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Review
"Creative writing courses up and down the country are jammed. But everything you need is in this wonderful volume... Stein is a fascinating guide and teacher. This should be required reading for all Booker prize judges and about 90% of published authors." --Daily Mail
"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
"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
Synopsis
In ths book, Sol Stein, one of the greatest editors of our time, offers help on the most important recurrent problems novelists encounter when learning their craft. With numerous examples from the work of both established bestselling authors and talented newcomers, combined with detailed analysis, he reveals the secrets that can lift a piece of creative writing and give it that spell-binding quality that holds the reader enthralled. The need to give the reader a unique experience, the necessity for conflict between characters, the importance of instant attraction, what makes a character compelling and a plot gripping; why dialogue should never mimic spoken conversation and how misplaced or unnecessary words can slow down the narrative - all this and more is conveyed in this entertaining yet practical book that provides all the benefits of an individual tutorial.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By HLT
Format:Paperback
I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to take the next step to becoming a competent fiction writer (the step that most amateur writers never take). If you've read one or two titles from the Writer's Digest series, for example, and want to go further and deeper, this is well worth a look. What you'll find here isn't a glib set of checklists and formulae. Instead, you get Sol Stein's philosophy of fiction writing.
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 experience 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.
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 experience 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.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Unlike so many other creative writing guides, Solutions for Novelists does not read like a text book. Instead of being lectured on the theory of fiction writing, it is as if you are lucky enough to walk into a bar and get chatting to a man who knows a hell of a lot about good writing. Even better, he is able to convey all this information to you in a chatty, entertaining manner. At the end of it, you feel as if you have been incredibly lucky to have a personal audience with such a knowledgable, entertaining guy, instead of feeling you have just sat through an interminable lecture. A creative writing book that leaves you feeling desperate to get writing. Highly recommended.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Read any 'How to write a novel' type books and thought, "Hmm... maybe that's good advice, but I'm not totally convinced"? With this book, my reaction was often, "Wow! So THAT'S where I was going wrong!"
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By DIB
Format:Paperback
A very useful follow up to the brilliant Solutions for Writers. I am very glad I bought it. Stein is a successful editor so he knows exactly what he's talking about and he gives great practical advice that can really improve a novel. I think you need to read it with his earlier book, Solutions for Writers. I would say it is essential reading. BUT BEWARE. The title of this book is SOLUTIONS FOR NOVELISTS. It is exactly the same book as Stein's differently titled, but cheaper HOW TO GROW A NOVEL. Make sure you don't buy the same book twice like I did.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Bobby Jarvis
Format:Paperback
As an aspiring writer, I found this book to be an excellent source of knowledge.
Full of great advice, I have since read novels in a different light. I couldn't understand how some were regarded as 'great international bestsellers' given their basic flaws such as changing point-of-view within scenes.
My only two criticisms of this book are that some of the extract texts didn't give me an 'emotional experience' as described by the author. The other being a few typescript errors.
But even so, I am going to buy his book on 'Solutions for Writers'.
Full of great advice, I have since read novels in a different light. I couldn't understand how some were regarded as 'great international bestsellers' given their basic flaws such as changing point-of-view within scenes.
My only two criticisms of this book are that some of the extract texts didn't give me an 'emotional experience' as described by the author. The other being a few typescript errors.
But even so, I am going to buy his book on 'Solutions for Writers'.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The title and subtitle of this book say it all. Solutions abound for writers of fiction to enable the reader of their work to have a truly excellent reading experience. The secrets Sol Stein reveals as a master editor are often simple, yet profound. What surprised me most was how enjoyable it was to read, unexpected from a how-to book. Thank you Mr Stein!
By Amazonian
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book helpful although a little out of date as it was written too long ago to encompass modern technology. Rather dogmatic in places and Sol Stein blows his own trumpet too regularly.
By VK
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a beginner and when I handed in the first draft of my manuscript to my Editor, she recommended me to go through this book. This was I think the best recommendation that she made, apart from hundreds of others which were very nice. I found this book to be very useful. It helped me put my whole manuscript in a very different perspective. It gives you such tips as would make you think and re-think about the project you are working on. Most of the material is clearly reinforced with excellent examples so it makes it all the more easy to understand. Overall,I would recommend it to anyone who is starting out to write his/her First Novel.
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