I've been writing novel-length books since I was fourteen and I've always treated novel-writing like building a house. Building a good foundation is pretty much imperative if you want the rest of the "house" to be stable. True, there are people who dive right into a story without any world-building, character-building, or any of that, but it's rare that that's successful. And this little gem of a book has all kinds of fun exercises, from family trees to character profiles to different scenarios for you to write out that really help you think about your characters, their world, the plot, and the novel as a whole. Whether you're a novice or a pro, this book is helpful to any aspiring novelist. Give it a whirl. I think you'll like it.