The Year You Write Your Novel

by Walter Mosley

"A straightforward, friendly guide for aspiring writers" (Los Angeles Times): No more excuses. With award-winning author Walter Mosley as your guide, you can write a novel now.
"Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls," bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. In this invaluable book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish their novel in one year.

Intended as both inspiration and instruction, this book provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer. Mosley teaches you how to:


Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer's needs -- and how to stick to it.
Determine the narrative voice that's right for every writer's style.
Hook readers with dynamic characters.
Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story.
And much more.



"No-nonsense advice that is sure to set beginning writers along the righteous path to real authorhood." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, Crafts, Audiobook, How To

Unknown Binding

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Walter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 12 I started writing my first novel. After a hundred pages in I realized I was writing a slight variation on The Hobbit. I went on to study "professional writing" in college and worked on newspapers before concluding I wasn't interested in writing about little league games or that I didn't have enough callousness in me to interview people who've just had their house burn down. I gave screenwriting a shot and soon realized its limiting nature didn't suit me.

So I'm back at square one, trying my hand at novels again, but THIS time I'm eliciting the assistance of veteran wisdom! I've read some helpful, encouraging stuff from the likes of Ray Bradbury, Stephen King and Anne Lamott. I've also read some not so helpful stuff (and I'ma lookin' at you Natalie Goldberg) that was, nonetheless, encouraging. Then I've read some not so encouraging stuff (take 77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected for example) that was actually quite helpful.

This time around I gave crime fiction writer Walter Mosley a go. His This Year You Write Your Novel is a solid how-to for beginning writers that fits very closely to my helpful & encouraging category. You won't find much difference between this and the countless other books of its kind (I.E. they all rightly tell you to write, write, write!), but Mosley's approach spoke to me more than others I've read. It's nothing more than a personality thing, nothing to do with writing prowess or anything of that nature. Which is not to say he didn't do a nice job with This Year..., it's just that, regardless of its simplicity, I took his message to heart.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives you pretty much the same advice that the other books like this one give, but it is good to hear such advice from Mosley: a writer you can respect, a writer who writes regularly and well. Besides, I was ready to hear such advice, for I've hit a roadblock in the novel I began sixteen months ago. Creative inspiration--which I've relied on since my lyric poetry days--is no longer doing the trick, and I needed a kick in the rear to start me writing again.

Mosley was just the kick I needed, and I think this is because his emphasis on doing it now--this year you write your novel--leads him to emphasize something that I for one can never hear enough: inspired or uninspired, you must sit down every day, for two or three hours, and write your novel. Every single day. But then Mosley added something that I found particularly helpful: the writing you do—although it may never include random journal entries, emails, blog posts, goodreads reviews, etc.--may include revision and planning, for these are essential to your novel.

So I developed a new strategy. I work on my novel every day, but right now I am not composing any new chapters. Instead, I am revising the first two-thirds of my novel as if it were the product of some deceased author whose work I have been commissioned to complete. As I revise, I type out notes on a separate page, looking for any hints from the dead scribe which may help me write the last eight chapters. Once I am finished, I will make a detailed outline (something I have never before made use of) and then finish the novel according to the developed plan.

I'm convinced this will work. Me, that dead author dude, and Walter Mosley: together we can complete this thing.*


These are some passages from Mosley's book which I particularly liked:


IT ALL BEGINS WITH POETRY:

Poetry is the fount of all writing. Without a deep understanding of poetry and its practices, any power the writer might have is greatly diminished.

THE ONE AND THE MANY:

What you have to remember is that a novel is the one and the many. There is an overarching story, and then there are all the smaller narratives that come together to make up that longer tale.

WRITE WITHOUT RESTRAINT:

The story you tell, the characters you present, will all have dark sides to them. If you want to write believable fiction, you will have to cross over the line of your self-restraint and revel in the words and ideas that you would never express in your everyday life.

LIKE A JOURNEY BY BOAT:

The process of writing a novel is like taking a journey by boat. You have to continually set yourself on course. If you get distracted or allow yourself to drift, you will never make it to the destination. It's not like highly defined train tracks or a highway; this is a path that you are creating, discovering.

*Update: This book did help, but eventually I violated the everyday rule, and fell behind again. It is a year and a half later, and I still have four chapters to finish: 60,000 words completed, 12,000 words to go. Plus an outline to tell me where exactly I'm going. And a brand new New Year's resolution too.

