How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II: Advanced Techniques for Dramatic Storytelling

How to Write a Damn Good Novel #2

by James N. Frey

"Damn good" fiction is dramatic fiction, Frey insists, whether it is by Hemingway or Grisham, Le Carre or Ludlum, Austen or Dickens. Despite their differences, these authors' works share common elements: strong narrative lines, fascinating characters, steadily building conflicts, and satisfying conclusions. Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel is one of the most widely used guides ever published for aspiring authors. Here, in How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II, Frey offers powerful advanced techniques to build suspense, create fresher, more interesting characters, and achieve greater reader sympathy, empathy, and identification.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II also warns against the pseudo-rules often inflicted upon writers, rules such as "The author must always be invisible" and "You must stick to a single viewpoint in a scene," which cramp the imagination and deaden the narrative. Frey focuses instead on promises that the author makes to the reader—promises about character, narrative voice, story type, and so on, which must be kept if the reader is to be satisfied. This book is rich, instructive, honest, and often tellingly funny about the way writers sometimes fail their readers and themselves.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Literature

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

James N. Frey is an American novelist and acclaimed writing teacher, best known for his influential guide How to Write a Damn Good Novel. He has authored both fiction and non-fiction, including thrillers and several popular books on writing craft. Frey taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was honored as Teacher of the Year in 1994. He continues to lecture on creative writing at various conferences and institutions. His fiction has earned critical recognition, including an Edgar Award nomination. Frey lives in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago, when I was still flirting with the idea of writing, I picked of James Frey's How To Write A Damn Good Novel. For all the book was worth, it was lost on me, because, well, I was only flirting with the idea (which reminds me, I'm due for a reread of that). This time around, reading the sequel to that, and no longer flirting around with the idea of writing, I can't measure (in words) the extent to which I've taken to heart all the advice in this book. The most important thing to take to heart are the 7 deadly sins of writing;

1. Timidity (Oh, this is the worst!)
2. Trying to be 'Literary'
3. Ego-Writing
4. Failure to Learn To Re-dream the Dream
5. Failure to Keep Faith With Yourself (God, how many of us have fallen prey to this)
6. Wrong Lifestyle
7. Failure to Produce (Time Slipping Away & Writer's Block)

This book is short, concise, no-nonsense-approach and a must read for all writers.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good 'on writing' book, the major focusses are making characters sympathetic, and having a clear premise/game plan for your book. While not nececssarily a beginners book, the language and lessons are accessible and fun and recommended for anyone keen on writing.

Only a couple of beefs - its pretty short (although in some respects that's a good thing, would rather read a short useful piece than a bloated less useful but long book).
The other is that being a little on the older side some of the publishing advice is dated and honestly worth skipping. It would be very interesting to see they author's opinion on social media etc these days!

[عبد اللطيف · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s just amazing book. The words clear and clean like Hemingway use to do. i learned a lot of things about the characters and the staff must including in the fiction novel. I strode within pages and climb to the summit to discover the craft of making o damn good novel. Premise characters .and all chapter were useful for writers.

[Glenn Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sport, music, acting, writing: If you want to be good enough that thousands of people pay to watch, you can't just do it on your native brilliance.

James N Frey has coached thousands of writers, seen the mistakes we all make, and has plenty of ideas to nudge us in the right directions, Common sense, matter-of-fact, light, at times personal I found this very helpful. This second volume is in places a bit more speculative than the first but both titles are gems. Any of us writers willing to eat humble pasty and learn from others will learn plenty from this. My favourite books on the craft of fiction writing.

[Stephen Mettee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve presented at scores of writers conferences on nonfiction topics and sat in on many fiction workshops but most are a bit vapid. Not Jim’s. He gives you meat and potatoes you can take home to fuel your own fiction.
If you are thinking of writing a novel, read this book.

[Clarence Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

ReedIII Quick Review: This is a worthy continuation of Frey's first book. Useful practical information as before. Emotionally and intellectually covers not just how but also why to write fiction.

