A Novel in a Year

The writing style grabs you from the get go, reading more like a magazine/newspaper column (which the book is derived from) than a 'how to book.' The writing exercises got my creativity flowing and the encouragements throughout made me believe that I could create something, even if its not a masterpiece. I should admit, I have not used this book as prescribed. Instead of reading 1 chapter a week, I read several a day, pausing only when the writing exercises become a bit more intense, or towards the middle/end when you are expected to write additional material on your own. If you've dreamed of being a novelist but have no clue where to start, or if you find yourself stuck in the writing process, this is the book for you.

These days writing a novel is not a short-term goal of mine, but it never falls completely out of the realm of possibilities (in a long-range dream list). Sometimes when I read a novel that particularly moves me, I get a burst of inspiration and write a few pages of fiction, but lately I'm content reading, writing reviews of the books I enjoy, and updating my blog on a semi-regular basis. First let me clarify, as the author does in the introduction, that completing the exercises in this book will not necessarily help you create A Novel in a Year: From First Page to Last in 52 Weeks. However Louise Doughty's intention is that if you indeed participate in each of the exercises throughout the year, you will definitely have a work in progress, as well as the good habits needed to continue the work needed to complete a novel. In fact, she says that if you complete the exercises in this book, that will help you get started, gather material, make notes and plan, and writes some scenes. Your second year may be full of despair and doubt, where you put it aside and wonder if you are wasting your time. If you stick with it, the third year is where the real work of rewriting and honing will take place. In addition to the big picture and encouraging essays about the process, there are 26 exercises meant to be completed every other week. These exercises guide you to use your experiences as a stepping-off place for fiction, and help you with character-development and editing your work-in-progress.

This book is a collection of weekly columns published in the Telegraph (UK) throughout 2006. At the time of writing this review the columns are still available to read on that newspaper's website. I was unaware of this when I bought the book and confess that I felt a bit grumpy at having shelled out for material I could have downloaded or printed off for free. Anyway, leaving my chagrin aside, I began to read. The bones of the book are a series of exercises - 26 in all, one per fortnight. The intervening chapters contain advice from the author on the topic being covered, anecdotes from her own writing life and examples of the results of the exercises, selected from the many posted throughout 2006 to message boards (still viewable) on the website. Exercises 1-8 are `idea-generating' and aim at simply assembling some material to work with. The writing subjects are unrelated to each other so you may end up with a random assemblage. The theory is that this should help you figure out roughly what you want to write about. Exercise 9 asks you to summarise succinctly the plot of your novel. Doughty then tells you to clear the decks for a ten-week intensive writing onslaught centred, in exercises 10-15, weeks 20 to 30, on your main character. You write a CV for her, create scenes where she is under stress, show what she wants from life and how she overcomes obstacles. I felt that this was the most focussed part of the book. It's also familiar territory if you've read these kinds of books before. The later exercises cover technique. At this point, the author's sense of direction seemed to waver. `Some of the exercises that follow may prompt you to write episodes of your novel but it is important that you are also working on your book independently of the exercises...' she says. I found that rather confusing. Doughty calls her own approach `disorganised' and `oblique'. If you dislike the idea of meticulous outlines or lengthy lists of character attributes you might find her approach refreshing. `Often, the only way to discover what happens next is to start writing and see what comes' she says. For me, only time will tell whether this book will be useful in my quest to Finally Sit Down And Write the Novel. In the meantime I'll award it four stars and the benefit of the doubt. I also own `the Weekend Novelist' by Robert J. Ray, which also uses the time-frame of a year but takes a much more meticulously structured approach. I'm hoping the two together may be a winning combination.

I couldn't disagree more with the previous reviewer. Whether you consider writing a novel or have already plunged right into it, but struggle with the creative process or writing techniques.. do give this book a try. Chances are that it will inspire you. It certainly has inspired me.