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"Plenty of how-to books are strong on theory - they explain the theory of writing arresting openings, of creating interesting characters and so forth - but Sol Stein s strength is that he demonstrates these things in highly practical terms." --Writers News
"Having edited such luminaries as Dylan Thomas and James Baldwin and published several novels, veteran Sol Stein has put together a quirkily instructive guide... A companionable guide to what constitutes un/successful writing." --The Times
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The book is divided into three sections. Section 1, "The Responsibilities of the Writer" comprises the vast bulk of the material (about 170 of 200 pages). The section title offers a hint about the nature of Sol Stein's writing philosophy: to give readers the exerience they want. Among the tools Stein offers for this are conflict, character building, writing dialogue that crackles rather than flopping, point-of-view... there are plenty of other books that cover these topics, but not many with this depth of accessible insight (one exception, perhaps, is Orson Scott Card's "Characters and Viewpoint").
It's worth noting that this book was published in the USA as "How to Grow a Novel", and is available under both titles on Amazon -- something that could lead to duplication for Sol Stein completists, but at least it means you can sample the text by going to Amazon's US website and using their "Look Inside" feature on "How to Grow a Novel".
Regardless of the title on the cover, for a single source aimed at the moderately advanced writer who wants to learn (in Stein's word) to be "writerly", I don't think this book can be bettered.
Also, Sol Stein has "walked the walk", having written a number of successful novels himself. The litmus test of a book about how to write a pageturner is whether the book itself is a pageturner: this one was.
Some of the advice or observations sound slightly old-fashioned, notably Stein's attitudes towards technology. But the core stuff, namely the stuff about getting (and keeping) your reader gripped, rings true.
Full of great advice, I have since read novels in a different light. Read more
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