Customer Reviews

Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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Reviewed by C.J.Singh

In the main, John Dufresne's new book, aptly subtitled "A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months," comprises novel-focused insights of his earlier book, The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction (2005). That book was highly praised for Dufresne's amiable voice and wit. The new book sustains both very well and is complete in itself --without a prerequisite reading of his previous craft book. Dufresne, a professor in the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program at Florida International University, is the author of several acclaimed literary novels and includes brief examples from these published works. The book sequences the twenty chapters by weeks in the suggested twenty-six week writing schedule.

The opening four chapters cover the first four weeks, assigned to finding the subject and the principal characters of your story. Here's an example of his lucid expository writing: "I usually begin my novels with a character, someone who intrigues me for some reason or other.... I find a person, and then I give that person some trouble, and then I ask that person what she wants to do about the trouble, and then put more obstacles in her way -- writing a novel is taking the path of most resistance" (pp 71-72).

The fifth chapter introduces plotting. Dufresne cites the widely used screen-writing plot diagram: "We might borrow a technique from screenwriting and establish four important scenic moments and use them as a scaffold for building our plot: the opening scene; the plot point at the end of Act I; the plot point at the end of Act II; and the end of the novel" (p 111). Plot point is explained as "a twist that sends the novel off in a new direction." (The screen-writing plot diagram was first adapted from Aristotle's "Poetics" by Syd Field in his pioneering books, "Screenplay," published in 1978, and The Screenwriter's Workbook ).

To generate plot, Dufresne devises a three-column "Plottomatic" schema to prompt what-if scenarios. "Plottomatic" is introduced in a witty manner as copyrighted material by "The Famous Novelists School, Inc" at a P.O. Box in Dania Beach, Florida, his hometown. Maybe his own P.O. Box? -- to see how many send for the touted "Famous Novelists Aptitude Test," purporting to discover if they have "what it takes to become a famous, respected, and handsomely remunerated novelist" (p 96).

The next six chapters guide the reader on setting, theme, point of view, and further development of plot. In the appendix, Dufresne lists "the books I was reading while I was writing." For structuring the plot, he reproduces the inclined plot diagram from Robert J Ray's The Weekend Novelist, with markers for the opening scene, plot point one, plot point two, and climactic scene. Dufresne concludes the twelfth chapter: "Write a one-sentence, one paragraph synopsis of your novel as you now envision it. Cannot be more than a hundred words. This is what it's all about" (p 201). In chapter thirteen, at the half-way stage in the 26-week schedule, he suggests writing the opening scene. (A bit of arithmetic to compare Dufresne's guide with Ray's: Dufresne schedules a three-hour daily writing session for 26 weeks; Ray schedules two three-hour writing sessions each weekend for 52 weeks -- the equivalent of a three-hour daily session for 15 weeks. Ray has recently published a follow-up book The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel -- see my review on amazon.)

I hope there'll soon be Dufresne's "Guide on Rewriting Your Novel"--especially if he includes detailed examples from his own successive drafts. Such a book would be valuable to MFA literary novel-writing students as most of the other contemporary novel-writing guides are by genre novelists.

Dufresne's guide -- replete with sidebar quotes from the likes of Mark Twain, Vladimir Nabokov, Joyce Carol Oates, Eudora Welty, and Milan Kundera -- inspires and lucidly presents a step-by-step architectural plan to create the first draft.

[Sample side-bar quotes:

Mark Twain: "Don't tell us the old lady screamed. Bring her on stage and let her scream."

Vladimir Nabokov: "You have to saturate yourself with English poetry in order to compose English prose."

Joyce Carol Oates: "I write my big scenes first, that is, the scenes that carry the meaning of the book, the emotional experience."

Eudora Welty: "Writing a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon a cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life."

Milan Kundera: "All novels, of every age, are concerned with the enigma of the self."]

Five-star book. -- C.J.Singh

John Dufresne is one of my favorite contemporary American writers of fiction. His novels "Louisiana Power & Light" (two separate readings) and "Requiem, Mass." are among the contemporary American novels that I have most enjoyed reading in the past twenty years. I also like many of his short stories (particularly some of those in "Johnny Too Bad"). So I shelled out the full-price $27 and read IS LIFE LIKE THIS?, even though I knew it was a "how to write your first novel" manual and actually writing a novel is well down my personal list of 1,000 things to do before I die.

