How Not to Write a Novel
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Review
This writing how-to should carry a warning: it's the kind of book one reads at the expense of all other responsibilities. (Library Journal )
A great resource and a fun read with a lot of solid advice for would-be novelists. (Publishers Weekly )
A great resource and a fun read with a lot of solid advice for would-be novelists. (Publishers Weekly )
Review
'[a] hilarious, wickedly observed and deeply useful guide'
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
very entertaining but not particularly helpful,
By
This review is from: How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want to Get Published (Paperback)
I found this book extremely entertaining, and it would pass a couple of amusing hours for anyone, wannabe writer or not. I laughed out loud at points, and it certainly does stand out from all the other writing help guides out there.However, the most notable way it stands out is by not being particularly helpful. There are some useful pointers in here; however, it mainly gives the impression of being an opportunity for the authors to vent some anger towards hopeless writers. The style is condescending, smug and mocking. The fact is, however, that the hopeless writers at whom this book is clearly aimed would have no use for it: they will never be successful, no matter what. Those writers who stand a fighting chance - who have basic ability but need some help - are the ones that benefit from writing guides and this book is not for them. The examples are so clearly ludicrous, and many of the pointers so blatantly obvious, that if you don't already know them you should stay away from fiction at all costs. Therefore the authors have defeated their own objective. They manage to poke fun at, and alienate, the very audience they're trying to sell to. I think there is a lot of value to this book. However, it should be rebranded in the 'humour' section, as it is definitely an entertaining read rather than a helpful guide to novel writing.
52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and helpful,
By
This review is from: How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want to Get Published (Paperback)
This isn't a writing course -- it won't help you generate characters, overcome writer's block or find the inspiration to unleash the artist within. But it does contain some very good pointers towards the kinds of fault that will send your manuscript into the waste basket, and it's written by people who know.I found it intermittently very funny, and usually helpful; some of the recommendations will be familiar to anyone who's read anything similar before, but it's mostly fresh and zippy enough. You'll get through it in a single sitting, but it would make a useful pre-flight checklist for any fiction manuscript. Certain Amazon reviewers seem to have found this book personally offensive, and the examples of mistakes insulting to unpublished writers. On the other hand, one of those reviewers doesn't know that a 'straw man' is a deliberate misrepresentation of an opponent's position, designed to be easily refuted, and not a deliberate exaggeration designed to make a salient point clearer, which is what the parodic examples in this book are. I'd say they're made so comically awful partly in order to *avoid* offending or discouraging unpublished writers. The implicit 201st piece of advice here is probably: if you're dreadful enough to find the examples insulting, and you can't see how bad you are even after it's pointed out to you, give up.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Remember-the-obvious how-to-book,
By
This review is from: How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want to Get Published (Paperback)
Humorous? Yes. "How not to write a novel" is about how to write a book with no plot, cardboard people, and using horrible language. And that is funny, but the sarcasm does get a little old, when every one of the 200 mistakes is "attacked" in the same way.Full of gold nuggets? There are some - hey, not everyone strikes it rich. This is a great little remember-the-obvious-how-to-book, but then again, I guess the obvious mistakes are also the most recurrent mistakes. All in all, this is a humorous little book, but not the book that will be dog-eared and underlined and used time and time again in my writing endeavours. Louise.
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