Jak napsat bestseller

by Celia Brayfield

Covers structure, audience, location, character, theme, research, plot, suspense, endings, and style, and includes advice on the practical aspects of getting published

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 1996

About the author

Celia Brayfield has written four non-fiction books and nine novels of which Mister Fabulous and Friends is currently in development for television. Her novel Heartswap was optioned by Paramount and Harvest for Chrysalis Films. Celia is currently working on a series of historical novels. She also teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and Brunel University.

After attending St Paul's Girls' School in London, Celia went to Grenoble University in France to study French Language and Literature, before moving into journalism at The Times. She has one daughter and lives in Oxfordshire.

Reviews

[Vanessa Couchman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Celia Brayfield covers the ground pretty well for aspiring novel writers. In addition to the standard material about plotting, character development, etc., she also provides useful information and tips on combating imagination burn-out, loss of confidence and dealing with that notorious minefield, the middle section. However, I felt that the nuggets were hidden among a bit of waffle and the book doesn't seem to have been updated since it was published 20 years ago, so the internet revolution and the universal use of computers are big gaps. The publishing industry has changed hugely as well, so those sections are less relevant than they were.

Having said that, I found many useful ideas in this book. I will be interested to read her more recent book on writing historical fiction.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a totally fascinating and eye-opening book about what makes books work. I've been a voracious reader for years, so I'm kind of amazed I never figured this stuff out myself, but I didn't.

p. 13 "Storytelling is a way of explaining the world emotionally rather than analytically." -- a metaphorical model of the world for the mind.

Bestsellers succeed on 3 levels:
- emotional: offer a satisfying experience.
- conscious thought: exercise a question about life that's too large for the reader's mind
- psychological: take the reader on a journey through destruction, fear, and struggle, to a new life on a higher level of consciousness

Narrative has to feel natural and true for the world of the story.

A good story addresses a serious fear: science is uncontrollable, intolerance will destroy the world, evil will triumpth, we have no power to save our lives, etc. How painful the fear determines how far removed the story needs to be--ex. MASH set in Korea but about Vietnam, Gone with the Wind about women at work, set 100 years earlier.

p. 37 3 big choices: location, central character, theme

Choose location by what's best setting for theme. Know the place before you write. p. 46 Location includes moral climate as well. Make your moral stance clear, share readers' notions of good/evil, right/wrong, what's important.

Central character must be a real person and an archetype. Reader identifies with main character and feels like story happening to him/her.

p. 52 Questions about central character:
- what is the cardinal quality? (foundation of his/her character--extreme trait that becomes both blessing and curse. ex. loving, curious, angry, honest, rebellious, conventional, vengeful)
- What opposes that? (trait holds hero back, inner enemy. ex. Hamlet vengeful but indecisive)
- What do they want? (goal, dream, mistaken aim)
- What is behind them? (character's background)
- what is above them? (higher self, morality, beliefs, values (perhaps forgotten or not yet learned))
- what is below them? (worst nightmare, deepest fear, depths they will sink to, what they become when afraid and higher self is out of sight)
- where will they end? (who protagonist will be at end of journey, how changed)

p. 55 Make an empathetic character, not a sympathetic one. Not all nicey-nicey and boring. Someone readers can identify with, not perfect, will sometimes drive everyone crazy, vulnerable.

p. 58 theme--what does the story go to show? Figure it out from the outline, not before that. Must be invisible--disappear into story. Ex. Gone with the Wind: love demands self-sacrifice. Pretty Woman: love demands self-esteem. Bridges of Madison County: love is worth the suffering that duty demands.

p. 94 elements of the heroic journey:
- the opening: static state, true self can't function here. The life to be left behind.
- call to adventure: something happens to destabilize the hero's world, push him to leave. meet someone, event, death--challenge of some sort.
- response or refusal--sometimes the hero hesitates in old life before embracing adventure
- the guide: protective figure, helps protagonist.
- threshold guardian: first antagonist. Points out dangers ahead, reminds about comforts of home, tries to get hero to stay put.
- the void: the point where the hero has discarded old self but not yet grown new identity
- the trials and the helpers: hero survives series of ordeals to get to goal, becoming stronger and faster as he goes. Others appear to help with advice, clues, wisdom, gifts.
- the crisis: hero is pushed to his limit and makes the decision that will create the climax. Character finally understands the game, has become new self, makes the right decision.
- the climax: the supreme ordeal and final conflict.
- the return: hero, now reborn, brings back his new wisdom to transform his old world and help his old associates. (often only hinted at in modern stories)

p. 111 anchors--help reader feel oriented in story by reminding them of info given earlier ex. establishing shots of messy desk or car pulling up used in Dallas and Dynasty

p. 116 suspense--keep drawing out as long as need to know keeps growing. When it peaks, bring the reader down and reveal the answers. Resolve small stuff fairly quickly. Build by using scene changes, withholding info.

p. 120 "Give the audience what they want, but not the way they expect."--William Goldman Don't use wild surprises--undermine credibility and wreck the story. Lay the ground.

p. 128 rewards
- repetition (reinforce reader's memory, character, motivation)
- signposts (long descriptions of something that will be important later)
- soothsayer (someone tells character the truth)
- running gags

p. 135 make the beginning really strong--get people to buy, get them hooked on story. Include central character on first page or first few pages. Make sure central character is first character we see, or if someone else first, make it really obvious that s/he is not the central character. Orient reader to setting very concisely. Show what's going on in a way that fits the mood of the story. (ex. thriller starts with car crash, Joy Luck Club starts with reflection and Mah Jong party.)

