Get That Novel Written! From Initial Idea to Final Edit [Hardcover]

Donna Levin (Author), Jack Heffron (Editor), Roseann Biederman (Editor), Cherie Dyer (Photographer), Angela Lennert Wilcox (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996 | ISBN-10: 0898796962 | ISBN-13: 978-0898796964 | Edition: 1st

Levin covers both the basics and the finer points to getting a novel written. She then backs up her instruction with skill-building exercises that will actually make it happen.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; 1st edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898796962
• ISBN-13: 978-0898796964
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,735,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could be better called how to get your act together, December 30, 2001

By 

Kevin Fries (Lakewood, Co) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Get That Novel Written! From Initial Idea to Final Edit (Hardcover)

I have had a story evolving in my mind for the past few years. When I gave a brief explaination of the story to a friend of mine, she insisted that I write the book. My problem is that I have no idea where to start...until now. This book is extremely useful in providing aspiring writers with a way to organize your thoughts and put that story together right. The concepts are even broken down into Basics for us beginners, then into more complex concepts in a seperate sub-chapter called The Finer Points for when you are feeling a little more confident. Then the last sub-chapter is designed to be read after you have started to give you an ever more refined end product. A must have for those that have never tried to write a novel before.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Intro on Point of View and Fiction Basics, May 7, 2008

By 

Livvy "Livvy" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Get That Novel Written! (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for beginners as well as intermediate writers. This is one of the few books if not only one which has the best introduction on Point of View and Story Time (present and past tense options in narrations).

The book is also organized with built-in "Rewriting sections" for each chapter. The character section explores the typical standard in character building, but the plot section has a useful introductory on premise and subplots.

The book loses a star for not including a bibliography, no in depth discussion on dialogue, and because although this book is one of the "finer" ones on learning the basics of fiction writing, the subtitle of the book was a little misleading.

When I read "from Initial Idea To Final Edit" in the title, I was lead to believe that she would show in her book either some kind of outline or mapping system or process of some sort for brainstorming ideas into story form. Levin probably considers some of the end of chapter exercises as enough to stimulate "Idea generating" creativity, but I found it somewhat lacking.

For that reason, I purchased her other book "Get That Novel Started" based on the few mentionings within this book and found that book disappointing as its only a book on cheerleading you to write. I'm so glad that I returned it. That whole book could have probably been condensed into this slim volume for added value.

To make this book more complete, I recommend Jack Bickham's book "Writing and Selling Your Novel". There is very little overlap between the two and both would thus make an almost complete course in writing fiction for beginners and intermediate writers.

On a side note, Levin mentions a novel in progess she has titled "Goodnight Light and the Red Balloon" (hmmm...haven't I heard this title before in a children's book??) but after doing an Amazon search nothing comes up?????? What happened to the book? Perhaps we will find out in her next book "Get that Novel Finished". LOL.

All in all, this is a great book to have. One of the best.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Resource For Fiction Writers!, November 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Get That Novel Written! From Initial Idea to Final Edit (Hardcover)

This book does wonders for getting you past your writer's block. Not only does Levin provide terrific articles on the fundamentals of writing a novel, she also provides some very helpful writing exercises to get your creativity going again. I find that I use this book for my short stories as well.