The Nighttime Novelist: Finish Your Novel in Your Spare Time
by
Joseph Bates
Order:
USA
Can
Writers Digest, 2010 (2010)
Hardcover, e-Book
Reviewed by Hilary Williamson
I
n his Introduction to his accessible, spiral-bound
The Nighttime Novelist
, Dr. Joseph Bates (an author of both fiction and non-fiction, who teaches in the creative writing program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio) comments on the fact that '
there are only a handful of writers working who make their living solely by their fiction
' and that '
These Nighttime Novelists publish the majority of the books on the shelves.
' Think big name authors like Toni Morrison, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens.
H
e offers his book to help others join their ranks, by making the most of that time they are able to devote to writing. The volume is in three parts -
Beginnings
(
Developing Initial Ideas
to
Opening Scene & First-Act Structure
),
Middles
(
Crafting & Maintaining Suspense
to
Pivotal Scenes: Plotting & Pacing
) and
Endings
(
The Art of Closing Well
to
Revision: Discovering What You Meant
). At the end of each part of the book is a
Coffee Break
review of progress to date and suggestions on how to plan what's next.
B
ates' tells us that '
Writing a novel begins not in a moment of work but a moment of play
'. His topics include how to get started; brainstorming; establishing a
character arc
; finding your voice; building a world; learning to
toy with
the reader; maintaining suspense, organic story growth; and finding your theme, '
the ultimate unifying force in a novel.
' Along the way, he regularly quotes published writers, as in Ray Bradbury's '
Find out what your hero wants. Then just follow him
' and Elmore Leonard's '
I try to leave out the parts that people skip
') and illustrates his points with examples from published works like
Lord of the Rings
and
Silence of the Lambs
.
T
his very practical
how to
book ends with sage tips on workspace and working habits, and twenty-seven worksheets that are referenced in the earlier chapters and can help develop ideas. If you are, or ever hope to be a
nighttime novelist
, then this volume would make a valuable addition to your writing bookshelf.
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