Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 808.3 EAN: 9780312010447 ISBN: 0312010443 Label: St. Martin's Press Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 192 Publication Date: December 15, 1987 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Sales Rank: 6561 Studio: St. Martin's Press
Product DescriptionWritten 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.
An international bestseller, How to Write a Damn Good Novel will enable all writers to face that intimidating first page, keep them on track when they falter, and help them recognize, analyze, and correct the problems in their own work.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Simple and excellent
This is a simple to read book, with excellent advice and direction. A very good start to writing a novel for a beginner. Read it before you start writing!
Rating: - You gotta outscore the other team! Coaching your novel to victory.
My temptation is to rechristen this easy-reading book, _How to Write Pulp Fiction_. Frey's tone is a bit like a crew cut football coach. "You wanna win? Do ya? You gotta play hard! You gotta block. You gotta give a hundred and ten percent! Be a man." Of course, the content is different. It's more like: "Give yer characters personality! Spice up your dialogue! You're not gonna win if you don't have rising tension! You wanna get published? Get a premise!" I get the sense the man's had ... Read More
Rating: - If you write novels, don't miss this one!
I've read a lot of books on fiction and novel writing. There are a lot of good books available on the subject. You can read more and better advice on writing than you could a few decades ago, when there was little to be had.
James Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel is exceptionally good. He points out subtle but quintessential aspects all of us in the fiction writing field need to know. Most books on Amazon.com dealing with this area of skill cover the elements of fiction in helpful ... Read More
Rating: - "It Does Help To Follow Proven Formulas/Guidelines"
"How To Write A Damn Good Novel", James N. Frey, St. Martin's Press, NY, 1987. ISBN: 0-312-01044-3, SC 174 pgs. Contents 3 pgs 8 ½" x 5 3/4".
Author Frey, a well-published novelist also taught novel and fiction writing courses at Univ. of Calif., Berkeley.
Like other authors, Frey developed and writes with strong witty prose that reinforces many of the ideas he shares with his students. Unlike some teachers on novel writing, he delves deeply into the essence of story-telling, ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent and readable
Most of the books that I've read on writing concentrated on a single facet of writing. This one tackled the task as a complete process, and for that reason is the single most useful book that I have. I'm into chapter 6 of my own book now, so I didn't get this just as an academic exercise. If you are actually going to create, this is the one to have.
- Simple and excellent
- You gotta outscore the other team! Coaching your novel to victory.
- If you write novels, don't miss this one!
