Product Description

'teach yourself Writing a Novel' is an informative, yet creative, user-friendly and straightforward guide to writing good fiction. It covers everything from story arcs and themes to characterisation and language, and additionally offers plenty of practical advice for those facing the dreaded writer's block, and practical writing exercises for those wanting to refine their skills. Additionally, it gives a full guide to available creative writing courses, now fully updated in this third edition, and plenty of further reading resources for budding authors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72946 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
"[an] excellent book for beginners" -- Writing Magazine - Jun/Jul 2003 issue 20030512 "A well-structured guide...packed with valuable tips, hints and writing exercises... An excellent tutorial" -- The New Writer - May/June 2003 20030514 "a must-read" -- the good book guide 20030514 "This should be a very useful book for those aspiring writers to whom it is addressed." -- PD James 20030514 "Writing a novel is hard, but writing about how to write one is even harder. A book so full of technical advice as this one runs a risk of limiting the imagination; but Nigel Watts avoids that trap, giving the would-be novelist a licence to write with his or her own unique voice." -- DM Thomas 20030514 "There are so many aspects of the text that I applaud, that it's difficult to pick out any single passage..." -- Elizabeth North 20030514

Review

" an analytical and highly practical guide to the craft of novel writing."

The New Writer - May/June 2003
"A well-structured guide...packed with valuable tips, hints and writing exercises... An excellent tutorial"

Customer Reviews

One of my favourites of the genre
There are any number of books around offering help with the writing of your novel. Some are excellent, some are next to worthless. No book is going to write the novel for you - you have to do that yourself, and it will require discipline, commitment, courage, and hard work. But there are books which are useful - I've reviewed a few in my time and top of my current list are Paddy Kitchen's "The Way to Write Novels", and this book by Nigel Watts. While Kitchen will give you a big motivational boost and keep you determined, Watts offers a first class analysis of the problems and challenges you will face, offering practical, digestible advice to help you deal with these.

Watts deconstructs the novel, looking at every aspect, from plot to characterisation, from the function of storytelling to the management of conflict, from subplot and symbolism to the eight-point arc. This is a sophisticated piece of analysis, yet an analysis which is readily accessible to the reader. Kitchen's most telling points are to suggest that you should only begin writing your novel after you've lived with the idea for some time and still haven't lost interest ... and then to encourage you to give yourself permission to actually make a start. Watts' major contribution is to provide you with the tool box to start tinkering with your novel once you do start writing it. Kitchen kick starts your efforts, Watts gets you up, running, and able to fine-tune the product. Both offer practical lessons and exercises to stimulate you and get your creative gears turning.

Watts' writing is very readable. He will take you into some of the theory and psychology of the novel - remember, it really only exists once someone starts reading it - but he does not obscure his message or make it dense with academic reference. This is a book you should keep beside your notes and your work in progress, a book you can refer to stimulate your own self-criticism of your writing. Criticism and self-criticism are good if they are constructive and help you improve, but the first step is that you should enjoy the process of writing. Nigel Watts will give you the advice and the self-confidence to be self-critical. What you do after that is, of course, up to you. But if you are writing a novel, or have plans to do so, then read this book from cover to cover!

Great guide
I thought that this book was a really great guide to novel-writing. I purchased it about two years ago, along with Teach yourself: Creative Writing and Teach yourself: internet for writers. I found this book to be the best of all three of them specifically for novel-writing, although Creative Writing was a good all-rounder of the writing field.

The book is fairly short, compared to some others I have read, but rich in quality and the clear skill of the author. It is written with ingenious quotes (worth remembering) and brilliant excercies to get your thirst for novel-writing into full throttle!

All-around it was a brilliant read, practical and worthy of praise, a must-have for any aspiring author.

Amazing insight into a world little known to me.
For many years I've wanted to write a novel. I've tried a couple of times, but have ground to a halt around page Chapter 3. The last time I tried was 1996.

This publication has given me knowledge I never realised I needed, but which I know now will help me a great deal. Possibly more importantly, "Writing A Novel" has given me the motivation to finally take that blank page and make my first mark on it.

Excellent for a front-to-back read, but just as good as a reference manual.

Five golden stars - thank you Nigel Watts!