No Plot? No Problem!
My first book of the year, read for the 50bookchallenge
1) No Plot? No Problem!, by Chris Baty, 172 pages
Written by the man behind National Novel Writing Month, this book is a tongue in cheek motivational tool for those undergoing the novel-in-a-month process. I found it an entertaining, quick read, but most of its advice focuses less on the writing process in general, and more on problems specific to high-octane noveling, such as how to avoid conflicts with work, and how to maximize your productivity so that you can produce 50,000-plus words in a month.
Much of the advice is flippant, and while the humor is nice, the book often fails to give serious answers to these questions. Probably because there are no good answers. It does, at least, start with the assumption that writing a book in thirty days is absolutely insane, so that's helpful. Or at least honest.
It is also oriented toward those who have never written a novel before. For this reason, I found it less helpful than I might have otherwise, since I have enough experience in this area to know that I needn't worry.
Entertaining, but not vital. And books on craft really should be vital, since we don't read them for entertainment.
Part of the 50bookchallenge
link
1) No Plot? No Problem!, by Chris Baty, 172 pages
Written by the man behind National Novel Writing Month, this book is a tongue in cheek motivational tool for those undergoing the novel-in-a-month process. I found it an entertaining, quick read, but most of its advice focuses less on the writing process in general, and more on problems specific to high-octane noveling, such as how to avoid conflicts with work, and how to maximize your productivity so that you can produce 50,000-plus words in a month.
Much of the advice is flippant, and while the humor is nice, the book often fails to give serious answers to these questions. Probably because there are no good answers. It does, at least, start with the assumption that writing a book in thirty days is absolutely insane, so that's helpful. Or at least honest.
It is also oriented toward those who have never written a novel before. For this reason, I found it less helpful than I might have otherwise, since I have enough experience in this area to know that I needn't worry.
Entertaining, but not vital. And books on craft really should be vital, since we don't read them for entertainment.
Part of the 50bookchallenge
link