Mastering the Process
From Idea to Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
'After a number of years teaching writing courses and appearing at writers' conferences, I began to see that creating a process book utilising one of my novels as an example of each step of my process might prove useful to people who are interested in novel writing or in how this individual writer approaches the complicated task of putting together a British crime novel.'
As the author of twenty-four novels, Elizabeth George is one of the most successful - and prolific - novelists today. In Mastering the Process, George offers a master class in the art and science of crafting a novel, sharing her wealth of experience with would-be novelists, and with crime fiction fans. Using her actual work to illustrate the various steps of novel writing that she explores in this book, she illustrates her points about plotting, characterisation and technique with great clarity and generosity.
Drawing from her personal photos, early notes, character analyses, and rough drafts for every stage of her novel Careless in Red, George offers us an intimate look at the procedures she follows, from researching location to imagining plot to creating characters to the actual writing and revision processes themselves. At the same time, she gives invaluable advice for writers about what has worked for her - and what hasn't. Mastering the Process provides writers with practical, prescriptive, and achievable tools for creating a novel, editing a novel, and problem solving when in the midst of a novel, from a master storyteller at the top of her game.
Elizabeth George has taught creative writing both nationally and internationally for over thirty years and is the author of Write Away, described as 'one novelist's approach to fiction and the writing life'.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mystery author George (The Punishment She Deserves) demonstrates her own cardinal virtues of writing careful organization and meticulous attention to detail in this skillful guide to creating a novel. Not one to wait for inspiration, George goes about her writing process like a job a "challenging and deeply satisfying," but still step-by-step, routine. She concentrates on explaining how she attends to character development, setting, dialogue, and developing plot points, offering exercises at each chapter's end. The book's great strength is in using excerpts from her 2008 novel, Careless in Red,to illustrate potentially abstract ideas, such as the choice among providing new situations, information, characters, or character agendas to create a turning point in the plot. Aspiring authors will likely have already heard her advice in one form or other, but the examples make it tangible and usable. Another strength is an emphasis on hard work: George describes, for example, her exhaustive process of writing every major character's backstory. For those looking to access the same passion that might drive a Thoreau or Virginia Woolf, George is not a go-to. Craft is her m tier. Writers looking for practical insights will find this book to be of great merit.