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First off, let me say that not all writing books are for all writers, and this
is one of those books that will only appeal to some. It is not
, however, only appropriate for screenwriters and screenwriting hopefuls. I
hold the firm opinion that the smart writer will look outside books aimed only
at his specialty if he wants to learn and if you want to write novels, and
if you're having problems with plotting them, this book will give you superb
tools you can use to plot your novel.
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The key element in
Screenplay that makes it such a terrific reference is what Field refers to as
the paradigm. He can call it a paradigm. You can call it a plot diagram.
Either way, if you follow his advice and create one, you'll find that all the
stupid, trite, overused, predictable things you were putting into your novel
and hating will fall away, leaving you with something that is fresh, and new,
and surprising.
You'll need to do a bit of basic arithmetic to change the screenplay paradigm
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into a novel paradigm. Just remember that the average novel is between four
and six-
hundred pages in double-spaced typed manuscript form. Figure your plot points
(you'll find out what they are in the book) to fit at the appropriate spots in
a work of that length instead of in a work that can't go longer than one
hundred twenty pages, and you'll be set.
Go ahead and read the whole book. The other sections are interesting, and the
whole thing is entertaining and well written. However, the screenplay
paradigm is a gem that is worth much more than the price of the book on its
own one that has helped me figure out where I was going wrong on two novels
now, and that has helped me restructure them so that they worked to my
satisfaction, and my publisher's. If the part of writing that drives you
craziest is plotting, you owe yourself this book.
"
The Career Novelist by Donald Maass
Heinemann Books, ISBN 0-435-08134-9 pub. date 1996
Written by respected agent Donald Maass, The Career Novelist covers in
intelligent and thoughtful detail the facts of life for any writer who wants
to make it as a professional. In twenty clear-eyed chapters, Maass details
everything from when to quit your day job to how to find the right agent to
how to keep from sinking your own career ... to how to revive it if you've
already made serious mistakes. While geared for the already-published writer,
this book should be required reading for the hopeful beginner, too the
things you learn here will, with your own talent and hard work, get you where
you want to go faster, better, and without the stupid and painful detours that
are otherwise so easy to take.
And what if you are published? After fourteen published books, I discovered
this manual and with it the best definitions of scope and scale and sweep I've
yet to find. I
discovered that I could have avoided a number of mistakes that have cost me
both time and effort. I did some hard refiguring on both where I was and where
I wanted to
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be. Using this book and my own agent's sagacious advice, I made changes that
have pointed me in the direction I want to go.
This is the essential roadmap for planning your own success.
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Section 6: BONUS ARTICLES
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My Five Worst Career Mistakes, and How You Can Avoid
Them
I ve written some very good books. I debuted well my first novel, Fire in
the Mist
, won the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel and I was a finalist twice
for the
John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer. My books are consistently rated
highly by Amazon.com readers many of them have five-star ratings. I ve had
wonderful reviews, I get letters and e-mails regularly that say I don t read
fantasy but I read your stuff, and I read a lot of fantasy and you re my
favorite author, and
I ve even a really nice note from one of my copyeditors, telling me that she
loved working on my book even though she kept getting sucked into the story,
because it was a great story.
And yet I ve had to struggle to make it in writing. I m still struggling,
nearly ten years into my career. Why?
I made five big, avoidable mistakes when I was just getting started. I didn t
have anyone to tell me not to make them, I didn t know any better, and as a
result I m having to seriously consider working under a pseudonym, something I
swore when I
started that I would never do.
I didn t have anyone to tell me not to make these mistakes, but you have me.
It s hard writing about them now I cannot look at what I ve done and think
about what I
could have done without feelings of deep regret. Please listen. What I have
to say here can save your career from sinking before it even starts.
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MISTAKE NUMBER ONE I did not find a publisher who published my genre well.
I submitted
Fire in the Mist to only one publisher, and I chose that publisher not because
of careful consideration of that publisher s list, and not because that
publisher had shown a consistent pattern of creating bestsellers in my chosen
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