The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfecting Your Work [Paperback]

Robert J. Ray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2010

This follow-up to the bestselling The Weekend Novelist will guide writers of all levels through the next phase in crafting their novel: the rewrite.
 
You’ve finished your first draft—congratulations! Think it’s ready for publication? Think again. The next stage is all about revising and reworking your manuscript—fine-tuning the plot, adding or improving subplots, and fleshing out characters; in short, addressing important structural issues that make or break a novel.
 
Robert J. Ray, who helped thousands of writers get from blank page to first draft in The Weekend Novelist, now guides the same audience through a series of seventeen weekend revision exercises designed to fit into any busy lifestyle, focusing on everything from rewriting scenes to developing sound flashbacks to refining characters’ back stories. Throughout the book, Ray illustrates his lessons with examples from such great works of literature as Jane Eyre, Gorky Park, and The Great Gatsby so that writers may more easily identify how and why a certain technique or structural element helps or hinders their own work. Also included are checklists, timed exercises, plot diagrams, and charts—all aimed to get you rewriting and revising your draft with confidence.
 
Whether you’re an amateur novelist, a seasoned writer who’s hit a mental block, or a creative writing teacher looking for proven exercises for better instruction, The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel provides the tools to transform first drafts into successful novels.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ROBERT J. RAY is the author of eight novels, including the acclaimed Matt Murdock Mystery series, and has also written several practical writing guides, including The Weekend Novelist and The Weekend Novelist Rewrites a Mystery. A resident of Seattle, he runs writing workshops and formerly taught writing for the University of Washington’s School of Distance Learning. He is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823084434
• ISBN-13: 978-0823084432
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

robert j ray phd
born in texas, 1935
snow ice wind heat dust-storms sunday school rule red brick streets horses cows guns
school tennis paper route heartache journalism sports editor growing pains modest HS aptitude for english, Latin, Spanish; zero aptitude for math
more school at Modesto, Austin, Georgetown in DC (russian, chinese), U-Chicago (hindustani)
gradschool at UT: MA, PHD
college teacher - U kentucky, beloit college, chapman U (OC)
nightschool teacher - San Diego, Irvine, Seattle
studied tennis with 4 teachers who helped me become an intuitive inner game
tennis teacher San Diego, Beloit
married, divorced, remarried, moved with wife Margot to Seattle (for the weather)three cats so far

books:The Weekend Novelist(+ revised Weekend Novelist), The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery, The Weekend Novelist Redrafts the Novel (London), Bloody Murdock, Murdock Cracks Ice, Dial "M" for Murdock, Murdock for Hire, Merry Christmas, Murdock, The Hitman Cometh, The Art of Reading: A Handbook on Writing, Small Business: An Entrepreneur's Plan (5 editions) The Heart of the Game (tennis), Cage of Mirrors

courses taught: memoir, starting your novel, keeping going on your novel, rewriting your novel, key to your style, dialogue, intro to screenwriting, writing practice, going deep with myth-base, verbs
recommended writing guru: natalie goldberg
writing/teaching partner: jack remick
students taught to writer better: approx 10,000
world-view: the worst writer can get better; the best writer can jettison the ego and strive for perfection
advice: write every day, use a timer, don't cross out, keep the hand moving, go for the jugular

work-in-progress: action-thriller and its glittery screen adaptation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Companion to The Weekend Novelist, February 16, 2010

By 

C. J. Singh (Berkeley, California, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfecting Your Work (Paperback)

THE WEEKEND NOVELIST REWRITES THE NOVEL makes an excellent companion to Ray's "The Weekend Novelist" (TWN). But what if you haven't read TWN? Can you still use the follow-up book? You could -- thanks to its 11-page detailed glossary. The book also includes a witty rewrite-in-progress of a draft -- a draft that had been completed without its author having read TWN.

In rewriting, Ray focuses on restructuring, not mere copyediting (aka line-editing): "The key to rewriting your novel is not line-editing, the key is fixing the subplots. If you fix the subplots, then the manuscript will shape up" (page 7). The assumption here is that the writer has already structured the main plot with care. Ray suggests many restructuring exercises such as making separate grids for each subplot. Throughout, he presents structural analyses of a number of novels to illustrate craft concepts. The novels include:
literary contemporaries such as
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler,
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys,and
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje;
literary classics like "Pride and Prejudice," "Jane Eyre," and "The Great Gatsby";
and a few genre novels like "Gorky Park" and "The Eye of the Needle."

Ray also comments on the screen adaptations of novels and suggests the "Rewrite mantra: to find story secrets, study good films" (p. 35). In both editions of TWN, the short list of recommended books for novel-writing include Syd Field's pioneering "The Screenwriter's Workbook."
popularized the three-act structure (based on Aristotle's "Poetics") and added two plot points, which he defined "as any incident, episode, or event that hooks into the action and spins it around in another direction." The second edition begins by noting: "Writing a novel in the twenty-first century is made complicated by the world of screens. It wasn't like that always....Screens have changed the writing world. When the writing world changes, the writer must change." To learn the new complications in the craft, I studied both editions of TWN.

In TWN first edition, Ray lucidly analyzes the fiction craft in one novel, Anne Tyler's "The Accidental Tourist," a great favorite of mine ("Anne Tyler is not merely good; she is wickedly good," wrote John Updike). Study of this edition effectivley teaches many characterization techniques. TWN, second edition, expands "the plotting section ...to give you a range of choices for building your book. The basic concept you need to build a plot is architecture" (ix). The second edition presents detailed craft analyses of five contemporary novels, including two with cyclical structural design. The five novels are:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon;
Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan;
White Teeth: A Novel by Zadie Smith;
and the two with cyclical design,
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho;
The Namesake: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri (film adaptation,The Namesake DVD).

Yes, the second edition does teach more complex plot-structures. Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Klavier and Clay" is a great favorite of mine as I fully agree with his aesthetic that "a work of fiction must be first of all entertaining" (A recent conversation at UC Berkeley library). Another great favorite is Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake," especially its cyclical plot structure. However, if you are plannig a linear plot structure, the TWN first edition (now out of print) might be adequate.

The rewriting guide schedules 20 hours each weekend for 17 weeks for rewriting -- at least as many hours as scheduled in TWN for completing the initial draft. I found no particular merit in long sessions on weekends and reverted to the equivalent schedule of daily three-hour sessions.

Although "The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel" could serve as a guide by itself, it'll clearly be more effective as a follow-up to the second edition of "The Weekend Novelist."

--C J Singh

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book, March 31, 2011

By 

Purple Pen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfecting Your Work (Paperback)

I bought this book thinking I had just purchased another dust magnet, but I was surprised. This book is wonderful. It goes through with step by step examples and notes. The author approached the topic without making the read dry. This one, I'll go back and reference.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you write it, read it, May 18, 2010

By 

M. Ellis "magnoliamansions" (Gulf Coast, Alabama) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfecting Your Work (Paperback)

This is a very helpful tool for any writer, especially the ones who say, "I sit down and write a book and then never go over it again." And never see it in print it could be added. Writing is an intense emotional expression and it is easy to get so wrapped up in a personal approach, the overall picture is neglected. This book gives a good overall examination of a manuscript and following the suggested action can result in a much better final product. We recommend any writer, especially a beginning writer, take heed of the good advice here.