Writing the Blockbuster Novel [Paperback]

Albert Zuckerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002

Every novelist dreams of it--writing the book that rockets to the top of the best-seller lists. Now, they can see how it's done, up close, in a book by an agent who has sold manuscripts that turned into hits. Here Albert Zuckerman covers the essential elements of the blockbuster novel and shows writers how to put them to work in their books. Zuckerman covers the subject thoroughly, from creating outlines and building larger than life characters to injecting suspense and more. His instruction is decisive, direct and clear and is supported with examples from Gone With the Wind, The Godfather and other blockbusters.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Writing the Blockbuster Novel is part fiction-biology textbook, part cookbook. Its author, Albert Zuckerman, dissects the commercial bestseller, then provides recipes for each discrete element. Settings, according to Zuckerman, should be "topical, trendy, 'sexy'"--either newsworthy hotspots or uncharted territory--and main characters, à la Don Corleone and Scarlett O'Hara, should loom larger than life. Like Hollywood blockbusters, "mega-books" should be high concept, with high stakes. Zuckerman discusses point of view (there should be multiple), character relationships, plotting, revision, and especially outlining. "Every mega-book with which I've been involved was planned and replanned and planned again," he confides. Indeed, a 63-page chapter here features four versions of Ken Follett's outline for The Man from St. Petersburg and an analysis of each. Still, no matter how good your outline, remember that there's a learning curve. A beginning novelist writing a successful blockbuster novel, says Zuckerman, is about as likely as "a high school athlete trying to play with the Dallas Cowboys." --Jane Steinberg

From Library Journal

Zuckerman, a veteran literary agent representing such best-selling authors as Ken Follett and Eileen Goudge, here explains how authors can get their novels onto the best-sellers list. This book is not intended for beginning writers but will help those who have mastered the craft of novel writing and now wish to write a book with blockbuster potential. Of course, there are no guarantees here: the reading public is fickle, and, ultimately, readers are the ones who make best sellers. That said, Zuckerman knows what works most of the time. He spends the two largest sections of the book on outlining and revision. Authors need to know where they are going, and a detailed outline will help them map a plan to bring together all the characters and plot lines. Best-selling novels by Follett, Goudge, and others are used as examples. This will be useful in libraries that serve writers. Recommended.
- Lisa J. Co chenet, Plainfield P.L. Dist., Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; 2 edition (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582971277
• ISBN-13: 978-1582971278
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #541,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Blockbuster Author's Bible--An Absolute MUST HAVE!, January 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing the Blockbuster Novel (Hardcover)

If you want to write "serious" literature, look elsewhere. But if you want to write a blockbuster novel, one that will top the bestseller charts and be read for decades to come, then you NEED this book! Not a course in literature or even in novel writing (Zuckerman presumes that you know the basics) this book is a guide to writing the "big book," the book all agents dream of finding, the book that will earn you the million dollar advance, be sold to the movies, etc. While it's not absolutely necessary to read the blockbuster novels Zuckerman cites in this work, it does help, and some familiarity with them is certainly necessary. Knowing example is the best teacher, Zuckerman takes us, step-by-step, through each of the requisite elements of a blockbuster novel--elements that each and every big book share. The book is not for everyone, though. If you aspire to short-story writing or the writing of small, quiet books that may be excellent but will never "take the world by storm" then you'll probably find Zuckerman "too commercial." But if it's commercial you're looking for, this book is truly worth its weight in gold. Thank you Mr. Zuckerman for writing it, and a special thanks to Ken Follett for sharing his early drafts with us. You both did far more than you'll ever know and we appreciate it.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Resource for Mainstream Novelists, March 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing the Blockbuster Novel (Hardcover)

This book should prove very helpful to writers of commercial fiction. It's not necessary to read the blockbusters (Man from St. Petersburg, GWTW, Godfather, Thorn Birds) to follow Zuckerman's arguments, though the novels will certainly help any writer learning the craft. The Follett outlines demonstrate how a serious (and ambitious) novelist crafts his work prior to writing. The outlines give a very detailed look at the novel in its various stages of development, and Zuckerman's analyses of them are dead-on. However, Zuckerman pays too little attention to the other novels: he's not nearly as detailed or insightful of their inner workings as he is with Follet's, which he edited. Moreover, the inclusion of "Garden of Lies," a novel written by his wife, seems to be a ploy to squeeze royalties out of an anachronistic book that few nowadays would consider a blockbuster. But Zuckerman is an agent, after all, so such tactics shouldn't scare die-hards off.

Zuckerman warns that the first-time novelist attempting a blockbuster might be biting more than he can chew, since he he isn't talking about any ordinary bestseller, but a "blockbuster." However, some of his advice (e.g., not to write a historical work) must be taken with a grain of salt because, even as he points out, most of the works he's dealing with are period pieces. In addition, anyone looking for a "how to write" book will not find much guidance here (Zuckerman assumes we know the basics of conflict, structure, character, etc.). Nor does he delve into the matter of how to sell your work.

Overall, an excellent resource to your writer's library, and well worth the price. Writers who aspire to blockbusterdom (or just plain bestseller status) owe Zuckerman a big thanks.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a little something extra, August 30, 2004

By 

bookloversfriend (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing the Blockbuster Novel (Paperback)

This book IS different from most others. First of all, where other authors bob and weave about exactly what you should do, Al hits you in the face with it. If you agree, fine. If you disagree, better get some other book. For instance, he lays out his value criteria: "high stakes; larger-than-life characters; a strong dramatic question; a high concept; a farfetched plot premise; intense emotional involvement between several point-of-view characters; and an exotic and interesting setting."

Really, there's the whole book for you in a nutshell. In separate chapters, he elaborates each of these elements. If you're not sure you want to base your novel on a farfetched premise? Or have larger-than-life characters? Well, you have a problem.

He also devotes about a quarter of this rather short book to discussing in detail the re-writing of one of Ken Follett's novels. If you don't want to write the type of novel Follett writes, better choose some other writing book.

Still, if you can afford one more book on writing, this one might challenge some of your assumptions and provoke you to make your novel just a little more gripping.