How to Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them - Hardcover

Stein, Sol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312209495 ISBN 13: 9780312209490

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1999

Synopsis

Each year thousands of fiction writers, from beginners to bestselling author, benefit from Sol Stein's sold-out workshops, featured appearances at writers' conferences, software for writers, on-line columns, and his popular first book for writers, Stein on Writing. Stein practices what he teaches: He is the author of nine novels, including the million-copy bestseller The Magician, as well as editor of such major writers as James Baldwin, Jack Higgins, Elia Kazan, Budd Schulberg, W. H. Auden, and Jacques Barzun, and the teacher and editor of several current bestselling authors. What sets Stein apart is his practical approach. He provides specific techniques that speed writers to successful publication.

How to Grow a Novel is not just a book, but an invaluable workshop in print. It includes details and examples from Stein's editorial work with a #1 bestselling novelist as well as talented newcomers. Stein takes the reader backstage in the development of memorable characters and fascinating plots. The chapter on dialogue overflows with solutions for short-story writers, novelists, screenwriters, and playwrights. Stein shows what readers are looking for-- and what they avoid-- in the experience of reading fiction. The book offers guidelines-- and warnings-- of special value for nonfiction writers who want to move into fiction. Stein points to the little, often overlooked things that damage the writer's authority without the writer knowing it. And this book, like no other writing book, takes the reader behind the scenes of the publishing business as it affects writers of every level of experience, revealing the hard truths that are kept behind shut doors.

About this title

Review:

Sol Stein likens the reader of fiction to a baseball fan. The "tension, suspense, anxiety, and pleasure" a spectator experiences are "all the things readers hope for when they turn to a novel." In How to Grow a Novel, Stein coaches fiction writers in providing exactly those things for readers. First off, says Stein, you must write what you read; don't try to pull off a romance novel if you are a student of serious literature, or a literary masterpiece if you thrive on thrillers. With that in mind, Stein gears his book toward both "those who are trying to write a good book and those who are trying to write a good read." Most of How to Grow a Novel delineates what Stein considers to be a writer's obligations to his readers. A writer, he says, should be "amusing, entertaining, interesting," should create characters with character, and should maintain interest primarily by "never tak[ing] the reader where the reader wants to go." Stein illustrates his points with examples from his own experiences as a novelist and as a fiction editor.

The final section of the book is devoted to the responsibilities of the publisher. Any but the most stalwart writer can't help but be disheartened by the book business. It has often been said that a publisher determines a book's fate--barring a miracle--long before it is even released, by the funds allocated to publicize it. Stein takes this one step further, positing that a book's positioning is determined "when the agent submits it for consideration.... There are reportedly nearly a thousand literary agents in North American alone, but fewer than a dozen have clout."

Still, take heart, and try to enjoy the process. "Writing is the second most exciting activity a higher power invented for human beings," says Stein. "And when you get to your eighties, it's the first most exciting activity." --Jane Steinberg

About the Author:

In 1999, a distinguished panel convened by the Modern Library published a list of the 100 best nonfiction works of the century. Two books edited by Sol Stein were in the top half of that list. Stein was in his twenties when his play Napoleon won the Dramatists Alliance award as "the best full-length play of 1953." He is the author of nine novels, which have made bestseller lists as far away as Moscow. He is also an anthologized poet, the author of nonfiction books, screenplays, and TV dramas, and the creator of the award-winning computer software WritePro®, as well as FirstAid for Writers® and FictionMaster®. Webster Schott, writing in the New York Times Book Review, said of Stein's novel The Magician, "Beautiful and gripping. I cannot recall a novel of this type with greater pleasure." On another occasion, the Times said, "If you bury yourself in a Sol Stein book while walking, you'll walk into a wall."

Stein has lectured on creative writing at Columbia, Iowa, UCLA, and the University of California at Irvine, which presented him with the Distinguished Instructor Award in 1993. His on-line columns appear on America Online, the Writers Club on the World Wide Web, and elsewhere on the Internet.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312209495
• ISBN 13: 9780312209490
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288