How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to avoid at All Costs if You Ever Want to Get Published - Softcover

Mittelmark, Howard; Newman, Sandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141038543 ISBN 13: 9780141038544

Publisher: Penguin, 2009

Synopsis

There are many ways prospective authors routinely sabotage their own work. But why leave it to guesswork? Misstep by misstep, How Not to Write a Novel shows how you can ensure that your manuscript never rises above the level of unpublishable drivel; that your characters are unpleasant, dimensionless versions of yourself; that your plot is digressive, tedious and unconvincing; and that your style is reliant on mangled clichés and sesquipedalian malapropisms. Alternatively, you can use it to identify the most common mistakes, avoid them and actually write a book that works.

Guardian Award shortlisted novelist Sandra Newman and veteran editor Howard Mittelmark have distilled 30 years of teaching, editing, writing and reviewing fiction into a hilarious and liberating guide that is the perfect read for anyone who's ever laughed at a badly written piece of prose and for anyone who's ever penned one - and doesn't want to do it again.

About this title

Review:

'For anyone who is writing a novel, even if they shouldn't ... Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark have produced an invaluable guide'

Book Description:

'Chummy in tone ... most enjoyable are the passages from spoof novels illustrating common mistakes'

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0141038543
• ISBN 13: 9780141038544
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272