Writing a Novel: And Getting Published

by Nigel Watts

Book Overview

LEARN HOW TO WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL WITH THIS COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE. This new edition of an acclaimed guide to writing a novel helps you if you are just at the very beginning of your writing journey,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0844231061
• ISBN13: 9780844231068
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Length: 179 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

excellent help for the novelist

This book is NOT written to inspire you to write a novel. Its purpose is to provide help for people already inspired. Nigel Watts has included excellent tips and examples and "how-to" advice for just about any question one might have. It's a friendly, helpful, wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a book like this.

Great Guide on Writing & Getting Published

Written by an award-winning international novelist and professional educator, the content matches the title- some structure & tools for the creative task of writing quality novels (and other documents) and getting them published. Action-packed concise, attractive chapters address: introduction, beginning, plot, the eight-point arc (e.g. stasis, trigger, quest, surprise, critical choice, climax, reversal, and resolution), sub-plot and symbolism, character, dialogue, viewpoint, setting the scene, style, theme, editing and shaping, the personality of the writer, support, and marketing.This book facilitates better creative writing & editing- offering tools often embedded deeply in much lengthier courses or books. An improvement could be to include a chapter on web-publishing. Overall, highly recommended for use as a thoughtful and deep working book.

Nigel's Got It

I don't know what it is, but Nigel Watts has got it. Truth be told, how-to books about writing are most often a waste of time. But, somehow, Mr. Watts has taken the same old material and made it fresh, relevant, and accessible. Any aspiring writer will be uplifted by the author's unique and encouraging voice. Nigel Watts is a modest man writing -- and teaching -- with great skill.

A seminal book for novelists, aspiring or already in print.

This book is a distillation of the best of Nigel Watts' teaching over the last ten years. His lucid grasp of the subject and the value of his technical help are fantastic, but nowhere near as helpful as the way he clearly writes from, and to, the heart. Watts returns the art of writing to where it needs to be and often isn't these days: to the heart and soul of the writer. You want to be an unforgettable, authentic novelist, and not just a post-modern imitation? Read this book.

Excellent, and really useful

I must disagree with the US reviewer who found it worthless. Perhaps he is jaded, or just read it badly. Perhaps he doesn't know the English writers of repute who reviewed the book thus: "This should be a very useful book for those aspiring writers to whom it is addressed" (P.D.James); "Writing a novel is hard, but writing about how to write one is even harder. A book so full of excellent technical advice as this one runs the risk of limiting the imagination; but Nigel Watts avoids that trap, giving the would-be novelist a license to write with his or her own unique voice." (D.M.Thomas) I also came across a review in Writers Monthly: "I'm mightily impressed by this book. I read it through in an afternoon, and I still find myself dipping into it now and again for words of wisdom and inspiration. Buy this book if you can, and prepare yourself to be impressed as well." (Jamie Gracie)