Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life

The author, Elizabeth George, presents the process she follows when writing novels. She does not present it as a panacea but describes the benefits of her approach. The author says she's left-brained and must plan her novels. She also says she must start with the main characters first, and after they are well devloped the story nearly writes itself. She also believes in researching out her setting because she wants the settings to be be as realistic as possible. She may combine the descriptions of several real buildings into one scene. I think her discussions of characters, setting, and her overall process are the best parts of her book. Her process can be summarized as: come up with the Idea for the story, develop it further into an Expanded Idea (read the book for details), invent the Primary Initiating Event, derive the initial cut of the Characters, develop detailed Biographies for them, Research the story (how to do it), create the Characters, create the Settings, create a Step Outline (phrases for each of 15 or so scenes, all scenes placed on one page), then create a Plot Outline (stream-of-consciousness expansion of each scene), write the Rough Draft, do a Fast Read, write an Editorial Letter to yourself describing the deep changes needed, Second Revision, have the Second Draft read by an informed reader (the Cold Reader), do a Third Draft, mail it off. There's much more than this process discussed: dialog, subtexting, THAD's, etc. I enjoyed the book very much and was most pleased with the practical advice by this author. John Dunbar Sugar Land, TX

I confess, I've never read any of her novels (although I think I will, having read this book!) Her approach to the art and craft of writing is terrific. Her methods for outlining, character development and setting research are great, and her process of tying all of the "background" information together to move the plot and theme forward is invaluable. One of the ten or so best books on writing that I've read (and I've read a bunch!) Her methods and discipline may not appeal to everyone, but they've obviously worked for her!

I had never heard of Elizabeth George, but I saw the book in my library, among the most popular books section. I liked it from page one. It is written in an easy conversational tone, and is full to the brim of Ms. George's tricks of the trade. I like her idea of sketching the characters first and then build a story around them, which is really the best way of writing if you think about it. She also give very down to earth advice on how to structure chapters, paragraphs, and even sentences for best results. The ideas are intuitively very clever, so it would be very little effort for anyone to incorporate them in their writing. Ms. George is a mystery writer, but the book is written for the a general writing audience. If their is one complaint I have it is that the examples are very long, too long. They would work to better effect if they were shorter. It is almost as if she wanted to fill out space. I divide writing books in four categories: how to start writing and overcoming writer's block, grammars and usage books, craft of writing books, and specialist or genre writing books. This book fits in the third category.

Full disclosure: Elizabeth George is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers --- actually, George, like the others on that shortlist (including P.D. James and Ruth Rendell), writes in a more specific arm of the genre, known as the "literary mystery." What this means to readers is that the books these authors produce have complex characters, beautifully constructed (sometimes intricate) plots and fine, subtle use of language that manages to simultaneously contribute to the mystery at hand and to delight on its own.What this means to writers is that Elizabeth George knows her stuff. How well she knows it is readily apparent in WRITE AWAY: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, because she grounds most of her instructional examples in excerpts from great literature, including classics like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and modern suspense/thriller novels such as MYSTIC RIVER. George taught English at El Toro High School in Huntington Beach, California for over a decade before turning her back away from the lectern and towards her computer screen in the mid-1980s, and she now frequently teaches creative writing. Her pedantry is of the pleasant variety, meant not to bury potential writers but to encourage them.Still, this book does have its pedantic moments, especially as George elucidates her process. One of the most important parts of her process is creating a "character map" before she begins her first draft. As she explained why and how she does this, it made perfect sense --- for her. I love reading literary mysteries, but they are not a genre I'm likely to write myself. WRITE AWAY, at first, seemed to me to be an excellent way to learn about how to write an Elizabeth George novel. Indeed, it's not as if she's hiding what she's doing: her subtitle says it all. And she begins each chapter with a brief section from one of her own journals kept while writing in order to show that even published authors get the blues.Yet, from the moment I began to read George's book, I was drawn in by her enthusiasm for writing. She may have been describing what works for her, but her energy and excitement made me want to discover what works best for me. George is quite right when she says that she is puzzled by those who believe writing can't be taught; it is, after all, at least halfways a craft. In the sections where she discusses different techniques as "tools" and says that using these well is part of a building process, she reminded me that artisanal skill can be just as important as artistic inspiration.George also reminds would-be, struggling and working writers that all the art and craft in the world can't help if you don't have discipline; her chapter titled "The Value of Bum Glue" (that colorful noun taken from Australian bestselling author Bryce Courtenay) should be read by every writer and writing student in the country. But one of the last things she hits on, while not new under the sun, is made urgent again by her own thoughtful, elegant

This is an excellent book for any aspiring novelist - from the practical advice using specific examples from real novels to the journal entries that reveal that even a best selling author struggles sometimes with writing. Elizabeth George takes us through every stage of writing the novel - with in-depth advice on basics like viewpoint and voice; dialogue, plot. She also goes through the craft, technique and the process. Principles are easy to understand because they are followed immediately by examples. I have read many books of this type and this is at the top of the heap. The book succeeds in both being inspirational and instructional. I recommend it highly.