What is the best book to help a person learn how to write a novel?

Answer 1

While TrueAim makes a good point about studying a novel you really enjoy to see how the writer created its structure and characters, I must disagree with the statement re how-to books being written by and for "losers and wannabes." I myself have written magazine columns focussed on how-to info for aspiring writers.

The books I most often recommend include:

James N. Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel, along with its two sequels

Nancy Kress, Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

Jack M. Bickham, Scene and Structure

Any of Gary Provost's books, for fiction or nonfiction. This man was the single best teacher I've had, with a real gift for showing people how to make the most out of every word.

Natalie Goldberg's books, especially Writing Down the Bones. Her exercises for stimulating creativity, along with her approach to the technique known as "freewriting," are among the best.

The Writer's Digest Bookshelf series, from Writer's Digest Books, offers many very good books with serious nuts and bolts information.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your novel!

Answer 2

I am going to tell you a secret that very few people know or will tell you. The best book to help you write a novel is an existing novel that you really love and admire. Just read it, over and over. Think about it. Study it. Make notes on it. Reflect on it. That, more than anything else in the world, will show you how to write a novel, how a novel works. Write with love, for love, to love, in love. As Dante says in the last few lines of "Paradisio," love is what moves the stars and the other heavenly bodies. There are a million "how to write a novel" books out there. I recommend you stay away from those. They are written by losers and wannabees for losers and wannabees. If you can't figure out how to write a novel by studying a single novel you love, then you are not a writer and should not be trying to write a novel. What I've told you is the truth. Think about it. Best wishes. P.S. I'd love to hear about what you are writing about, why you want to write a novel, what kind of novel you want to write, who your favorite writers are, etc. if you care to tell me.

Answer 3

True Aim makes a very good point; the best books on writing are the books by writers you admire and whose success you wish to emulate. If you are writing genre, study the successful writers in that genre. For example, if you are writing detective fiction, you should read Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Laura Lippman, John Sandford, etc. You should also read the so-called greats for how they attack the craft of writing- i.e., Dickens on characterization, Hemingway on narrative, etc. Good writers are well read.

If you are looking for a guidebook, you can't do much better than Lawrence Block's "Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print ". Block is one of the most successful popular writers today, and this is a good selection of tips and advice he's learned over the years.

You might also try Writer's Digest Magazine. The Pros actually use it.

Answer 4

The two best books I ever found on this were "Writing - The Craft of Creative Fiction" by Olaf Ruhen (publ. Cheshire 1964), and "Playwright at Work" by John van Druten (Hamish Hamilton 1953). They may be both out of print, but you could find them through special booksellers, rare books, etc. Ruhen was a New Zealander, studied in USA with John Steinbeck and had short stories published widely there. He developed a perceptive and thoroughly practical approach to fiction, including plotting and characterisation. VanDruten was a very successful and famous American playwrite who wrote a similarly thoroughly systematic book on plays. However his approach is equally applicable to novels or short stories. Both basically propose that plot grows from characters in conflict, and proceeds through a series of actions, like little scenes or "vignettes" which reveal both character development and plot movement. (In which the protaganist, or antagonist is eventually changed). But first you need something you really want/need to write about, and a setting with which you are familiar - it's not enough to "want to be a writer". It's a driving compulsion, not a role. Good luck.

Answer 5

Have you ever heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)?

http://www.nanowrimo.org

They say that the trouble with novels is getting the first draft done. Writers get hung up on the details and that takes time, and may slow them down to a point where they lose sight of getting the novel done. If you commit yourself to getting a first draft done in one month, you're more likely to get the plot out than to get hung up on the small things. Plus, you get a first draft out of it - you can go back and work out the details later.

They also have a handbook about writing novels: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811845052/nationalnov09-20/002-7172524-4130461

Answer 6

If you're looking for books specifically on writing two of my favorites are "Bird By Bird" by Anne Lamott and "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. The latter deals primarily with nonfiction, but is immensely useful regardless.

Answer 7

I want third man or woman, yet a lot of human beings want 1st. What makes a e book better is utilising the splendid point of view for the e book and characters in specific. that's thoroughly man or woman.

Answer 8

the best way to learn about writing is to read. Make the authors your teachers

Answer 9

Just read, and you will se how other people write and this will teach you to write, however indirectly. I don't think there's a good writer in the world who doesn't read a lot.

Answer 10

Stephen King's "On Writing" is excellent.