I Have This Nifty Idea: Now What Do I Do With It? (Hardcover)

~ Mike Resnick (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"This is one of the niftiest how to books for writers I've seen yet. Resnick has collected the actual proposals by a number of major writers and collected them together, along with occasional remarks by or about the authors. Prospective writers can look at exactly what it was that sold a particular book or series, not just some idealized version or soulless outline. The contributors include Robert Silverberg, Joe Haldeman, Stephen Leigh, Barry Malzberg, Walter Jon Williams, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Jack McDevitt, Katharine Kerr, David Brin, Susan Matthews, and others. Useful for writers, but fascinating for many readers as well." -- Don D'Ammassa, Science Fiction Chronicle

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158715482X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587154829
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,647,764 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an essential guide for the stumped, July 26, 2005

By	--E (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Have This Nifty Idea: ...Now What Do I Do with It? (Paperback)

When a new writer is ready to submit a completed novel, he or she frequently agonizes over how to boil down a 150K-word novel into a synopsis.

Most of us learned to write essays by reading essays, fiction by reading fiction, and specifically genre fiction by reading in our chosen genre. What better way to learn to write a synopsis than to read a pile of real synopses and the comments of the authors who wrote them?

The synopses demonstrate the plain, direct language of a synopsis (as opposed to the artful language of fiction prose). And they show that the length of a synopsis will vary considerably depending on the structure of the book it synopsizes. If you happen to have read one of the novels, you can compare the level of detail in the synopsis with the full story, and begin to understand just what qualifies as "nonessential."

While this book is probably most useful for science fiction and fantasy writers, it can be a valuable tool for writers of all genres. This is not a "read for fun" kind of nonfiction. Reading a pile of synopses is *not* a lot of fun. I would rather read the full novels. But pay attention to the language, the level of detail, and the structure of the synopses; writing your own will become a lot easier.