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A Novel Approach: To Writing Your First Book
Characters. Conflict. Dialogue. Story arc. Editing. You can do this! In many respects it’s like building a home or raising a child, efforts of love and patience that are hard enough in their own right but almost impossible without a blueprint or the example of some devoted predecessors to show the way. The goal is to write a novel or a story, not to type a lot of pages and bind them. It sounds like work, and it is, but you can do this!
- GenresWriting
100 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2014
5 people are currently reading
443 people want to read
About the author
Jack Woodville London
7 books33 followersJack Woodville London is the author of French Letters: Children of a Good War, the winner of the 2018 Gold Medal for Fiction Book of the Year in war and military fiction, as well as other novels, non-fiction, and articles on history and literature.
He studied the craft of fiction at the Academy of Fiction, St. Céré, France and at Oxford University. He was the first Author of the Year of the Military Writers Society of America and has become its Director of Writing Education.
His French Letters trilogy of novels are Virginia’s War, Engaged in War, and Children of a Good War. They are widely praised for their portrayals of America in the 1940s, both at home and in Europe in the Second World War, and afterward as America evolved from its wartime unity into progress and prosperity. Children of a Good War goes on to portray a country that soon gives way to bitter division over the Vietnam war and the struggle to find its soul by the generation that forgot its history and took its wealth, status, and privilege for granted.
In addition to the 2018 Gold Medal for Children of a Good War the first novel, Virginia's War, was a Finalist for Best Novel of the South and the Dear Author 'Novel with a Romantic Element' contest. The second volume, Engaged in War, earned for Jack the Author of the Year award and won the silver medal for general fiction at the London Book Festival.
His craft book, A Novel Approach, a short and light-hearted work on the conventions of writing, is designed to help writers who are setting out on the path to write their first book. A Novel Approach won the E-Lit Gold Medal for non-fiction in 2015. Jack also is the author of several published articles on the craft of writing and on early 20th century history.
His work in progress is Shades of the Deep Blue Sea, a mystery-adventure novel about two sailors and a girl, set on a Pacific island in World War II.
Jack lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Alice. Visit him at jwlbooks.com
He studied the craft of fiction at the Academy of Fiction, St. Céré, France and at Oxford University. He was the first Author of the Year of the Military Writers Society of America and has become its Director of Writing Education.
His French Letters trilogy of novels are Virginia’s War, Engaged in War, and Children of a Good War. They are widely praised for their portrayals of America in the 1940s, both at home and in Europe in the Second World War, and afterward as America evolved from its wartime unity into progress and prosperity. Children of a Good War goes on to portray a country that soon gives way to bitter division over the Vietnam war and the struggle to find its soul by the generation that forgot its history and took its wealth, status, and privilege for granted.
In addition to the 2018 Gold Medal for Children of a Good War the first novel, Virginia's War, was a Finalist for Best Novel of the South and the Dear Author 'Novel with a Romantic Element' contest. The second volume, Engaged in War, earned for Jack the Author of the Year award and won the silver medal for general fiction at the London Book Festival.
His craft book, A Novel Approach, a short and light-hearted work on the conventions of writing, is designed to help writers who are setting out on the path to write their first book. A Novel Approach won the E-Lit Gold Medal for non-fiction in 2015. Jack also is the author of several published articles on the craft of writing and on early 20th century history.
His work in progress is Shades of the Deep Blue Sea, a mystery-adventure novel about two sailors and a girl, set on a Pacific island in World War II.
Jack lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Alice. Visit him at jwlbooks.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 28, 2014
While all books ought to be written well, a book about how to write a good book ought to be written even better. This one isn't. London purports to be a successful author; he appears to have self-published several books, so his claim is untestable. The glowing reviews of his book appear to be from his chums in some military authors club rather than from independent reviewers. The text is offered as a guide for the novice writer through the tasks of researching, planning, outlining, writing, editing and publishing a book, in particular a novel. The chapters are brief, the advice pedestrian and the writing abysmal. His clever turns of phrase are not clever. His advice is trite. One chapter begins with a paragraph of only two words: "Write clearly." Who would have thought of that without his advice and direction? Another is "Write the very best book that you can." Inarguable! This is a worthless book; the beginning writer is much better advised to purchase and read anything published by Writers Digest Books.
December 9, 2019
This is on overview of thought process and methods to writing a book. It was interesting, accessible, and not completely discouraging.
I still harbor the fantasy that I may someday write a story!
I still harbor the fantasy that I may someday write a story!
July 18, 2017
amazing resource for writers
September 25, 2014
I stayed up a lot of nights writing it… Buy it today. Buy copies for your friends. Make Christmas gifts of it. - See more at: http://jwlbooks.com/uncategorized/on-...
September 18, 2017
I don't pretend to be an author, but I am a writer in my day job and I wasn't particularly impressed by this book. It does have some decent advice about planning and showing-not telling, but I didn't find any of the information new or mind-blowing. Perhaps some dreaming of becoming writers will find that the topics reinforce what they already know instinctively or they have read/heard from other authors.
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April 2, 2018MWSA Review
Being a copyeditor, I work with clients who range from inexperienced writers to those who have taken the time to study the art of writing, so I was pleased to be able to review Jack Woodville London’s A Novel Approach.
I’m always on the lookout for resources for writers that I can recommend. This book is now on such a list that I’ll be sharing with all of my clients, no matter where they fall on the writing spectrum. I especially appreciate the way that Mr. London shares memorable examples from literature to hit home the concepts of writing—which to me is what puts the “novel” in A Novel Approach. To me, it is what makes this resource stand above others and why I highly recommend it.
Reviewed by: Joyce Gilmour (2015)
Being a copyeditor, I work with clients who range from inexperienced writers to those who have taken the time to study the art of writing, so I was pleased to be able to review Jack Woodville London’s A Novel Approach.
I’m always on the lookout for resources for writers that I can recommend. This book is now on such a list that I’ll be sharing with all of my clients, no matter where they fall on the writing spectrum. I especially appreciate the way that Mr. London shares memorable examples from literature to hit home the concepts of writing—which to me is what puts the “novel” in A Novel Approach. To me, it is what makes this resource stand above others and why I highly recommend it.
Reviewed by: Joyce Gilmour (2015)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews