Craig's review - 12 december 2008
Many writers I know cherish Stephen King's ‘On Writing'. Personally, it helped reestablish and reinforce my love for the craft. And for many horror writers, the handbook ‘On Writing Horror' (by The Horror Writers Association) is seen as an invaluable addition to their reference collection. I would like to make writers of every genre aware of the third text that doesn't leave my sight – David Morrell's ‘The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing' (Sourcebooks, Inc, 2008).
If you are not sure who David Morrell is, I just need to mutter ‘First Blood' aka ‘Rambo'. Yeah, that guy. Author of over 20 novels and short story collections (many that border on horror, such as the novel ‘Creepers'), David Morrell is one of the world's greatest thriller writers. His four-decade career alone warrants the writing of this text, but before he became a full-time writer, Morrell was also an English professor. To put it bluntly, he knows his stuff.
Which could have made for a boring series of lectures on the standards of grammar, point of view, editing techniques, and so on. Instead, Morrell shares a very personal series of writing lessons, which of course makes the text unique. There are so many wonderful tips for writers, such as creating a dialogue between yourself or your character to flesh out the aspects of your story (including a reason for writing it), which writers can use as somewhat of a novel outline to guide them forward. Yes, you'll have to talk or write to yourself – just point out the long-term advantages to your partner/family before they think you're crazy.
‘The Successful Novelist' is the 2008 revision of his earlier work, ‘Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing'. It contains a new section on publicity and marketing, and expanded/revised points in most chapters. Even if you had the earlier edition, I suggest you look at this one.
There are great lessons on: the benefits and disadvantages of each point-of-view; how to create great, succinct dialogue; the psychology of description; the all-important first page to get readers (well, time-starved editors) to read on; methods for dealing with writer's block; and the shifting role of the author (author as marketer), which is very handy to know. There is a brilliant section on writing for the movies, with a very honest introspective on the different process (from writing novels). Morrell provides stories about successes and failures, and may have you thinking twice about chasing the Hollywood dream.
That is the one word I could use to describe this whole text: honest. Morrell breaks down the writing process and the creative industry by recalling what he himself has gone through. It is not simply saying ‘I've written heaps of novels, made lots of money, and now you can too'. It gives a brutally frank look at what he and others have done and gone through. He looks at mistakes made, by himself and others. And so on.
The only bad point about this text is that it is not readily available in bookstores (hence why people should be more aware of it!). I eventually ordered my copy through an online bookstore. I hope you do the same (actually, keep pestering the bookstores), and have it on your reference shelf soon.
the novel
'The Successful Novelist'' by David Morrell (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2008) - Writing Guide