[Marjet · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to write a damn good novel II van James N. Frey is het Engelstalige vervolg op Zo schrijf je een verdomd goede roman (How to write a damn good novel).
Voor auteurs die echt wat met hun schrijven willen, is dit een van de beste schrijfboeken, denk ik. In negen hoofdstukken en ongeveer honderdvijftig pagina's krijgen we in duidelijke taal en aan de hand van goede voorbeelden (o.a. Carrie van Stephen King, De Trial van Franz Kafka, Jaws, Pride and Prejudice) uitgelegd hoe je de karakters vlees aan de botten geeft, waarom en hoe je ze sympathiek maakt. Hoe je door een enkele zin suspense creëert.
Hij heeft het over pseudo-rules (schrijfregels) die beginnende schrijvers krijgen opgedrongen door schrijfboeken en schrijfdocenten, zoals: 'de stem van de auteur mag je niet horen (lezen)' of 'Niet van perspectief wisselen in een scene'. Frey heeft er lak aan, verbeelding en creativiteit van de schrijver heeft er onder te lijden, zegt hij. Maar de schrijver moet wel de beloftes die hij aan de lezer doet waarmaken. Met andere woorden, de personages, het vertelperspectief, het genre, enzovoort, kan je niet halverwege het verhaal veranderen.
Frey gaat net als in deel I ook uitgebreid in op de premisse, heel kort gezegd: door de actie verandert je personage. Bijvoorbeeld gaat het huwelijk stuk van een man die aan de drank raakt dan zou de premisse zijn: Drank ruïneert liefde. Aan de hand van enkele voorbeelden wordt het belang van de premisse goed duidelijk. Hij stelt dat je van te voren je roman in scenes moet plannen en de premisse moet bedenken. Dit schrijft zoveel gemakkelijker, je beeldhouwt als het ware je verhaal tevoorschijn.
Om een damn good novel te schrijven moet je keihard werken. Een beetje talent, veel passie en nog meer doorzettingsvermogen is onontbeerlijk. Hij noemt zeven dodelijke fouten waar een schrijver aan ten onder kan gaan: Verlegenheid (jezelf niet kunnen verkopen, maar ook niet echt schrijven wat je wil)
Te literair willen schrijven (mooischrijverij), Ego-schrijven (voor jou werkt het zo, dus is het zo) Niet je droom kunnen her-dromen (m.a.w. herschrijven en nog eens herschrijven), Niet voldoende in jezelf geloven, De verkeerde levensstijl hebben (naast je schrijven, een gezin en druk sociaal leven leiden), Niets produceren (naar het witte scherm staren en je voortdurend laten afleiden)...

Dit boek is een snelle cursus tussendoor om je schrijftools op te frissen en jezelf het worstje voor te houden. Jij kunt het ook, als je het maar op de juiste manier doet.

[D.w. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are problems with this book, clearly problems with the entire idea that Frey has embarked on teaching, for he had to come up with a second book in his treatise on how to write a novel. This is a book that deals with the Craft of writing fiction. Throughout the work and the previous work, Frey is good enough to quote from many texts to support his concept on how to write your work.

Clearly it does work for him and others. It will see you to the finish of writing a novel. This book does add, and even contradicts the previous work, and the concept can not stand without the first book. But it is is still slim. Both works should be sold and reedited as one work. Not two. In one place Frey speaks to his immortality through this work. That future literary writers will find it on some dusty shelf.

In fairness to those future writers, Frey should revisit and tighten up these concepts, and the reference to the first book by having this all in one volume.

What one can take from these works are further discussion on making a character strong enough to entice a reader. A great deal of work dealing with premise of your tale. And then how to begin to strengthen the writer for what lays ahead in the refinement of ones product. That is somewhat significant for far too many write and can’t see that there are flaws in what they have written. Worse though is not telling the writer and purchaser of this book the old cliche, everyone’s a critic. That even should the writer come up with the best draft after hundreds of iterations, someone will think it flawed still.

That should be the final lesson of the work, and Frey nearly touches on it, saying to take criticism as you wish. That the author is still the creator and thus can do with such criticism as he wishes. There of course is no mechanism to decide what is valid criticism, or what isn’t. It is all subjective. So while the mechanism’s in the two books on crafting our a solid addition, the last part on revision, which Frey says is important, is not quite where it needs to be to see to your Damn Good Novel.

[Heydon Hensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few things How to Write a Damn Good Novel II, Advanced Techniques is not: it is not a magic wand, it is not a waste of time, it is not light reading, and it is not a book for the beginning writer. This book assumes that you have a reasonable grasp on how to formulate a plot, write characters, and handle a premise (without which your plot is just another absurdist comedy regardless of your pacing or gripping action sequences. Premise is what your book aims to prove in around 80,000 words). If you haven't spent at least a few thousand hours on writing, then this book likely will not be as useful to you as another book on the bare bones of writing.

As promised in the title, Frey delivers hard hitting advice on how to write with increased complexity and realism. He starts off with a chapter on the Fictive dream - which it is your job as the author to induce - and how it's not in fact a dream at all, but a trance. The following chapters are like nested for-loops (for the coders) or the dreams within a dream from Inception (for everyone else). If you're one of the three people that hasn't seen Inception, basically it's a multi-layered frame tale like that old shaggy dog about the scout leader telling a story about the scout leader telling a story about the scout leader ad nauseum. EXCEPT! Your stories better only induce nausea from terror and wicked descriptions, not boredom, or your writing dreams are DOA.

