Laura Stouffer

Annotated Bibliography

On Writing a Novel

“In that instant, for no reason and based on no grounds whatsoever, it suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel” (Wind/Pinball, Haruki Murakami). Many people have had this same crazy thought and succeeded in writing a novel—but how did they do it? Some people will romanticize writing a novel and meeting good success as an author as a stroke of luck or genius inspiration. However, writing is more than that: there’s style, story elements, characters, and long hours spent at the kitchen table.

Because I myself have never written a novel, I wanted to find out more about the necessary components of novel-writing. My first questions were: How does a work of fiction come to be and what makes or breaks a novel? Then I focused on a few topics in particular: how successful authors find their style, how authors outline (or don’t) the plots of their novels, when and how to listen to the infamous “inner critic”, and how to write convincing characters.

Resources were not exactly difficult to find between Google, Google Scholar, and my own unique collection of books; picking which resources to focus on was a challenge. There is a multitude of articles about how to be a better novelist out there and I cannot read all of them. I focused on articles published by writing journals and books or essays written by authors and professors who have found success in the literary world that therefore can be seen as reliable sources. These writings come from a rather wide range of years, but I believe they are all still relevant today.

From what I have read, many authors have similar views on what it means to write a good novel. Many articles discussed the common things that hold writers back—fear of lack of originality, the desire to write an exceptional book, the need for flowery language, the tendency to wait for inspiration—the list is endless. Instead, as I have read, writers should write every day without abandon, they should write in notebooks, they should draw inspiration from others’ works, they should find their passion and write about it, and so on. One topic I came across that was heavily discussed was the element of style. Most people said very similar things about attaining a personal style

Authors also disagree on how to write a good novel. There were two main camps: do outlines and plan ahead or be a little more spontaneous. Careful planning and character design with outlines before writing more than a few pages can be impossible for some writers and even intimidating. Sticking to a plan can be quite restrictive. “I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way” (Stephen King, On Writing, 161). Of course, these are all personal preferences and every writer should choose what works for them.

Annotations

Bell, James Scott. "7 Things That Will Doom Your Novel (& How to Avoid Them)." Writer's

Digest. Writer's Digest Mag., 5 June 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Author and writing coach James Bell wrote this article as advice on what not to do when writing a novel. He advises against common mistakes like waiting for inspiration, not writing every day, worrying too much about how the novel will turn out, and writing for the market only. In conclusion, he writes that the worst thing a writer could do is quit. These are not all of the bad writing habits Bell discussed, but they are some of the most important. Many writers have these habits and need to identify them before their chances of writing a novel are dashed. Bell’s advice is good and, because his article was approved and published by Writer’s Digest, easily accessible for any writer.

Blair, Robbie. "8 Ways to Outline a Novel." LitReactor. LitReactor Mag., 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 15

Nov. 2015.

Robbie Blair outlines eight ways a writer can outline a novel and explains the benefits to outlining versus “discovery” writing. For example, outlining reduces the amount of work and hassle writers go through, gives the writer a chance to see plot holes, and thread ideas together more coherently. The methods for outlining discussed include the expanding snowflake outline, the pure summary, the skeletal outline, flashlight outlining, free writing, the visual map, contextual preparation, and outlining software. This article is useful because it was easy to find and can give a writer a new perspective on outlining. It offers a variety of outlining techniques for every kind of writer. The author is also a good source because he has had multiple creative pieces published in literary journals.

Bowen, Elizabeth. Pictures and Conversations: Chapters of an Autobiography. New York:

Knopf, 1975. Print.

Bowen describes in her book how to write good characters. Her recommendations include allowing characters to provide the action in a story, creating characters throughout the duration of writing, and neither inventing nor pulling characters from real life because characters should take on new life within a plot. The actions of a character should be unpredictable before they are done and inevitable when they do it. Bowen says that “ideal” novels lack flat characters. Static descriptions of physical attributes should be left out because these traits must be expressed in action. Every novel should also contain a character that is relatable and draws the reader in. Bowen’s book was published in 1945, but her thoughts about character development are in line with more current novel-writing tutorials. Bowen was also a well-published author in her time. However, this book is less accessible to current writers because of its dated nature.

Cali, Kathleen. "Style." Learn NC. UNC School of Education Mag., 2003. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

Kathleen Cali defines style as what sets writers apart and makes their work unique and that word choice, sentence fluency, and the writer’s voice are main contributors to a writer’s style. She describes what word choice, sentence fluency, and voice mean and how they can be cultivated using methods such as reading different passages aloud, memorizing passages and performing them, practicing writing in different voices, finding livelier words to use, and combining shorter sentences. Since Cali is a doctoral student of Early Childhood, Families, and Literacy, the goal of this source was to give teachers advice on how to train student writers. This article was published by the UNC School of Education, so it serves that purpose well. However, this article gives a good summary of what style is and how any writer can improve their own.

