The Complete Handbook Of Novel Writing

The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, from the editors of Writer’s Digest, is a thick anthology of craft advice covering every stage of writing and publishing a novel, drawing together guidance from many of the field’s accomplished authors and professionals. Instead of one author’s coherent method, it is a curated collection, essays, interviews, and advice from many successful writers on everything from idea through draft through publication.

As a broad, multi-voice survey of the whole novel-writing process, it offers real range and the appeal of learning from many professionals at once. It also carries the unevenness that always comes with the anthology form.

The Writer’s Digest pedigree is the draw: the collection assembles advice from established, working authors, so a reader gets a spectrum of professional perspectives instead of a single teacher’s take.

Many voices, every stage

The book’s value is its breadth in both coverage and contributors. It spans the entire arc of writing a novel. Generating ideas. Developing character and plot. Drafting. Revising. The business of getting published. It does all of that through the voices of many accomplished writers, so a reader encounters many approaches and hears how different successful authors actually work.

For a developing novelist, that range is useful: it exposes them to multiple methods instead of a single prescribed system, and the chance to absorb hard-won advice from a roomful of professionals, including interviews with notable authors, is the particular appeal of a well-assembled craft anthology.

The value and the cost of the anthology form

The collection’s strength and its weakness are the same thing. A multi-author anthology offers range and varied perspectives, and that is valuable. It cannot offer the depth, coherence, or sustained through-line of a focused single-author book. The coverage is necessarily broad instead of deep, and the quality and usefulness vary from piece to piece. A reader gets a wide survey and many starting points instead of a thorough education in any one aspect, and some entries will land while others feel slight or familiar.

For an overview and a sampling of professional wisdom it works well; for deep instruction on a specific skill, a dedicated book serves better. The form gives breadth at the cost of depth.

The honest caveats

A few honest notes. As a survey anthology it is broad instead of deep, best used as an overview and a source of varied perspectives instead of as a complete course in any single area. The multi-author format means variable quality. And the publishing and business material in particular dates, this edition is from 2010, and the industry has shifted since, so that guidance should be checked against current sources even though the craft fundamentals age well.

These are the normal characteristics of a broad craft anthology instead of flaws, and they place it as a useful survey instead of a definitive single text.

Verdict

It is a solid, useful anthology of novel-writing advice, valuable for its broad coverage of the entire writing-and-publishing process and for assembling the perspectives of many accomplished authors in one volume, a genuine strength for a developing novelist wanting range and professional wisdom. It earns a fair rating, held from higher by the inherent trade-offs of the form: breadth instead of depth, uneven quality across many contributors, and business material that dates.

For a writer who wants a wide-ranging survey and a sampling of how many pros approach the work, it is a good resource; for deep mastery of a specific skill, a focused book serves better. A sound, broad overview, fairly judged.

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