THE ICE PICK

The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Novel Writing, edited by Tom Clark [and others]. Cincinnati, Writer’s Digest Books, 1998. ISBN 0-89879-507-9. 260 pages. $14.99.

This book is a collection of thirty-seven of the "best articles . . . on writing novels" that have appeared in Writer’s Digest magazine (www.writersdigest.com) since about 1979. The authors include many names familiar to science fiction and fantasy writers: John Gregory Betancourt, Orson Scott Card, Jack Dann, Dean R. Koontz, Nancy Kress, Joel Rosenberg, Stanley Schmidt, Darrell Schweitzer, and George H. Scithers.

The articles cover every aspect of novel writing from "I have an idea," through plotting, creating characters, "choosing your storyteller," developing setting, writing "believable love scenes," and using dialogue, flashbacks, and foreshadowing. These are followed by articles on the business end of writing: deciding whether or not you need an agent, "negotiating your book contract," and dealing with a copyeditor. All of these articles contain plenty of inspiration, but the emphasis throughout is on the nuts and bolts (or in our case, "pens and inks") of writing good, sellable fiction.

This isn’t a "pie-in-the-sky," "how to make a million bucks quick" book, but rather a compilation of practical advice that you can really use in writing your novel. It covers the simple things, like how to create fictional geographic names that sound real, whether it’s better to make changes in the margins of drafts or by cutting and taping your pages, and how to do a "slap-dash" outline for those who need guidance, but don’t like the formal, detailed kind. And it also covers the difficult things, like going from writing short stories to writing a novel and how to create the illusion of reality in a story.

I found the index to be excellent, the articles of uniformly high quality, and the book enjoyable to read--something that, unfortunately, doesn’t happen very often with how-to-write books.

Like the magazine itself, much of the information is basic and aimed at beginners, but most of it is for the amateur or the professional who feels the need to learn more. I recommend that beginners read through it, learn what they can, and come back to it again and again as they progress.

No book can teach you how to write, but this one can help you get started or help you improve your writing. And if you’re feeling blocked, it can perhaps give you the inspiration to "finish that novel before it finishes you."

{Published in SF & Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Aug. 2001.}