I end up being rather ambivalent about IS LIFE LIKE THIS? Dufresne teaches writing at Florida International University, and much of the book really is a "how to" guide for prospective first-time novelists. Dufresne outlines a 26-week program, with numerous writing exercises, for producing a first draft of a novel (note: first draft, NOT finished, marketable product). I am certain that many of Dufresne's suggestions would be constructive for many would-be novelists, but for my personal taste the tone is far too rah-rah cheerleaderish. In addition, those who are considering the book as a writing manual should be forewarned that for Dufresne writing fiction is a process of creative discovery - he begins with intriguing characters caught up in an interesting situation in an appropriate setting, and he lets matters develop from there with no preconceived notion of what the ending will be - and that model of writing is inextricably incorporated into this guide.

For me, the book contained just enough on the "theory" and structure of the novel and on the craft of writing that I was able to keep going (skimming over the rather pedantic writing exercises and advice) and derive some things of value from the book. Among the sections that I found useful were a 12-page discussion of "what is a novel" (pages 133-44); the discussions of point of view, plot, theme, and scene; a chapter on "This and That" (such matters as dialogue, names, and tense), and the final chapter on revisions. But the true highpoints of the book for me were some of the insights and quotations from other authors about the art and craft of writing generously scattered throughout, among them:

"A fiction writer wants to create a world as real as, but other than, the world that is." -- Cynthia Ozick.

"Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they cannot include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that." -- Anthony Powell

"All novels, of every age, are concerned with the enigma of the self." -- Milan Kundera

And (although not "literary" in nature): "Culture is everything that we do that monkeys don't." - FitzRoy Somerset, the Fourth Baron Raglan.

For prospective novelists looking for a how-to guide written in a relentlessly cheery "You can do it!" fashion, IS LIFE LIKE THIS? might well merit four or even five stars. I am not in that group and the best I can muster, my admiration for John Dufresne notwithstanding, is three stars.

I wish I would have found this years ago. It tells you step by step what you should do to write a book. It gives giudelines and everything to get started with learning how to move through the steps of writing the book. How to think of titles, subjects, what should be your first thing to think about in order to deside what you want to write about, genres and so much more. It is simple, but not too simple. Well worth the time. If your serious about writing, this should be your first step and even if you have baught books on this before... this is different. It's easier to use and stick with. Compared to the others, I don't feel like I wasted money this time.

Having participated - and completed - 5 NaNos, I was really expecting something a little more prescriptive (and thoughtful, compared to the word-count free-for-all that is NaNoWriMo). I took the title to mean I'd *complete* a novel in 6 months. Actually, the content is more about spending 6 months learning about the various components of novels!

The first 2 weeks are spent exclusively on "memory" exercises (or what I call 'navel-gazing'). Plotting isn't until Week 8, dialogue is in Week 14, and character analysis is Week 17, with exercises to support each topic. I have to admit I don't understand the order of these topics at all. (Dialogue three weeks before character development?)

The content is okay as far as any basic writing instruction goes. Some exercises may find their way into your novel, but many will not. I enjoy writing exercises, but when I embark on a novel where there's an actual story in mind, I'm more productivity-focused, so I don't want to spend what writing time I have crafting material I already know I won't use.

(And for the record, can we once and for all kill off using 'memory' exercises for fiction-writing? If I thought any aspect of my life was that interesting or warranted that much analysis, I wouldn't be writing a novel - I'd be writing a memoir.)

John Dufresne is one of the best writers working today. His fiction is excellent. His writing advice might not work for everyone, but this book is far better than any other How-to-Write-a-Novel book I've ever read. If you really study and follow his plan and adapt it to your own idiosyncrasies, your fiction will improve and you will produce a novel. First, study the book thoroughly; then follow his method. The practice will make your creative urges achieve material form.

Reviewing a book like this is rather like reviewing a technical manual. You just don't expect the same things you would expect from a novel, a book of poems, a work of philosophy or popular science. This is an obvious point and I belabor it only to make clear the criteria I'm using to judge it.

The first thing to say is that it's only of use to a person who actually interested in writing a novel. Now, while this doesn't apply to all books about writing (Annie Dillard's The Writing Life springs to mind), it most certainly does to this one. The majority of the book concerns a series of writing exercises and prompts intended to prime your imagination and (more important) the habit of regular work. Aside from this Dufresne mixes inspirational quotes from other authors and generous summaries of his previous craft book (The Lie that Tells the Truth, a better effort In my opinion). Unless you're interested in submitting yourself to the course he outlines there really is no reason whatsoever to read it.