Didion, Joan. Slouching towards Bethlehem. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968. Print.

This section of Joan Didion’s book is focused on the importance of a writer keeping a notebook. Notebooks are private things that need not be accurate, because the mundane details of life are not as important as how you felt about those events. Didion wrote down the day’s events in the way they felt to her. Didion says that even if writers dutifully take down notes about other people in their journals, the entry will reflect the writer’s own thoughts. Without notebooks, writers can forget the things they thought they never would. Coming from someone as successful as Didion, this essay reminds writers that even the smallest notes can contribute to a larger understanding of oneself and one’s writing. However, Didion’s writing is not exactly straightforward, so writers have to interpret what Didion means. The essay is not a clear tutorial, but a subjective philosophy on notebook-keeping.

Hall, Donald. Introduction. Writing Well. By Hall. Boston: Little, Brown, 1973. 17-18. Print.

This section of Donald Hall’s Writing Well is about avoiding disorganized and “pompous” writing. He illustrates how many writers start out with disorganized writing with a sample text that has many irrelevant details and cuts it down to one sentence. He also illustrates “Pompous Institutional Moderne”. In this example, he uses hordes of commas to elongate his sentences and exploits “pompous” words. Through a parody of Hemingway, he offers a warning to all new writers: you are not Hemingway, so quit trying to copy him; focus on your own ability. Donald Hall was a professor of English at the University of Michigan, Stanford, and Bennington. He is a writer, poet, and critic that has published several books and received multiple honors. The book was written in 1973, but his advice remains relevant. However, the book is not easy to find, so it’s not easily available to all writers.

Ingermanson, Randy. "How to Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method." Advanced Fiction

Writing. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

This article was posted on Randy Ingermanson’s website and it outlines his personal method for outlining a good plot. The technique is called the “Snowflake” method. It consists of several steps in designing at plot: write a one-sentence summary of the novel, expand that summary to one paragraph, design the characters in the novel, expand each sentence of the paragraph summary from before, etc. Writers should know how the book ends at this point. After that, the writer expands the story and character designs over and over until finished. For many people, this is helpful, but Ingermanson’s method goes against what many authors believe about writing. However, this is a good option for anyone that does not like “discovery” writing. Ingermanson is an award-winning author and theoretical physicist, so it is clear that he is capable of writing and his advice is salient.

Kleon, Austin. Steal like an artist: 10 things nobody told you about being creative. New York:

Workman Publishing, 2012. Print.

The premise of this book is that even the greatest artists steal their ideas. Kleon says this is not a bad thing because it is impossible to be original when everything has already been said. Kleon’s suggestions to artists consist of ten maxims including: steal like an artist, don't wait until you know who you are to make things, write the book you want to read, use your hands, side projects are important, do good work and put it where people can see it, and be boring (it's the only way to get work done). This author’s book is relevant because writers often quit for fear of unoriginal ideas. The book gives good advice on using inspirations effectively and features multiple excerpts of other credible artists’ advice on creating. Kleon is a good source because he wrote three best-selling books and has spoken about creativity at Pixar, Google, and TEDx.

Scheller, Rachel. "11 Secrets to Writing Effective Character Description." Writer's Digest.

Writer's Digest Mag., 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

This article is a list of eleven do’s and don’ts when it comes to describing characters in a novel. Among the most notable don’ts on the list are describing a character’s basic appearances only, using clichéd adjectives, and lack of interesting detail. Scheller suggests avoiding the “all-points bulletin” which is a description based on a handful of generic traits that make the character less memorable. When describing physical characteristics, choose wisely, physical traits should give strong impressions of who the character is, and characters should be shown with revealing objects and put in varied surroundings. Inexperienced writers will often stick to the “all-points bulletin”, failing to

create characters with depth. This article helps writers acknowledge the mistakes they make when they write characters and offers good tips. Scheller is a writer for Writer’s Digest Magazine, so her article is easy to find and her advice is very clear and concise.

Vonnegut, Kurt. "How to Write with Style." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

June PC-24.2 (1980): 66-67. Print.

Author of books Mother Night and Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut outlines seven ways to cultivate a personal writing style. He says that writing should consist of clear ideas because audiences will feel disconnected if the writing is not clear. Vonnegut tells writers that they should find a subject they care about, avoid rambling, keep their writing simple, cut parts of the writing where necessary without fear, avoid trying to sound like another person, to write accurately, and be unambiguous. Vonnegut emphasizes giving up word games for meaningful ideas that the writer is passionate about. Vonnegut is a good writer to turn to for advice because of his success and the clarity with which he writes his writing tutorials. This piece is relatively old, but it was easy to find because it was cited as one of the best essays on writing by another writing website.