Customer Reviews

Writing a Novel (Teach Yourself Series)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Written by an award-winning international novelist and professional educator, the content matches the title- some structure & tools for the creative task of writing quality novels (and other documents) and getting them published.

Action-packed concise, attractive chapters address: introduction, beginning, plot, the eight-point arc (e.g. stasis, trigger, quest, surprise, critical choice, climax, reversal, and resolution), sub-plot and symbolism, character, dialogue, viewpoint, setting the scene, style, theme, editing and shaping, the personality of the writer, support, and marketing.

This book facilitates better creative writing & editing- offering tools often embedded deeply in much lengthier courses or books. An improvement could be to include a chapter on web-publishing.

Overall, highly recommended for use as a thoughtful and deep working book.

Often I'm afraid that books of this nature will focus too much on the "mechanics" of writing. That it will lack soul and somehow detract from my own creativity or individuality. This book DOES NOT do that. It balances well between concrete guidelines for constructing plot, theme and character and abstract "artisitc" advice. The chapters are short and concise, wasting no time in delivering to you the information that you might be looking for. I highly recomend it.

This book is NOT written to inspire you to write a novel. Its purpose is to provide help for people already inspired. Nigel Watts has included excellent tips and examples and "how-to" advice for just about any question one might have. It's a friendly, helpful, wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a book like this.

I suppose there is a whole debate about whether creative writing can be taught or not. Taking as a starting point that there is a use for books about the creative process, this is a good a place to begin as any. Concise, thoughtfuil, useful. It won't make you a writer, but it might help you avoid the more obvious pitfalls of the task of novel writing. Humane and encouraging too - and who can't use a bit of encouragement?

I must disagree with the US reviewer who found it worthless. Perhaps he is jaded, or just read it badly. Perhaps he doesn't know the English writers of repute who reviewed the book thus: "This should be a very useful book for those aspiring writers to whom it is addressed" (P.D.James); "Writing a novel is hard, but writing about how to write one is even harder. A book so full of excellent technical advice as this one runs the risk of limiting the imagination; but Nigel Watts avoids that trap, giving the would-be novelist a license to write with his or her own unique voice." (D.M.Thomas) I also came across a review in Writers Monthly: "I'm mightily impressed by this book. I read it through in an afternoon, and I still find myself dipping into it now and again for words of wisdom and inspiration. Buy this book if you can, and prepare yourself to be impressed as well." (Jamie Gracie)

This book is a distillation of the best of Nigel Watts' teaching over the last ten years. His lucid grasp of the subject and the value of his technical help are fantastic, but nowhere near as helpful as the way he clearly writes from, and to, the heart. Watts returns the art of writing to where it needs to be and often isn't these days: to the heart and soul of the writer. You want to be an unforgettable, authentic novelist, and not just a post-modern imitation? Read this book.

I don't know what it is, but Nigel Watts has got it. Truth be told, how-to books about writing are most often a waste of time. But, somehow, Mr. Watts has taken the same old material and made it fresh, relevant, and accessible. Any aspiring writer will be uplifted by the author's unique and encouraging voice. Nigel Watts is a modest man writing -- and teaching -- with great skill.

Like most writers, I have read many a writing book and they all start to sound the same after awhile. The thing I love about this one is that Watts seems to take all the useful things in the other books and put them into one. I often feel like I'm sifting through books and gleaning only a few useful ideas and writing them down in my notebook. With this book I find myself taking notes constantly. If you're looking to spend more time writing and less time reading about writing, I highly recommend this book.

This how-to book has plenty of practical tips, food for thought as well as helpful warnings of common mistakes to avoid. The reading is brisk, due to smartly-organized mini chapters throughout.

Housekeeping note: of three how-to books on novel writing I've so far read, I was surprised that there were numerous spelling mistakes or misplaced words in Watts' book (and I'm not referring to mere British vs. American word spelling variations). For a book on the art of writing, one would expect -- or at least hope -- that the proofreader wasn't quite so asleep. That, and a few too many vague instructions on "do this, but don't do what I just told you too much" lowered an otherwise 5-star book to a 4 or 4 1/2. Hopefully they'll clean up the sloppy typos and make some of the instructions clearer on a subsequent edition of this otherwise nifty work.

His analysis of plot structure and theme is original and very helpful. I have read many books about creative writing over the years, and his paradigm of structure is - I think - unique. His treatment of characterisation is very thorough, and the whole book is shot through with humour and insight. Highly recommended.