Customer Reviews

Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Full disclosure: Elizabeth George is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers --- actually, George, like the others on that shortlist (including P.D. James and Ruth Rendell), writes in a more specific arm of the genre, known as the "literary mystery." What this means to readers is that the books these authors produce have complex characters, beautifully constructed (sometimes intricate) plots and fine, subtle use of language that manages to simultaneously contribute to the mystery at hand and to delight on its own.

What this means to writers is that Elizabeth George knows her stuff. How well she knows it is readily apparent in WRITE AWAY: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, because she grounds most of her instructional examples in excerpts from great literature, including classics like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and modern suspense/thriller novels such as MYSTIC RIVER. George taught English at El Toro High School in Huntington Beach, California for over a decade before turning her back away from the lectern and towards her computer screen in the mid-1980s, and she now frequently teaches creative writing. Her pedantry is of the pleasant variety, meant not to bury potential writers but to encourage them.

Still, this book does have its pedantic moments, especially as George elucidates her process. One of the most important parts of her process is creating a "character map" before she begins her first draft. As she explained why and how she does this, it made perfect sense --- for her. I love reading literary mysteries, but they are not a genre I'm likely to write myself. WRITE AWAY, at first, seemed to me to be an excellent way to learn about how to write an Elizabeth George novel. Indeed, it's not as if she's hiding what she's doing: her subtitle says it all. And she begins each chapter with a brief section from one of her own journals kept while writing in order to show that even published authors get the blues.

Yet, from the moment I began to read George's book, I was drawn in by her enthusiasm for writing. She may have been describing what works for her, but her energy and excitement made me want to discover what works best for me. George is quite right when she says that she is puzzled by those who believe writing can't be taught; it is, after all, at least halfways a craft. In the sections where she discusses different techniques as "tools" and says that using these well is part of a building process, she reminded me that artisanal skill can be just as important as artistic inspiration.

George also reminds would-be, struggling and working writers that all the art and craft in the world can't help if you don't have discipline; her chapter titled "The Value of Bum Glue" (that colorful noun taken from Australian bestselling author Bryce Courtenay) should be read by every writer and writing student in the country. But one of the last things she hits on, while not new under the sun, is made urgent again by her own thoughtful, elegant prose: "Lots of people want to have written; they don't want to write. In other words, they want to see their name on the front cover of a book and their grinning picture on the back. But this is what comes at the end of a job, not at the beginning. To reach that end you have to be willing just to set it aside, knowing that it may never happen at all but not much caring because it's the writing that matters to you; it's the mystery and the magic of putting words on paper that are truly important. If you don't feel this way, then you want to be an author, not a writer."

On one hand, I wonder why she didn't put that up front. On the other, I see exactly why she saved these words for last. Great mystery writer that she is, Elizabeth George has forced us to march through the forest tree by tree before revealing her secret.

--- Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick

The author, Elizabeth George, presents the process she follows when writing novels. She does not present it as a panacea but describes the benefits of her approach. The author says she's left-brained and must plan her novels. She also says she must start with the main characters first, and after they are well devloped the story nearly writes itself. She also believes in researching out her setting because she wants the settings to be be as realistic as possible. She may combine the descriptions of several real buildings into one scene. I think her discussions of characters, setting, and her overall process are the best parts of her book.

Her process can be summarized as: come up with the Idea for the story, develop it further into an Expanded Idea (read the book for details), invent the Primary Initiating Event, derive the initial cut of the Characters, develop detailed Biographies for them, Research the story (how to do it), create the Characters, create the Settings, create a Step Outline (phrases for each of 15 or so scenes, all scenes placed on one page), then create a Plot Outline (stream-of-consciousness expansion of each scene), write the Rough Draft, do a Fast Read, write an Editorial Letter to yourself describing the deep changes needed, Second Revision, have the Second Draft read by an informed reader (the Cold Reader), do a Third Draft, mail it off.

There's much more than this process discussed: dialog, subtexting, THAD's, etc.

I enjoyed the book very much and was most pleased with the practical advice by this author.

John Dunbar

Sugar Land, TX

I had never heard of, or read, Elizabeth George's books until Write Away. I think it is an excellent reference book on writing. (I am now an avid Lynley series fan too.)

E.George gives a step-by-step plan for writing a novel in Write Away that focuses heavily on process details. The more writing books I read, the more I feel that this book is most helpful for seeing the details of writing. For example, how to create character backgrounds, how to research setting, how to write out a plot summary. I found this type of information useful and concrete. If you are a writer, and you don't have a "plan" for how to get your story out of your head and onto the page, then this is an excellent book to read for ideas.