[Brown Girl Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I bought this book. Firstly it's short but too the point. Walter Mosley breaks down how to approach creative writing realistically. He shatters a lot of myths and encourages novice writers to get to work. Following the advice of Mosley one should be able to finish writing a 50,000 word novel in one year. That doesn't mean it will be perfect and publishable, but it will be something to work with and improve later. It was refreshing to read his take on POVs, rewriting, editing, and dialogue. I am trying to take everything on board while continuing my online writing course. But, most of all I'm putting into practice regular writing and editing because installing regular writing breeds better writing and physical words to later work with. I recommend it to anybody who's thinking about embarking on creative writing.

[Gretchen Rubin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like reading about the creative process — this comes from a renowned novelist.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listening to the "Writers on Writing" podcast (which I highly recommend), I've learned that it's far easier and generally more profitable to sell a non-fiction book proposal than a novel. Perhaps that's why so many writers of fiction come out with "how-to-write" books like this one. Or perhaps I'm being cynical since I have a shelf full of writing books.

I listed to an interview with the author on the WOW podcast and it sounded different than other writing books. But, as I'm now at the half-way point, I would have to say it's typical of the genre. It's a quick read at just over 100 pages, I'm half-way through in one sitting. And it probably covers, in a very brief overview, the basics someone would need to know to get started on a first project if he or she has never written before, or read any other book on fiction writing, or taken any creative writing classes. Since I've done all three, and have the embarrassing drafts of past projects living in the drawer (where they belong and shall remain) to prove it, this particular book has little to offer me.

It's not as motivating as "Bird by Bird" or "Walking on Alligators" or "Writing Down the Bones." It is far less technically useful than "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers." In fact, this book's brief examples of "good writing" frequently glow in a lovely shade of purple prose. And although the author says writing every single day for an hour and a half or more is mandatory, he offers no help for figuring out how to accomplish this feat. As a harried mom of two infuriatingly adorable distractions, I've found "Pen on Fire" a much better guide to the writing life, because it acknowledges the truth that women writers actually have lives, lives that do not consent to being put on hold for hours at a time. She teaches writing in 15 minute segments -- basically write any chance you get, even if you may be interrupted and you don't have time to finish (I've written this review in less than that time while my youngest reason for neglecting my writing naps on my lap).

If there's anyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, but doesn't know where to start and would like a guide that you can get through in about an afternoon, you're welcome to my copy of this book. After this, however, you'll probably want to check out the other books mentioned in my review.

*Note: no children were harmed in the writing of this review. References to a writers, ahem, "art" as more important that the living, loving, needing, people in her life were intended as scarcasm, although that it how most books on writing seem to treat them.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, someone has a New Year’s resolution.

I’ve read quite a few books about writing, and some are better than others. Sometimes, they seem wonderful, but don’t inspire me to do anything, so what good is that? This one is not like that. Mosley inspires every step of the way, constantly reminding me that I’m not just reading a book, that I actually have a goal, and to accomplish that goal I’m going to have to do some things, and here’s what they are. He doesn’t offer shortcuts. He just tells the truth.

“Novels, like large musical pieces, have movements. But unlike an opera or symphony, the novel doesn’t have set notation and rules for its musicality. There’s no score. There is no set theory for the music of prose. These truths are at once daunting and exciting. No one will tell you how to score your novel, so that means you have to discover the music for yourself.”

It’s hard to find the right balance between wise writer imparting knowledge and fellow-writer struggling to create. Most writing books are heavy on the former, and we accept that because we want to learn. But Mosley accomplishes something in his tone here that’s unusual. He sounds like a writing friend. Nothing has been more helpful to me in my writing attempts than writing friends, writing peers, fellow-travelers on the path. For someone like Mosley, whose success is incontrovertible and whose writing I admire, to come down and meet me as a peer, well that’s special.

“Greatness lies in the heart of the writer, not in technique.”

And I feel like he is offering something here with more depth than you usually get in these books. I’ll try to show that with just one example. In a chapter about revision, when warning against “flat prose,” he suggests a way (mentioning a character and plot he made up previously as an example) to make it into something more.