Second, I'm an aspiring novelist who was (at the beginning) quite willing to abide by his process. I had started and abandoned tens of novels over the years and was growing desperate (I'm now in my 30s and the thought of reaching middle age without having finished at least one novel was terrifying), so with gusto I started on page one and determined to work step-by-step through the book. Many of the exercises I found banal and those I skipped without much guilt, but many were fun. And therein lies the main problem.

You see, writing exercises are generally speaking fun because they are trivial and do not require self-discipline. After a while, though, I grew bored writing about my life and my family, digging around trying to find "wounds" in my past, and all that. Eventually, the course itself seemed both too slow and too fast for me. I prefer to explore fictional territory in a free and playful way (not to say that Dufresne doesn't), spending large amounts of time with my characters, writing every inherent possibility in the material without too much concern for plot, discovering what makes the people I'm writing about different from me. In other words, the whole thing was way too structured for me.

Some people may find an overt timetable, daily exercises, and constant cheerleading very helpful in their own efforts to write a novel that doesn't utterly suck. For me, all of that became a distraction. But that doesn't mean it's a band book, far from it. In fact, should I ever meet Dufresne I owe him a handshake (even a beer) for making clear that no abstract method will ever replace hard, ceaseless labor done everyday with openness and honesty. I certainly won't finish the first draft of my novel in six months, but I will finish it and the motivation for that comes in no small part from a book whose basic philosophy I find unworkable.

Most people who sit down in front of a typewriter or their computer intending to write the next 'Great American Novel' never finish the project. What such aspiring authors need is to give a careful reading to John Dufresne's "Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months". This is a 314-page compendium of sage observation, sound advice, practical realities, and chronologically organized schedule of how to go about crafting a publishable novel in six months time -- all laid out in 26 weeks of step-by-step progress from beginning to end. Of special note is a most effective and interestingly presented bibliography comprising the final chapter -- 'What I Was Reading While I Was Writing'. Thoroughly informed and informative, "Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months" will prove to be invaluable for the novice beginner, and hold a great deal of interest for experienced authors in non-fiction categories who feel they, too, have a novel to write.

I found DuFresne's book, "Is Life Like This" on my library's new-arrivals shelf. I'm buying it from Amazon, not because this book offers a novel-boiling recipe that I can use to produce a workable manuscript in six months,as the subtitle proclaims, but because it does something far better: DuFresne lays his writing process out for me to peruse (some of it, anyway). Why is this better than step-by-step instructions on how-to? Because from it I get the courage to accept the meandering, un-geometric nature of my own writing process and KEEP WRITING. Which, in the end, really is the only way to write your first, or your fifteenth, novel.

When it arrives, my new John DuFresne book will go right next to my Anne Lamott and Ralph Keyes. Oh, and my other John DuFresne.

It's not surprising that there are so many books on novel-writing that are structured around a time frame. Writers do want to finish, of course. And having a deadline can provide the motivation needed to get to "the end".

John Dufresne, a novelist and writing teacher, has added his own interpretation with Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months. What makes his entry different?

Dufresne brings his own style to the book, and it reads like a friend sitting down in a coffee shop, who is willing to lead you through the confusing maze of writing your first novel. His introduction is one of the best pep talks for writers I've ever heard--and I've sat through quite a few wonderful keynote speakers at the conferences I've attended.

One point I appreciate is Dufresne's advice to "cherish" the uncertainty writers feel at the beginning of the writing process. His encouragement goes a long way to endow writers with the confidence to tackle the job of writing a novel.

Dufresne shares how the writing process works "by fits and starts, with equal parts elation and frustration". He tells why it's a good thing to lose your way in the course of writing a novel. And he admits that "everything in your life is incompatible with writing and always will be". How's that for a dose of reality?

Dufresne breaks down the novel-writing process into tasks and assignments for each week. He plans on having you spend three hours a day, for twenty-six weeks. Along the way, readers will learn all the basics they need on plotting, characterization, and dialogue, with wonderful quotes from writers interspersed with the chapters.

The author goes further, by giving details on keeping a writer's notebook and what to record in it. Many famous writers have kept such a notebook, and Dufresne quotes from some of them. He also shares how to analyze the novels you read and learn from them.

By the end of six months, you'll have a first draft, which then can be revised and polished. Realistically, within a year, dedicated writers can expect to have a manuscript ready for prime-time.

Perhaps a time frame will motivate you to finish your novel.

There are a number of books that teach the beginning writer the techniques to write a publishable book, but Dufresne goes beyond them all and presents all of the principles to write not only a pretty good novel, but a very fine novel, a great novel if that's what you have in you. His combination of kind humor and subtle-minded exactitude will get you going and sustain you through "The End".