Usually, I borrow reference books like these from the library to decide if the book is useful enough to purchase. Write Away was, and now my paperback copy is sitting on my desk where I can easily grab it.

OVERALL: George's fans will certainly love having some insight into her work. However, the rest of us will do better looking at Frey's book or Ben Bova's book on writing science fiction.

CONS:

- She takes the "show, don't tell" mantra a bit too far by having VERY long excerpts. Sometimes it goes for 2-3 pages. This felt excessively long. Be brief.

- About 25-33% of the examples were from her own work. I couldn't stay awake reading her excerpts. Just too slow and long winded. She admits that her editor says that "nobody will accuse you of being fast-paced." It's true. It's S-L-O-W. So even a few paragraphs is too much. She should have used more classic examples from Tier A writers. Most of her books on Amazon hover around 3 stars - that's not good. Her highest rated book is this one!

- Her organization is confusing. She has a chapter (or two) on Character and Setting near the beginning. Then, mysteriously, she addresses the issue again at the end in a few extra chapters. Sloppy organization.

- Most of her lessons and tips were obvious and have been said before. It might have been better to write a "how to write a mystery book".

PROS:

- She rarely says anything that's wrong. The only thing I definitely disagreed with is her emphasis of going to the location. This is good, but not essential. And it's impossible (often) when you're writing Scifi. Thanks to the Net, you can do virtual tours of Mecca without going there.

Finally, I'll share my key takeaways from Write Away by Elizabeth George:

-Characters learn something from the events (and does the reader).
-Characters are interesting in their conflict, misery, unhappiness, and confusion.
-Give them flaws and let them doubt something, make them grow and change, and put them in conflict.
-The words, syntax of the characters show their education, economics, attitude, beliefs, superstitions, pathology.
-Create a core need: we strive for this and if we don't get it, we show our psychopathlogy. --Examples are the need to be competent, to do your duty to belong, for excitement, to be authentic, to be right.
-The pathlogical manoeuvre is the flip side of the core need and is what comes out when the character is under stress. Examples: delusions, obsessions, compulsions, addictions, denial, hysterical ailments, hypochndria, illness, harming the self, harming others, phobias.
-What's the characters sexual history? What's his attitude toward it?
-What's the characters past?
-What do the characters want? In each scene and in the book?
-Put them in a crucible: they're stuck together for some reason and can't escape from being in conflict with each other.
-We understand people who have background like ours, who live in situations like ours, we admire characters who face and prevail in tough situations that we have experienced, who examine themselves honestly and their motives, who learn from their mistakes, who meet challenges with courage. This will help us care about the character.
-Place a clue and red herring together. Mention the clue, but draw all the attention to the red herring.

7 step story line (she got this from someone else)
1.The hook
2.Plot point #1: about 25% into the book. Ongoing events change: unexpected info, new facts, new character, personal discovering. Story pivots.
3.Midpoint: Increase the drama'someone arrives, finds threat, divorce, natural disaster.
4.Plot Point #2: nothing new is added, but tension reaches its apex.
5.Narrative Climax: The protagonist DECIDES. Wife decides to leave husband, detective decides on how to get the killer, the victim decides to get revenge. The decision involves risk: mental, physical, emotional, psychological.
6.Dramatic Climax: The big fight, the courtroom verdict. The emotional release. Reader is looking for satisfaction.
7.Denouement: Tie up loose ends.

Hero's Journey (she got this from someone else, who got it from Joseph Campbell)

1.Call to adventure.
2.Refuse the call.
3.Mentor prepares the hero.
4.Crosses the first threshold and embarks on the adventure.
5.Hero understands the nature and identity of his enemies and friends.
6.Approach the inmost cave: a place of fear and danger.
7.Endures the ordeal.
8.Receives reward.
9.The road back.
10.Resurrection of the evil to test hero one more time.
11.Returns with the elixir.

Create a Character prompt sheet, with things like:

Physical peculiarities:
Sexuality:
Best friend:
Enemies:
Family:
Core need:
Pathological manoeuvre:
Ambition in life:

Summary of George's steps:
1.The Idea and primary event
2.List of characters
3.Research
4.Create characters
5.Create settings
6.Step outline
7.Plot ouline
8.Write rough draft
9.Fast reading
10.Editorial letter to self
11.2nd draft
12.Cold reader
13.Third draft
14.Submit

CONCLUSION: As you can see, I got some things out of the book, but I didn't feel anything was new or original. The examples were too long and too often from her work, which I didn't find entertaining. I gave it 3 stars because it's so-so overall. I recommend another book, like James Frey, which she quotes from a few times.