p. 140 middle of book hardest. If character burnout, character is refusing to change--means you are not ready for same battle in real life.

p. 144 melodrama is undermotivation. Go back and shore up the motivation.

imagination fatigue--go do something else--walk in the woods.

p. 154 the end--pace speeds up, rolling down hill. End events must happen because the hero makes them happen. Crisis, tie up events from beginning of story, resolution. Finish with the climax of the main story--tie up subplots before that so they don't drag down the ending.

p. 158 After climax, help reader compose self. Should feel vulnerable but profoundly satisfied. If enigmatic ending, effects of climax should be extrapolatable from the hints you leave. If tragic or negative ending, mitigate with some positive note.

p. 160 room for 2-3 main characters: hero, guide, threshold guardian, or hero and antagonist. Main chars need to appear equally powerful; supporting cast and walk-ons can be less detailed. Guide supplies knowledge the hero lacks, threshold guardian has conformist qualities hero rejects, enemy upholds opposing value system. Add other contrasts to help: age, nationality, appearance, temperament, dissimilar names. Protagonist doesn't have to be most charismatic character. Give villains dimension and make them believe they are doing the right thing in their value system--readers should understand, pity, even love them sometimes. Should be able to argue the case from their side.

Other characters need a purpose, ex. show main character's background. Walk-ons can be colorful, funny, but still need some reason to be there, ex. bring the setting to life.

p. 172 dialog--notice how real people talk, make dialog evoke natural speech but more concise. Make sure it reflects the speaker. 4-10 exchanges at most before a paragraph breaks it up. Make it so you don't need "he said" and "she said" bogging things down.

p. 184 remove these from your writing: imitation, archaisms, cliches, overly journalistic style, pretentiousness, dialect (can suggest it with bad grammar or missing Gs but don't write phonetic crap), jargon, foreign words (use up to 6 foreign words if needed to evoke the setting, but no more).

[Peter A · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book’s title is “Bestseller”, but the byline, “Secrets of Successful Writing,” captures the value of the book. Concretely, the author’s thoughts apply to any writing, and to any writer who really wants to improve her (or his) writing.

This book provides a comprehensive and balanced approached to writing a novel, and motivates the storytelling by referencing the works of Joseph Campbell who explored the relationships of mythology, anthropology and psychology, and talked of the hero’s journey. [Campbell was the focus of a PBS special by Bill Moyers, “The Power of Myth.”]

The book is presented in three broad sections, and several chapters and subsections in each:
• Hit and Myth described “How Stories Work” and discusses the people the author is writing for “Your Readers.”
• The Art and Craft covers basic components of a story, and choices the author needs to make: Three Choices (Location, Central Character, Theme), The Endless Quest-Research; The Hero’s Journey–Planning; Turning Pages (Anchors, Suspense, Shocks, Rewards); What Every Story Needs (Beginning, Middle, End); and Casting.
• Ambition in Action, which focuses on the writer, covering Style; Writing as an Endurance Sport; Will Power, and How to be Published.

The author has an engaging writing style, with some light humor thrown in.

I have read several books about writing. “Bestseller” covers the broadest range of topics–while other books focus on one or just a few of them, e.g., Theme, or Motivation for an author. Also, when finished with this book, I felt there was some hope to move forward with a writing project (just the opposite feeling I had with another book).

While positive about the book, it was written in or before 1996. The world of publishing and research has transformed. However, the basics laid out in the book remain unchanged for the writer.

This edition (printed Middletown, DE 11 October 2020) had a few technical errors:
• Page references to earlier or later sections of the book were incorrect
• There are several places (e.g., p xix) where there are typeset (electronic manuscript) issues (e.g. “TheFirmis about” the italics lacks spaces)

Finally, I want to credit Louise Penny for mentioning this book on her website!

FB. A comprehensive, balanced, and engaging book on writing. A valuable contribution to understand how a story is constructed and a practical guide what how to go about writing. This book is very high on the list of “if you had but one book to read about writing, read this!”

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thorough guide to writing. The author has a clear, very readable style. She covers almost every aspect of writing a novel, with the aim of inspiring people to come up with successful - even bestselling - books.

The focus is on fiction, with sections on characters, place, plot, avoiding distractions and more. It's thirty years old, so inevitably somewhat dated; there's almost no mention of computers, and nothing about the distractions inherent in social media or online gaming. The book is also written before the advent of free, easy self-publishing online.

But most of the content is still relevant, and worth perusing even for someone who has already read other writing books. While much of the same ground is inevitably covered, the style and main focus of each is slightly different.

Recommended.

Longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Olatomi Afilaka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I DNF this book as I found it to be dry and outdated.

[Lori Gravley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by Louise Penny, and it's full of wisdom and advice. So you can get a taste of the tone, I've included one of the sections I highlighted below. A good read.

"The problem with being a writer is being a writer. A writer is typically an introvert. An introvert is happier to live in the magical world inside his skull than in the dreary world outside, and the reason the world inside is so exciting is that it is within the writer's control. Introverts need to learn social skills. Writers need to learn two specific social skills--selling and networking--which they find exceptionally difficult, and which is part of why they want to be writers in the first place."

[Enid Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There seems to be too much mumbling. I didn't get anything substantial from it.

[Hella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eén van mijn allereerste schrijfboeken, zette me op het spoor van de heldenreis.