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Title: Excellent book; great exercises; easy to read
Review: I recently bought 9 books on novel writing when I decided I was going to shift from screenwriting to novels (I want creative autonomy and it's unlikely to get it as a screenwriter in Hollywood under other people).Besides Lawrence Blocks's TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, this is one of the best books of the bunch on writing techniques.In it, some things you will learn:(1) THE RIGHT ATTITUDE AND WORKING HABITS: one of the best I have read of 30 sources!;(2) STIMULUS AND RESPONSE: very good;(3) GETTING IT SOLD;(4) INTERESTING CHARACTERS: some great highlights; and(5) SCENE AND SEQUEL: advanced steps but necessaryAdditionally, there are exercises after each chapter which are quite good for beginning novelists. He used to be a writing instructor at Oklahoma University so he knows how to teach.
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