Writing / Book Review.
I've recently bought some books to become a better writer, and some of those were Janice Hardy's.
At 300 pages this one’s a bit bigger, and of the three Janice Hardy books I’ve picked up this one feels the most like a real ‘text book’, something to study. You can actually buy a companion ‘work book’ to work out the questions at the end of each chapter, but you don't really need it.
Topics
- working out an idea to a plot
- antagonist, protagonist, other characters
- working out characters
- determine what drives your novel
- point of view, narrative distance, tense
- first versus third, past versus present tense
- several ‘classical’ story structures
- type of novel, genre, marketing (this section is a bit thin)
- size and scope
- summary line, blurb, synopsis (this takes up a third of the book)
Missing (somewhat)
What could have made the book better is:
- why someone would write (instead of flipping burgers)
- tools (what to use when writing or documenting)
- tips (how to keep track of notes, characters, events, locations, plot)
- publishing platforms (from the classic big 5 to Amazon to WattPad)
- purple prose
Fortunately, most of the topics above you can find on the web on all sorts of pages and blogs. I understand why some topics were not addressed: the book would become way to big and too confusing. As it is now it is a great tool to structure yourself and your story. It's just that I'm a completionist -- is that a thing?
Verdict
Verdict: good, but could be better. I suggest you buy this one as an e-book as it isn’t a reference guide you want to browse through. Unless you're like me and you don't handle study books well on an e-reader...
If this is your first attempt at writing a book you’d better get this one… It will save you a lot of heartache and rewrites.
To experienced writers it still might come in handy building up your summary, blurb and synopsis, three things most writers struggle with.
More
- Janice Hardy
- Writing Essentials
- Writing (all writing related posts on this blog)
Dapper / TellTales #118
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