Read my full review at: http://thomasmercurial.blogspot.com/2...

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading this book bit-by-bit as part of a self-imposed weekly 'study day'. I've found bits of it really useful and bits of it really-not useful. What I tend to think nowadays is that reading technique books is nearly always valuable, even you don't learn anything new or revolutionary, as long as you read a wide variety and approach them all with an open but grounded mind.

The biggest problem with this book is that it claims to deal with 'advanced techniques'. I imagine most serious writers will agree that there is nothing particularly advanced about any of the techniques outlined in this book. I haven't read 'How to Write a Damn Good Novel I', but I suspect it is the need to expand on this that has led to the use of the word 'advanced'.

That said, I found Frey's style engaging and readable enough that I was comfortable with weighing up my own opinion and mentally 'arguing' when I didn't agree. I found it useful to think about genres that I don't write in and I found the constant reference to the same two or three texts really useful to thinking about technique and style. It was interesting to peek into another writer's process and it was valuable to think about how writing is taught.

Overall, I think this is a valuable read for any fiction writer. You don't have to agree with everything Frey says to get something out of it; you just have to be strong enough to disagree.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book is a follow-up to How to Write a Damn Good Novel, but even if you didn’t read Frey’s first book, this book delivers as promised and is also a book you could return to time after time for inspiration. Filled with great tips, written in a unique way and with lots of examples, Frey covers gaining sympathy and empathy from readers by using simple details, getting readers to identify with characters, and compelling readers to tune in to what will happen to your characters. The premise of a story, Frey says can be found in the subtext. As an example, he gives an of the Three Little Pigs--a story about wisdom and foolishness not home construction. The author/reader contract is about authors writing with readers in mind. In the section called the seven deadly mistakes, Frey mentions being timid with honest criticism and looking for “puff” groups as a mistake. Another mistake is not being honest with yourself about having the wrong lifestyle for a writer and most of a failure to believe in yourself. Another mistake might be not reading this book. I look forward to reading more about writing from James Frey.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than its predecessor, which is often not the case; also, and also often not true, this is useful either with or without having read the first book.

The tone is breezy, informal, and direct. The author provides a lot of specific advice - at least as much of it what not to do as what to do - and the reasons. Often, he gives examples of mistakes he made early in his own career and the lessons he learned. He also provides plentiful (anonymous) examples of things other writers did that didn't work and why, and (non-anonymous) some of writers he's known whom he considers excellent.

Frey is very clear about which reader/writers he's addressing as his target audience. It's not about genre, although he heaps scorn on those who write with the aim of showing what creative geniuses they are rather than because they have a story they want very much to tell; but in the closing part of the book in particular, he is passionate himself about how vital it is for the reader to be equally passionate about what he/she wants to say with a novel.

Excellent and highly recommended.

[M.L. Tishner · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer, I have always loved to tell stories. I know that I can be quite entertaining but since I have a biology background and not an English one....I always felt as if there was something missing in my story telling. I couldn't tell what, but I knew I was falling short.

The first book was recommended to me by a Beta reader who had a better grasp of the business than I do and let me say that this book has so much to learn from. It has helped me realize that I don't suck. I realized that my work had a lot of potential and I came away from this book having a bett er idea of what to work on.

What is most important when reading this book is to be in the mindset that you will still have a lot of work ahead of you and you have to have the motivation to just keep on trucking. There is a lot of tough love in this book but it's all there to make you a better writer.

Both books work very well together and I highly recommend this author!

[Ollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1994, it reads a bit dated now, especially the sections that deal with genre. Even so, I liked the chapter on bringing out the quirky side of every character -- "Of Wimps and Wackos: Creating Truly Memorable Characters." Frey gives some good examples there of how to magnify the wacky, exaggerating elements of a character to make them more vibrant and memorable. He encourages writers to "take some risks . . . make them fresh" (47). I also liked the emphasis on writing for your reader, remembering that the story has to be about something, has to please the reader.

[August · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would get five stars, but some of what would have been core advice back in the day was dated.

Amazing! So entertaining! Very useful - I wrote notes the entire time.

I couldn't in good conscience recommend most of it to a beginning writer - as he mentions early on, it's for someone with a foundation in fiction-writing - but I think everyone who ever wants to write a novel should check out his section on premise. Frey outlines the concept in a way that was immediately applicable and noticeable to my own fiction, always a huge plus for a writing book!

