How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic StorytellingWritten in a clear, crisp, accessible style, this book is perfect for beginners as well as professional writers who need a crash course in the down-to-earth basics of storytelling. Talent and inspiration can't be taught, but Frey does provide scores of helpful suggestions and sensible rules and principles. |
Contents
WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT IS WHO | 1 |
THE THREE GREATEST RULES OF DRAMATIC WRITING CONFLICT CONFLICT CONFLICT | 27 |
THE TYRANNY OF THE PREMISE OR WRITING A STORY WITHOUT A PREMISE IS LIKE ROWING A BOAT WITHOUT OARS | 49 |
THE ABCS OF STORYTELLING | 68 |
RISING TO THE CLIMAX OR THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE PREMISE | 84 |
VIEWPOINT POINT OF VIEW FLASHBACKING AND SOME NIFTY GADGETS IN THE NOVELISTS BAG OF TRICKS | 98 |
THE FINE ART OF GREAT DIALOGUE AND SENSUOUS DRAMATIC PROSE | 122 |
REWRITING THE FINAL AGONIES | 150 |
THE ZEN OF NOVEL WRITING | 161 |
173 | |
Other editions - View all
How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic ... James N. Frey No preview available - 1987 |
How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic ... James N. Frey No preview available - 1987 |
Common terms and phrases
acter action Andy becomes beginning Big Jake Big Nurse biographies called char character's Christmas Carol climax core conflict create critics crucible Cuckoo's Nest damn good novel detective dialogue Dickens dilemma draft dramatic novel dramatic story emotional feels fiction firing first-person narrator flashback Foreshadowing formula fiction Fruitcake genre Ghost give Godfather Godzilla happen Here's Homo fictus Humbert Humbert imagists inner conflict J. D. Salinger Kurt Vonnegut Lajos Egri Leamas limited omniscience Lolita look love leads Madame Bovary maximum capacity McMurphy Michael Corleone Moby-Dick mother murder narrative of events narrative voice novelist objective viewpoint Okay omniscient viewpoint private eye prose protagonist prove the premise reader rewrite ruthless scene Scrooge status quo situation stepsheet stereotype story questions struggle symbol tell thing Trippet trying Uncle Wilmont unreliable narrator What's wife write a novel writer's block written