like that every chapter included examples from novels--mostly The Accidental Tourist which I'll now need to read as well. Great advice laid out in a clear, step-by-step manner.

[John Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book purports to show beginning writers how to write a complete novel on their weekends within a year's time. Its unlikely many people do that, and beginners probably are best served by practicing their skills on short stories rather than jumping straight to a novel. However, the book does offer a good deal of useful advice on plotting, building scenes and characters, and other elements of fiction-writing.

[Ezekiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has helped me by giving tips and tricks to add to my outlining techniques. My outlines are now more detailed, so when I'm ready to draft it's almost like I'm simply cutting and pasting from the outline. Almost. Gets repetitive at time, but I think that's to build that muscle memory. I do recommend it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting advice, but I wish there had been more or different examples across genres and styles to reach different potential authors. It's structured well, and the 52 week program could work for some authors - it's fairly outdated, but in summary a good process to try (including the "just write"/Nano style of the first draft).

[zerogravitas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this is even vaguer than Save the Cat, and frequently outright wrong. For instance it's calling the midpoint "the point of no return". Well if you can still return alllllll the way until the midpoint, you're in big trouble because it means you've moved your inciting incident to the middle of the book.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book about writing a novel! Lots of interesting exercises and tips.

[Jonathan Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Restarted my passion of writing. Easy step by step guide.

[عزام الشثري · Rating 3 out of 5]

تشريح لأعمال روائيّة وتوجهات في الكتابة
فيه أفكار لطيفة، بس إنّها تائهة وسط حشو كثير
منهجيّة الكتاب تحتاج 400 ساعة لتطبيقها
والصياغة (أو الترجمة) ليست رائعة

[Jasmine Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

And....I'm going to write a book now. I'm already a couple weekends in. I'll give Mr. Ray here a shout out in my thank you section at the back.

[Irwan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting guideline for a beginning writer, presenting a concrete program to practice producing a novel.
---

Restart reading this after abandoning it for some time. Now I know why I abandoned it in the first place. Some of the practical tips could certainly be useful to plan and organize your work.

But honestly, the technicalities really sucks the fun out of it. The diagrams are stiff and formal, would have been better presented as sketches of handwritten ones than with the computerized lines and fonts. They are just uninteresting and sometimes confusing.

Examples from featured novels are long winded, repetitive and intermingled with the author's own tips. If you are not especially interested with the example you might miss the author's point.

Lastly, the novel written in-progress alongside the lesson as an example is just not interesting. It makes you think that this is the kind of novel produced with all these technicalities.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been working on several story ideas for nearly half my life. I never really got any of them promisingly completed. One of my New Year's resolutions is to get ONE Of them completed into either a novel or, preferably, a screenplay.

I've been working on this particular story, on and of, for about five years. Never once getting past chapter three. I'm hoping this book's guidance will help me get past that pothole and finish this book whilst I work and complete my Associate's Degree online. (As well, I'm looking into some sales work that's akin to AVON.)

The few hours Ray and Norris ask of my weekends are about as much as I can afford.

I'm happy that there are people out there that can set more time aside for their passion, but they might want to nod a little to those who don't have that time but still want to fulfill a similar dream.

Thank you!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted, this book isn't going to give you everything and I didn't read most of the books they were using as examples. But as a very organized person this book was right up my alley. It was as if someone tapped into the anal part of my mind and the creative part of my mind and said:
See, here's how you can do it!

I have not used this book from start to finish yet, like it was intended to be used, but it still has created incredible work volume and organization for me when writing.