As someone who has written a (unpublished) book, I admire George's dedication and sense of humor toward her craft. She obviously does not suffer from the syndrome that makes writers veer from embarrassing self-deprecation to pompous claims of being a genius. There is nothing I dislike more than a novelist using a how-to guide for the purpose of complaining how he or she should be more well-known and/or critically acclaimed. George avoids the temptation of taking pot shots at her critics and instead focuses on the writing process itself. She is admirably honest about stating that what works for her won't necessarily work for everyone. Therefore, even if you can't see yourself having the same kind of self-discipline she does, you will probably still find at least part of the book useful.

Where George differs from many other writers is that she writes about a place (England) where she was not raised and does not live. However, the process she uses to ensure her mysteries are realistic is interesting in and of itself.

People who believe the writing process is some mysterious and murky voodoo only a few are lucky enough to know will be pleasantly surprised at how clearly George describes the writing process, even if the path that they discover works best for them is not identical.

I confess, I've never read any of her novels (although I think I will, having read this book!) Her approach to the art and craft of writing is terrific. Her methods for outlining, character development and setting research are great, and her process of tying all of the "background" information together to move the plot and theme forward is invaluable. One of the ten or so best books on writing that I've read (and I've read a bunch!)

Her methods and discipline may not appeal to everyone, but they've obviously worked for her!

I had never heard of Elizabeth George, but I saw the book in my library, among the most popular books section. I liked it from page one. It is written in an easy conversational tone, and is full to the brim of Ms. George's tricks of the trade. I like her idea of sketching the characters first and then build a story around them, which is really the best way of writing if you think about it. She also give very down to earth advice on how to structure chapters, paragraphs, and even sentences for best results. The ideas are intuitively very clever, so it would be very little effort for anyone to incorporate them in their writing.
Ms. George is a mystery writer, but the book is written for the a general writing audience. If their is one complaint I have it is that the examples are very long, too long. They would work to better effect if they were shorter. It is almost as if she wanted to fill out space.
I divide writing books in four categories: how to start writing and overcoming writer's block, grammars and usage books, craft of writing books, and specialist or genre writing books. This book fits in the third category.

This is an excellent book for any aspiring novelist - from the practical advice using specific examples from real novels to the journal entries that reveal that even a best selling author struggles sometimes with writing. Elizabeth George takes us through every stage of writing the novel - with in-depth advice on basics like viewpoint and voice; dialogue, plot. She also goes through the craft, technique and the process. Principles are easy to understand because they are followed immediately by examples.

I have read many books of this type and this is at the top of the heap. The book succeeds in both being inspirational and instructional. I recommend it highly.

If you are looking for a practical, how-to become a writer book, look no further. George, who is a well loved mystery writer gives us a glimpse into how her books take shape. It's always fascinating for me to find out how a writer arrived at a particular character or scene. But she does more than give us biographical snapshots of her work, she breaks writing down into manageable chunks. Ms. George gives some very hands-on advice on how to develop character and plot, and even leaves her aspiring writers-to-be with examples of "character maps". She talks about plain old discipline and allows us to see her personal struggles with her work. I recommend this book to everyone wanting to learn about the craft of writing, but also to those who would like to see their favourite characters in an Elizabeth George mystery come into being.

Elizabeth's book is both instructional and inspirational. In her introduction she discusses the role of craft and art to writing. Thankfully, for those of us who lack confidence in our artistic abilities, it seems being an artist is only part of the equation. According to Elizabeth, a writer who brings talent, passion, and discipline to the table, will succeed.

This book offers a similar format to other writing instruction books, covering the obligatory, plotting, setting, characterization, etc. However, Elizabeth offers a unique perspective by discussing these issues from the perspective of what has worked for her. Based on her time proven success, the reader knows these are not just formulaic lessons somebody learned in a seminar. The examples, techniques, and advice given by Elizabeth came from years of successful publication. The book is also somewhat autobiographical, as in King's book "On Writing," and gives the reader a unique look at the inner workings of a writer's psyche.

I enjoyed reading this book, and plan to incorporate some of the tools Elizabeth has provided into my next project. My current book, "Abby and the Bicycle Caper," available at Amazon, is the product of heeding Elizabeth's advice to "write away," and is the beginning of what I hope is a continual journey towards improving my craft. I hope to continue building on this small success, using the tools Elizabeth gave me in this book.