Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86397 in Books
• Published on: 1987-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Wow.
I've read several books about writing. This is the most direct, the most practical, and the easiest to read. It's very hard to describe just how positive I am about this book. The strength of it isn't that it gives you secret tips known only by the elite, but that it tells you things that are so obvious that you feel you should have known them all along. Except you didn't. But now you do.

Frey covers such banal topics as premise, conflict, character and dialogue and shows you in a few brief examples that it's so very easy to go wrong on these.

Very, very, helpful.

A 'bible' for the would-be author
Having already read John Braine's book and thoroughly enjoyed it, I thought I'd try another perspective and one whih also had good reviews. As soon as I started to read ' How to write a damn good novel' I realised I found THE book to help any aspiring author. It's extremely well written and the rules/structure of writing are very clearly described and very well illustrated by example.

I genuinely feel ready to begin writing now, but I wont be putting this book on the shelf just yet. I can't imagine any novice (novel) writer being dissatisfied with this book.

Not bad, but not great
I actually read "How to Write a Damn Good Novel II" (aka "How to Write Damn Good Fiction") first, and was so impressed with it that I ordered this guide as well. I was sadly disappointed, although it was interesting to see how his ideas have evolved from the first to the second book (he actually directly contradicts himself on a couple of occasions, although on at least one of those, he does indicate that he has changed his mind since he wrote the first guide).

This book may be useful for the writer who is a complete novice and lacking confidence, as it lays down some fairly direct guidelines that are likely to prevent the follower committing the worst of potential writing sins. However, it's pretty basic stuff, and the more you write, the better idea you'll get of when you can break the "rules" and still intrigue and entertain your readers. I think the most offputting thing about this guide is the number of times you catch yourself thinking of great novels that have enjoyed both critical and commercial success which appear to break the rules he has laid down. This may be why I preferred "How to Write a Damn Good Novel II", as it seems that he has recognised some of his mistakes in the second guide, and also gives illustrations as to how this or that effect was achieved in this or that well known novel.

May be worth a read for context, but I'd recommend skipping directing to his second guide.