- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company (19 May 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316910422
- ISBN-13: 978-0316910422
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15 x 2.6 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 783,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
This book discloses the hidden nuts and bolts of what makes a huge bestseller tick, and shows how you too could write a novel that might sell millions of copies. The topics covered in this book include: how to develop and use a synopsis or outline of your novel; the value of setting your novel in an exotic or unique world; how to choose and build your characters; to control point of view and use it as a technique for developing reader empathy; how to knit together the relationships between characters; to weave plot strands in order to build maximal climaxes; how to build scenes while setting up suspense and maintaining current action; what a story point is and how to make sure each chapter includes at least one. All of this is illustrated through numerous examples of current, and timeless, popular fiction, including "Gone With the Wind", "The Godfather", "The Thorn Birds" and the works of Ken Follett, who has contributed the introduction.
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29 reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
The Blockbuster Author's Bible--An Absolute MUST HAVE!
5 Jan 2000
Format:Hardcover
If you want to write "serious" literature, look elsewhere. But if you want to write a blockbuster novel, one that will top the bestseller charts and be read for decades to come, then you NEED this book! Not a course in literature or even in novel writing (Zuckerman presumes that you know the basics) this book is a guide to writing the "big book," the book all agents dream of finding, the book that will earn you the million dollar advance, be sold to the movies, etc. While it's not absolutely necessary to read the blockbuster novels Zuckerman cites in this work, it does help, and some familiarity with them is certainly necessary. Knowing example is the best teacher, Zuckerman takes us, step-by-step, through each of the requisite elements of a blockbuster novel--elements that each and every big book share. The book is not for everyone, though. If you aspire to short-story writing or the writing of small, quiet books that may be excellent but will never "take the world by storm" then you'll probably find Zuckerman "too commercial." But if it's commercial you're looking for, this book is truly worth its weight in gold. Thank you Mr. Zuckerman for writing it, and a special thanks to Ken Follett for sharing his early drafts with us. You both did far more than you'll ever know and we appreciate it.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Resource for Mainstream Novelists
15 Mar 2000
Format:Hardcover
This book should prove very helpful to writers of commercial fiction. It's not necessary to read the blockbusters (Man from St. Petersburg, GWTW, Godfather, Thorn Birds) to follow Zuckerman's arguments, though the novels will certainly help any writer learning the craft. The Follett outlines demonstrate how a serious (and ambitious) novelist crafts his work prior to writing. The outlines give a very detailed look at the novel in its various stages of development, and Zuckerman's analyses of them are dead-on. However, Zuckerman pays too little attention to the other novels: he's not nearly as detailed or insightful of their inner workings as he is with Follet's, which he edited. Moreover, the inclusion of "Garden of Lies," a novel written by his wife, seems to be a ploy to squeeze royalties out of an anachronistic book that few nowadays would consider a blockbuster. But Zuckerman is an agent, after all, so such tactics shouldn't scare die-hards off.
Zuckerman warns that the first-time novelist attempting a blockbuster might be biting more than he can chew, since he he isn't talking about any ordinary bestseller, but a "blockbuster." However, some of his advice (e.g., not to write a historical work) must be taken with a grain of salt because, even as he points out, most of the works he's dealing with are period pieces. In addition, anyone looking for a "how to write" book will not find much guidance here (Zuckerman assumes we know the basics of conflict, structure, character, etc.). Nor does he delve into the matter of how to sell your work.
Overall, an excellent resource to your writer's library, and well worth the price. Writers who aspire to blockbusterdom (or just plain bestseller status) owe Zuckerman a big thanks.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
a little something extra
30 Aug 2004
Format:Paperback
This book IS different from most others. First of all, where other authors bob and weave about exactly what you should do, Al hits you in the face with it. If you agree, fine. If you disagree, better get some other book. For instance, he lays out his value criteria: "high stakes; larger-than-life characters; a strong dramatic question; a high concept; a farfetched plot premise; intense emotional involvement between several point-of-view characters; and an exotic and interesting setting."
Really, there's the whole book for you in a nutshell. In separate chapters, he elaborates each of these elements. If you're not sure you want to base your novel on a farfetched premise? Or have larger-than-life characters? Well, you have a problem.
He also devotes about a quarter of this rather short book to discussing in detail the re-writing of one of Ken Follett's novels. If you don't want to write the type of novel Follett writes, better choose some other writing book.
Still, if you can afford one more book on writing, this one might challenge some of your assumptions and provoke you to make your novel just a little more gripping.
Really, there's the whole book for you in a nutshell. In separate chapters, he elaborates each of these elements. If you're not sure you want to base your novel on a farfetched premise? Or have larger-than-life characters? Well, you have a problem.
He also devotes about a quarter of this rather short book to discussing in detail the re-writing of one of Ken Follett's novels. If you don't want to write the type of novel Follett writes, better choose some other writing book.
Still, if you can afford one more book on writing, this one might challenge some of your assumptions and provoke you to make your novel just a little more gripping.
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