Writing and Selling Your Novel

Rating:
Summary: Alert would be writers
Review: For all of you budding writers out there, who just can't seem to pull it all together, you've just found your new bible. In this instructional guide Bickham successfully interweaves elements of plot formation, character development and scene structuring, effectively creating perhaps the most comprehensive 'Writing Fiction' manual available on today's market. Read it, enjoy it and I wish you the best of luck in your writing.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book; great exercises; easy to read
Review: I recently bought 9 books on novel writing when I decided I was going to shift from screenwriting to novels (I want creative autonomy and it's unlikely to get it as a screenwriter in Hollywood under other people).

Besides Lawrence Blocks's TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, this is one of the best books of the bunch on writing techniques.

In it, some things you will learn:

(1) THE RIGHT ATTITUDE AND WORKING HABITS: one of the best I have read of 30 sources!;

(2) STIMULUS AND RESPONSE: very good;

(3) GETTING IT SOLD;

(4) INTERESTING CHARACTERS: some great highlights; and

(5) SCENE AND SEQUEL: advanced steps but necessary

Additionally, there are exercises after each chapter which are quite good for beginning novelists. He used to be a writing instructor at Oklahoma University so he knows how to teach.

Rating:
Summary: Drastically Improved My Writing Skills...
Review: The chapters on Scene and Sequel, and Story Architecture are particularly specific and useful. Scene and sequel are better explained in detail in his other book: Scene and Structure, but he gives the basics here. His twelve "rules" on architecture are invaluable if you're going for the "good read." Some writers might chafe under such checklists and specific structure, but even within the borders of Bickham's constellation for the well-tempered novel there still exists a vast universe of space to fill in with the imagination. There's still plenty of artistic space to either screw up in or write the Great Novel out of. Chapter one, Professional Attitude, is a must read. Together with Work Habits in chapter 2 he presents a way of thinking of oneself as a writer and working that could be expanded into an umpteen habits of highly effective writers workshop. This is a book for the writer who wants to be a story teller in today's marketplace.

Rating:
Summary: Good resource for writers
Review: Want to study the art of rich character development, look no further. Fundamentals, techniques and fine tuning; it's all in there.