This Year you Write Your Novel

Locations
Call Number: 808.3 Mo, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Literary Arts / Writing & Publishing / Mosley, Walter
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	808.3 Mo	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Literary Arts / Writing & Publishing / Mosley, Walter	4-week checkout	On Shelf

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Fiction Profile
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Not Very Engaging submitted by SurfGrape on June 15, 2014, 8:38am Write every day.

Mosley starts with this advice and repeats it often in this slim volume. Every book for writers says that. But so what? It’s simple math: the more you work, the more books you’ll produce. There is nothing that makes this advice special. Nor is there much that’s special in any of Mosley’s tips. THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL is a hundred pages of bland, uninspiring prose with none of the verve and hard truths that make Mosley’s novels so fascinating.

THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL is full of the basics we all learned in school. Mosley discusses first versus third person narration, show-don’t-tell, and the uses of dialog. But it’s prescriptive rather than descriptive. He’s great at telling you what works, but isn’t much interested in why it works or how to do it. He seems to have little insight into his own process, much less that of other writers.

I’m okay with books that don’t offer much actual instruction if they offer something else, like inspiration. I like some good cheerleading as much as the next writer, and if an author can remind me how awesome writing is, I love that book forever. However, Mosley is a workmanlike writer, with a regular routine. It’s just a job to him; certainly nothing to get excited about.

That’s not to say that THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL is all bad. I liked Mosley’s emphasis on rewriting, knowing that it takes multiple drafts to finish a novel. He is humble and straightforward, but in trying to erase his self-importance from THIS YEAR YOU WRITE YOUR NOVEL, he seemed to erase his own personality as well. Mosley probably didn't offend any writers with this book, but he didn't engage many of them, either.