December 29, 2006

Back to the Basics

How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Novelist. By Janet Evanovich.
How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author. By Janet Evanovich and Ina Yalof.

The number of writing books have grown exponentially since I first held the hope that the secrets to being published could be found in them. But do they really work? What do they really say?

Each writer has their own unique take. Jack Bickham's "Writing Novels that Sell" focus on the end result, and what you need to write to get there. Stephen King's "On Writing," in between anecdotes drawn from his writing life, discusses procedures and visualizations (his metaphor of writing behind the closed door seems to have resonated among many beginning writers). Lawrence Block has created a series of writing books, many drawn from the column he used to write for Writer's Digest. Writers such as Lynn Viehl offer e-books of advice.

Plus there are reference guides for mystery writers, Regency history presented in bite-sized chunks for the romance writers, even books about the publishing industry. And the interminable yearly lists of agents, editors and publishers. Agents have joined in, such as Donald Maass ("The Career Novelist" and "Writing the Breakout Novel") and Al Zuckerman ("Writing the Blockbuster Novel"). Even literary writers have turned their attention to How To Do It: Jane Smiley ("13 Ways of Looking at the Novel"), Margaret Atwood ("Negotiating with the Dead"), Rita Mae Brown ("Starting From Scratch").

I would joke that you don't even have to write a novel to write a how-to book, but Susan Page already accomplished that "The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book."

So, what could Janet Evanovich, the best-selling author of the Stephanie Plum mystery/romance series, have to offer in"How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Novelist"? She has authority. Her numerically ordered series, now up to "Twelve Sharp", are authentic best-sellers, not some publicists' creation. Surely she can pass along the things she's learned the hard way.

And she does, to a certain degree. Her 230-pages of advice is set down in a Q-and-A format, sent in by her readers. The type is big, the margins narrow, and there's plenty of boxes for sidebars on various subjects ("Cliffhangers", "Literary Agents", "Point of View Essentials"). She covers all the basic points: characters, plots, narration. She also answers questions about herself, why she created Stephanie Plum and made her a bounty hunter, and is she happier writing mysteries instead of romances. It all goes down so smooth it's easy to convince yourself that you can sit down and bash out a novel, if you want to write a novel like hers.

So is there anything she misses? Just the details. What happens when a book goes pear-shaped. What can slow down the narrative. How much does writing really pay? Evanovich goes into the details of royalties, but to the question "Can a writer support herself on royalties?" she answers "It works for me!"

So at best, "How I Write" is worthwhile if you're an Evanovich fan who likes to spend some time with her, or a beginning writer looking for the basic. Just remember that the one thing all writing books can't do is give you the talent and the will to sit in the chair for hours each day to bash out the words.

That's your job.