Novel Writing A Writers' and Artists' Companion

by Gunesekera, Romesh; Kennedy, A.L.; Angier, Carole; Cline, Sally

• ISBN13: 9781780937106
• ISBN10: 1780937105
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-03-26
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Packed with tips from bestselling and prize-winning authors, Novel Writing: A Writers' and Artists' Companion will give you all the practical advice you need to write and publish your novel.

PART 1 provides an introduction to the forms and history of the novel and helps you plan and research your masterpiece, develop characters and compelling narratives and your own authorial voice.

PART 2 contains guest contributions from Philip Pullman, Louise Doughty, Glenn Patterson, Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Franzen, Stevie Davies, Doris Lessing, Tash Aw, Elif Shafak, Anne Enright, Tim Pears, Anita Desai, Tim Lott, Amit Chaudhuri, Andrea Levy, Alan Hollinghurst, Bernardo Atxaga, Hanan Al-Shaykh, Michèle Roberts, Joan Brady, Lynn Freed, Evelyn Toynton as well as a number of the 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists including Kamila Shamsie, Tamima Anam, Naomi Alderman, Ned Beauman, Jenni Fagan and Joanna Kavenna.

PART 3 offers practical advice on collaborative writing, overcoming writer's block, editing and rewriting and finding an agent and a publisher for your work.

Written by two multi-award winning authors, this is a comprehensive manual for established and aspiring novelists alike.

Author Biography

Romesh Gunesekera's first novel Reef was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. He is the author of six novels including The Sandglass, (winner of the inaugural BBC Asia Award) and Heaven's Edge, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

A L Kennedy is a prize winning novelist and author of short stories and non-fiction and Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick, UK. Her novels include Everything You Need (1999), The Blue Book (2011) and Day (2007) which won the Costa and Saltire Book of the Year.

Table of Contents

Part I: Writing Novels
Romesh Gunesekera and Jill Dawson in Dialogue
What is A Novel?
A Brief History of the Form
Writing Your First Novel
Can You Teach Creative Writing?
Beginnings
Voice and Language
Setting and Place
Character
First Person or Third Person Point of View?
Pace and Atmosphere
Narrative Drive
Endings
What Do You Need to Writer a Novel?
The Zone: What Is It?
Part II: Tips and Tales - Guest Contributors
Kate Moss / Julian Barnes / Andrea Levy / Peter Carey / Salman Rushdie / Kate Pullinger / Susan Elderkin / Barbara Trapido / A. L. Kennedy / Tim Lott / Michele Roberts / Graham Swift / Andrew O'Hagan / Tim Pears / Philip Hensher / Kamila Shamsie / Tamima Anam / Michael Ondaatje / Kate Grenville / Barbara Kingsolver / Hanif Kureshi / Margaret Atwood / Caryl Phillips / Jewell Parker-Rhodes / Helen Dunmore / Marilyn Robinson / Anne Tyler / Colm Toibin / David Mitchell / Joyce Carol Oates / Hari Kunzru / Curtis Sittenfeld / Robin Hemley / Louise Doughty / Sarah Hall / Paul Auster / Kathryn Heyman / Anne Enright
Part III: Write On
1. Writing Alone
Decisions
Research and Planning
Tools
Routine, Finding the Time
Finding A Voice
Starting A Novel
Keeping Going
Finishing It
Rewriting and Editing
2. Writing With Others
Group Exercises
Alternatives
3. How to Get Published
An Agent's View
An Editor's View
An Author's View
How to Write A Synopsis

Resources and Further Reading
Index