Writing and Selling Your Novel [Hardcover]

Jack Bickham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

Bickham -- who has sold more than 80 novels -- shows how to write publishable fiction by presenting a professional approach to all facets of writing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; Revised edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898797888
• ISBN-13: 978-0898797886
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book; great exercises; easy to read, April 6, 2001

By 

MISTER SJEM "sonofhotpie" (CALIF BAY AREA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Novel (Hardcover)

I recently bought 9 books on novel writing when I decided I was going to shift from screenwriting to novels (I want creative autonomy and it's unlikely to get it as a screenwriter in Hollywood under other people).

Besides Lawrence Blocks's TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, this is one of the best books of the bunch on writing techniques.

In it, some things you will learn:

(1) THE RIGHT ATTITUDE AND WORKING HABITS: one of the best I have read of 30 sources!;

(2) STIMULUS AND RESPONSE: very good;

(3) GETTING IT SOLD;

(4) INTERESTING CHARACTERS: some great highlights; and

(5) SCENE AND SEQUEL: advanced steps but necessary

Additionally, there are exercises after each chapter which are quite good for beginning novelists. He used to be a writing instructor at Oklahoma University so he knows how to teach.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drastically Improved My Writing Skills..., July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Novel (Hardcover)

I love this book, and it's a keeper on my shelf, this. And if you're debating between buying this book and that of Bickham's former writing teacher, Dwight V. Swain, "Techniques of the Selling Writer" go for this one--it's the less tedious of the two. Though I must say, both were wake-up calls for me.

And although I'm not published yet, because of all I've learned from these two authors' works (and Bickham especially since he goes into greater detail in his many how-to-write books) I've finaled in four out of five Romance Writers of America Chapter contests within the last year with the same manuscript and won one of those contests.

This book has worked wonders for me--as I'm sure it will you.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the story teller in today's marketplace., January 22, 1998

By 

John Jurek - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Novel (Hardcover)

The chapters on Scene and Sequel, and Story Architecture are particularly specific and useful. Scene and sequel are better explained in detail in his other book: Scene and Structure, but he gives the basics here. His twelve "rules" on architecture are invaluable if you're going for the "good read." Some writers might chafe under such checklists and specific structure, but even within the borders of Bickham's constellation for the well-tempered novel there still exists a vast universe of space to fill in with the imagination. There's still plenty of artistic space to either screw up in or write the Great Novel out of. Chapter one, Professional Attitude, is a must read. Together with Work Habits in chapter 2 he presents a way of thinking of oneself as a writer and working that could be expanded into an umpteen habits of highly effective writers workshop. This is a book for the writer who wants to be a story teller in today's marketplace.