Writing and Selling Your Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Discusses the qualities of a professional writer, and offers advice on plot, viewpoint, characterization, and tactics for selling a novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; Revised edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898797888
• ISBN-13: 978-0898797886
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #319,261 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 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

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.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alert would be writers, July 28, 2001

By	"bradleyryanjohn" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

For all of you budding writers out there, who just can't seem to pull it all together, you've just found your new bible. In this instructional guide Bickham successfully interweaves elements of plot formation, character development and scene structuring, effectively creating perhaps the most comprehensive `Writing Fiction' manual available on today's market. Read it, enjoy it and I wish you the best of luck in your writing.