[Yvensong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very useful advice, even though there were things about the book that I found irritating. Maybe some of the things he wrote about "premise" was supposed to be humorous, but if so, the humor did not come through. I know that his experience comes primarily from the genre he mostly writes in, so that may color his views on premise, etc. Besides the areas I found a little irritating though, my writing has improved due to some of the recommendations he gave.

[Gary Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a spectacularly written book, very different to conventional How-To's because of its unique brand of humor and prose. It covers all the big literary items, and inspires with its relevant stories from real-life experience. Frey connects with his audience in a way most authors only dream of. This is a book that should be read by every and any one seeking to be someone in the literary world.

[Samuel Bigglesworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to novel writing, and one which convinced me to re-write my novella a few more times.

If you're looking to write a dramatic story, then this is a Damn Good place to start.

It's short and snappy and very readable.

This also convinced me to give reading Stephen King a try. He never appealed to me, as I used to have an aversion to dark content, but after reading 6 of his books I can confirm I am now a true fan!

[Anita (Hearts and Whodunits) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been a great text to enhance anyone's writing but the author is so negative and doesn't believe in happy endings. I believe in happy endings, and use my reading and writing as a form of escapism.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful addendum volume to some of Frey's other works.

Pragmatic, perhaps a bit dated, but still very relevant. In plain ole' English the author answered a number of more esoteric questions I've always had about certain elements of writing.

Quick and informative read.

[Keane Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and inspiring, though some passages have not aged well with time. If you’re interested in storytelling, it’s definitely worth reading. I’m the slowest reader in the world and I finished it in one day.

[Jason McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A damn good sequel to a damn good book. All puns aside these two books are very helpful and I can highly recommend them to anyone looking for pointers about their own writing.

[Matthew McAndrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though it isn't one of my favorite writer's references, I did enjoy the author's wit and way of explaining elements of fiction writing to improve your skills.

[Matt Erlacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about Frey's books. I learned a ton that I am applying daily in my writing. I highly recommend it for the beginning and intermediate fiction writer!

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Changed the way I write, and think about stories

[Miss Leiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe gleich im Anschluss an den ersten Teil, den zweiten Teil von "Wie man einen verdammt guten Roman schreibt" gelesen. Um ehrlich zu sein, ist meine Meinung darüber fast die genau gleiche wie über den ersten.
Besonders die Kapitel über Prämissen und "Die Sieben Todsünden" fand ich interessant. Vor allem wenn man Prämissen nach dem ersten Teil noch nicht ganz verstanden hat. 😉

Was mich diesmal wirklich genervt hat, waren die unzähligen Textbeispiele. Ich verstehe, dass der Autor seine Ratschläge mit eigenen Texten oder Auszügen aus beliebten Romanen veranschaulichen möchte, aber seitenlange Beispieltexte sind dann doch zu viel des Guten. Ich hab mich mehr und mehr dabei ertappt, sie zu überspringen. Vor allem die Negativbeispiele! Okay, Frey möchte zeigen, wie man es *nicht* macht, doch ich will mir nicht absatzweise Negativbeispiele durchlesen; am Ende präge ich sie mir noch ein (statt den guten Beispielen).

Fazit. Meiner Meinung nach reicht es aus, den ersten Teil zu lesen. Wer wirklich noch nicht genug hat, kann sich den zweiten Teil ja gebraucht kaufen. Ein paar tolle Tipps sind auf jeden Fall dabei!

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not bad, indeed it is useful, but it could be reduced a bit and should be added to the first part of "How to write a Damn Good Novel". The first part is mandatory reading anyway if you want to read this and since this is basically more of the same, you knwo what's in here. Not bad as an addendum, but especially towards the back it becomes rather a motivational speech than the detailed advice most people probably like the first volume for.

[Tim Dellas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice craft book targeting the advanced reader. This book, together with part 1, opened up the craftsman concept of the premise to me, the magic wand to be able to write my projects with more focus. Also, the seven sins that will keep you from writing damn good novels and the dispelling of some writing myths come handy, and together will the final part which is a discussion of the purpose or meaning of your writing this thing is a must-read for authors of all levels.

[Sheila Jenné · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty helpful! I didn't realize till halfway through that this was a sequel, so perhaps the rest of the secret is in the first book.

My favorite part was the bit on beginnings, how you want to start with something that makes the reader ask a question.

The rest of it was mostly random tips, some helpful, some not. But it was a quick read and enjoyable.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so-so inspiring, so good. Thanks for that,