Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Not a writing handbook, but an effective kick in the backside. November 10, 2008
I'm not 100% convinced that I should be giving this book five stars, as it has the potential to be misleading as to what you can expect from it; but given the number of times I've read it in the past year, the number of times it has made me laugh out loud, and so on, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. (And maybe it'll balance out a certain gent who gave it one star when he'd not even read it ;))
This book is emphatically NOT a writing manual, style guide, whatever. It does exactly what it says on the tin: gets you trying (and in many cases succeeding) to write a shortish novel in 30 days. The quality of said novel might be a little ropey, depending on talent, time, etc, but quite literally thousands of people have found to their surprise and delight that it works.
This isn't a book about how to write the perfect, finished novel; it's about getting a rough draft down on paper so you have something to work with, - and many, many people continue to prove that, yes, you can do that in the space of a month.
It's also not really about producing something that can necessarily be edited into a publishable script. This is sometimes a happy side effect, but it isn't the main point of the book: this book approaches writing the same way most non-professionals approach golf, dancing, music - novel writing as recreation, rather than potential job.
This book is about getting people writing fiction and getting them over the first hurdle, NOT about producing finished, publisher-worthy books in a month. A small but significant number of nanowrimo participants go on to get their polished up book-in-a-month efforts published - a couple of such success stories are mentioned in the book whose books are widely available - so it undoubtedly can be done, but it isn't really the intended end result for all nanowrimo books.
This book won't suit everyone's needs, but it's a great, entertaining little bundle of encouragement, amusement, and blackmail designed to stop you saying "one day I'll write a novel" and say instead "I'm going to write a novel and I'm going to do it now".
If you're looking for detailed ways to plan your novel, grammar guides, style, exercises, etc, this book is not for you (or certainly not on its own). If you're an accomplished writer who has no problems with motivation, similarly, this book may not be what you're looking for (though some established writers have successfully used NaNo as a springboard to reinvigorate their writing or get them over writer's block). If what you need is a kick up the backside to get you writing and get your novel off your chest, then it's certainly worth your while, because that is exactly what this book plans to deliver, and it does it exceedingly well and in an entertaining fashion.
I'm currently mid-wrimo, after starting late and continuing my story post wrimo '07. I've written more in the last year than I ever have in my life on any one project (indeed, possibly just more than I've ever written: 55K and counting) and more in the last 10 days (nearly 20K) than I have ever written in a time frame less than months... largely due to the inspiration, encouragement, and sheer blackmail tactics of nanowrimo and this book. If your creative side needs kicking into gear, then I personally cannot recommend this highly enough.
Motivation with bells on October 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you're teetering on the edge of starting a novel, I highly recommend this book.
It's a fun read, but what you take away from it is the realisation that it really doesn't matter that much WHAT you get on paper in the first draft, as long as you get the story down. You realise that there's no point in agonising over beautiful prose at this stage - all you need to do is pour a nice glass of vino and bash the story out. The time for refinements and polish comes later.
The book's a great kick up the a*se if you're procrastinating about starting a novel, and it's responsible for me getting 50,000 words on paper in six weeks, which says a lot.
Funny, brilliant, best August 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Chris Baty's guide to writing novels is simply the best available today. It is written specifically for those who try (dare) to write a 50,000 word novel during National Novel Writing Month. But his hints and insights into the creative process behind writing novels hold true even if you allow yourself a bit more time. Baty's fun and immensely encouraging book has guided me to my own first draft novel, and I found that, in every part of the way, his advice was spot on. Highly recommended!
 30 days?! April 10, 2008
1 out of 28 found this review helpful
First things first, I haven't read this book.
However, I am a novelist with nine completed novels under my belt, and I can tell you two very important things. The first is that you're not going to write anything like a novel in 30 days, not unless you can dedicate yourself to the task for 12 hours a day or more for the whole of that time. If you have a full-time job, forget it. I work full-time and it takes me four or five months to write a first draft of a novel. Then the work really begins.
Secondly, 50,000 words isn't a novel. Not at all. I've seen another reviewer talking about writing something this length in 30 days after reading this book - well, great, but if you work on an average of 300 words per page then a paperback copy would be 166 pages. Not a novel in my book - more like half. A nice little novella. Go and have a look in your local bookshop and find a normal looking paperback. Count the words on any page. Multiply it by the number of pages in the book. It won't be 50,000. I work to a guide of 100,000 words.
Writing a novel is tremendous fun and very rewarding, but you need to go into it knowing just how much work you have to put into it for the result to be any good. It's not a question of spending an hour or two a night for a month and then having it finished - it will be a long hard slog, and that's just the first draft.
 Wish I could give 4-1/2 stars October 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was created by National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) founder Chris Baty. It is an excellent book for an aspiring writer regardless of whether you participate in NANOWRIMO or not. It gives clear instruction on the key elements of novel writing and also proves to be a great cheerleader for the cause of getting that first draft finished. I enjoyed it thoroughly and found it very encouraging. Since this book is very basic and mostly targeted at the novice writer, it deserves more than 4 stars, but not quite 5 stars. This book would be a good addition to any new writer's library.
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