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Title: The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman ISBN: 0-684-85743-X Publisher: Fireside Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (43 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Doesn't teach much about writing
Comment: If you know much about writing at all--if you've taken courses or published anything or read other good books-- this book probably won't be very useful to you. I was attracted by the title and the fact that it was written by an agent but got very little from it on WRITING--the most interesting aspect was that it was an agent's point of view and it told something about why manuscripts are rejected, but it was mostly obvious stuff I already knew. The whole first two-thirds of the book have pointers like don't have misspellings or a messy manuscript or use too many adverbs or draw on your manuscript or write grammatically incorrect sentences that are hard to follow. As other reviewers have noted, the examples are often blatant and laughable: they illustrate the obvious about melodrama and boring dialogue, for example--like, who wouldn't know, "I can't pay the rent. You must pay the rent" should be avoided?
What I, as a writer, need is more specifics and finer distinctions about what distinguishes good writing from poor,--more substance-- and this book taught me very little about that. Far better is SELF EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, by two professional editors who understand good writing and know how to give pointers and lessons on how to achieve it, or HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD NOVEL, for an understanding on structure and drama vs. melodrama, or NARRATIVE FICTION, a classic textbook used in colleges around the country. I notice most the reviewers here who liked the book seem to be non-writers--i.e. the lawyer fraternity brother--or beginners who need to know to double space, use one-inch margins, and not write dialogue that is hard to follow. Unless you fall into one of those groups, you might be better off with another text.
Rating: 5
Summary: An interesting and helpful book
Comment: I found this book interesting -- it shows exactly how one literary agent goes about the process of evaluating manuscripts. The most common errors were sort of startling: overuse of adjectives and adverbs, failure to describe the setting (or submitting a "novel" which is almost entirely dialogue.) I tried some of his exercises and found them thought-provoking.
The main point I took away from this book is that writing a good novel is a huge job. You can probably finish a novel in a year or so, but Margaret Mitchell took ten years to produce "Gone With The Wind." One of Lukeman's exercises is to take a four-hour work period and devote it to one paragraph. (!)
This is a thought-provoking book, from its first sentence, which wonders out loud if the art of writing can really be taught. Lukeman doubts it, but he is sure that, like any English teacher worth his salt, he can teach people to stop making errors.
An interesting side-point made here is the same point made by James Michener in his memoirs: there's no reliable money in this fiction-writing game. Novelists receive advances in the range of $3,000 to $25,000 for a novel, and only sometimes do their royalities earn that advance. Since it takes at least a year to write a novel, most novelists are apparently working for less than the minimum wage. So you'd better have some other motivation than money driving you. :-)
Hmm.. I wonder how long it took Flaubert to write "Madame Bovary."
Worth looking into!
Rating: 5
Summary: Whatever You Do, Don't Reject This Book
Comment: Noah Lukeman's book on staying out of the rejection pile is different from most in that it's written by an agent and not a teacher. That makes a huge difference. Lukeman is telling us what he sees on a daily basis and how to elevate your work from the bottom of the slush pile.
The book does a great job of explaining the problems most manuscripts contain, then tells you how to fix them, THEN offers exercises to help you overcome the problem. After working through just one exercise, I felt like my writing took a major leap forward. I think the book will do the same for all serious writers willing to devote a little time to this valuable book.
206 pages
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Title: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne, Dave King ISBN: 0062720465 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah T. Lukeman ISBN: 0312284675 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Nancy Kress ISBN: 0898799058 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey ISBN: 0312010443 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: December, 1987 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Orson Scott Card ISBN: 0898799279 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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