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Summary: The pre-eminent resource for budding authors
Review: I have been dabbling at writing a novel for some time now, but my motivation always lagged halfway through because of a lack of verifiable information on how to actually write and sell a novel. This book has been an inspiration to me and has kept me on the straight and narrow as I write my novel. Hopefully it will be on Amazon.com sometime soon!
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Summary: Great!
Review: I have read a lot of books on the subject of writing, yet never have I been so encouraged by one. I would not hesitate to recommend it. I will definitely read it again.
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Summary: Devoid of theory (thank God) yet full of pragmatic tips.
Review: I have read Gardner's monsterpiece as well as Forster's and have come to the conclusion that this book is preferable to both. Why? It's written by an editor, not a writer, so it is vastly more objective than anything an author of fiction could produce. Unromantic to a fault, it is packed with good ol', common sense advice on how to write a publishable book.
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Summary: Practical and encouraging
Review: I really found this book to be very helpful. Great tips from people who obviously know the score.
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Summary: The most thoughtful gift I ever recieved.
Review: I received this book as a gift from my husband as I was halfway through a novel that I was writing. It gave me a lot of confidence-as I read the tips, I realized that so far I had been doing everything correct. I sent the finished product via a query to 20 publishers and the first response that I received wanted it. I keep this book close to me as I work on my next novel.
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Summary: Most helpful, practical book I've read on writing a novel.
Review: I've read more than a few good books on writing; several are quite inspirational. The difference here is that this book is practical. I wrote my first novel following the guidelines set forth in Collier and Leighton's book, and I sold it to a major publishing company. Inspiration is great; inspiration plus methodology is better.
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Summary: Better ones are out there.
Review: It's an interesting book for someone who aspires to write a novel. But I did not find nearly as much practical advice and instruction as I hoped. For example, there are only a few pages on plotting your novel. Evan Marshall's book on novel-writing, on the other hand, has about 60 pages. This book is more of a pep talk, a "you can do it" kind of thing. If that's what you're looking for, this is it. But for something to help you get a novel written, I'd look elsewhere. Marshall's, which I mentioned, is a favorite of mine, but there are others, too.
Rating:
Summary: Better ones are out there.
Review: It's an interesting book for someone who aspires to write a novel. But I did not find nearly as much practical advice and instruction as I hoped. For example, there are only a few pages on plotting your novel. Evan Marshall's book on novel-writing, on the other hand, has about 60 pages. This book is more of a pep talk, a "you can do it" kind of thing. If that's what you're looking for, this is it. But for something to help you get a novel written, I'd look elsewhere. Marshall's, which I mentioned, is a favorite of mine, but there are others, too.
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Summary: Some irrelevant information
Review: The book started out extremely well, the first chapter was inspirational and very informative. The second chapter explained the different genres of fiction, i.e. mainstream, romance, mystery, etc. Further along the book, I found the book was most practical in its advice on preparing your final draft and submitting it to publishers. The second part of the book is basically a biography covering the lives of several authors. Some were quite interesting as they were compressed into two or three pages, such as the careers of John Grisham, Stephen King, and Mary Higgins Clark. I do admit those were very inspirational as well. The disappointment was in the long, extensive, and detailed biographies of George O'Toole, Steven Linakis and a few others. I believe this was hardly relevant to the subject; one may think they were included in the book for inspiration to the reader, but the amount of detail that is put in there about the authors' lives may tend to leave you wondering, "He (Oscar) could've said that in a page, why'd he use up 8 pages?"
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Summary: This book got me started!
Review: The practical advice in this book got me started! I began the "three page a day" regime and I have now written three novels--my first, "Forever Retro Blues" is published. I knew very little about publishing, but this book directed me how to write, look for an agent, publisher, etc. They give inspiring examples of how someone went from a nobody, to a publishered writer. Examples abound of how persistance pays off. If you really want to get off the ground, get this book!
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