“Consider the character who is speaking, the potential drama behind Marion’s reason for not going to the dance, the missing details, the misconnections. From this, make the lines into some kind of beginning for a novel. Don’t write more than a page. Pretend that it was written by some writer friend who wants to tell a story but has gotten lost somehow. I’m not much for giving exercises. I believe that the novel itself is your exercise. But in this case there is a reason. Most writers, especially new writers, can see the problems in other people’s prose while being blind to their own failings. This exercise should be an experience that you will keep in mind while working on the revision of your own book.”

Hopefully this gives an idea why slim volume held so much for me. In a few lines, he accomplished many things: shown me a step in the revision process, spoken to a tendency of human nature that can be used to help me overcome problems with the writing, and given me a specific example of how to do it.

And all with that narrative voice, like a friend who you call because they’ve been through something you’re going through. They mostly listen, then maybe give you a few bite-sized suggestions, gentle encouragement, and magically get across the feeling that you can get through it too.

[Benjamin D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like a lot of people don't understand that how precisely Mosley's worked this. Books about writing are an industry unto themselves (because everybody wants to be an author), but here is one by an author who actually knows what he's doing. Go ahead and read one of his novels first, so that you can see him in action and trust he knows what he's talking about (I recommend Futureland or Fortunate Son). The book is brief...because you should be writing. And because there's not actually that much to say about becoming a writer...other than that you have to be writing. Mosley tells you everything you truly need to understand with a sprinkling of examples, he puts emphasis on the editing as where the magic happens, and the beauty of this book is that he doesn't offer any extras--because those are all phony. All those other writing books that go into all that other stuff: nonsense. You should be writing rather than reading any of that. Because as Mosley points out here, that's the only way to become good, then better: to write. This is the only book about writing a would-be author should read. If you're expecting more, that's unrealistic...you need to be writing, instead of reading about writing.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to disagree with much of the middling and negative reviews about this title.

If you're serious about writing, why would you dismiss something that would and could be of great help to you? Especially from someone who is as esteemed as Walter Mosley? Doesn't that seem ridiculous?

Like most writers, I collect, read, thumb, and tag writing reference titles to keep on hand and to get guidance. Mosley's title was recommend to me from an artist friend who thought its straight to the point advice given in bite sized allotments would be attractive to me and he was right.

Sure, yes, you can listen to CBC Writers and Company (one of the best writing podcasts out there), subscribe to a zillion magazines and newsletters, and read blogs and websites to get advice. But while some of that information is helpful and at times useful, distilling through the noise to get to the actual meat of matter is exhausting. This is why Mosley's works is important - it gets rid of all the high falutin pretentious twaddle that seems to crop up in most writing manuals and advice how-tos and gives you the real deal.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's great about this book is that it isn't high-falutin' and uptight---just about 103 pages of conversational prose. Sometimes as an aspiring writer I've got caught-up in the "magic" and the little rituals and support-group-moaning about "facing the blank page" waaaa-waaaa-waaaaa and blah blah blah.

Walter Mosley's little book punctures that and says: Listen: let me relieve you of all this mystique and nonsense. Do you want to write a novel or not? If you can commit to these very basic directives, you can write a novel. It may not be a literary smash, but you will have achieved a significant goal; cleared an important hurdle. Just do it, already! (Love, Walter)

[Ozan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok kısa olmasına rağmen daha önce okuduğum "nasıl yazılır/nasıl yazdım" kitaplarında anlatılan pek çok şeye ve bazı konularda biraz daha fazlasına değinen bir kitap. Bunu zaman zaman nükteli ve genellikle sade bir dille yapıyor oluşunu sevdim.

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Second read 2022: this book is not as good as I thought it was when I read it last year. On re-reading, I feel the writing advice is extremely basic. For example, write every day for a set period of time like an hour and a half. Which I don't even agree with. Few people, especially caregivers and people with jobs, can do this sort of thing. So right off the bat he's setting unmanageable expectations. Did he write for an hour and a half every day when he wrote his first novel?

In the introduction he claims he will give an "exhaustive explanation of the elements of fiction writing." This book is barely 100 pages of large print, generously margined and subtitled type. Exhaustive, my ass.

Finally, for an author who has written many books, I would have liked him to have taken examples from his own books and writing practice. Instead, he made up new writing examples, almost all of which sexualized women and featured violence against them. Even in the first chapter, he notes that "most of us do not steal, murder, or rape." Did he need rape in the list? And when he comes up with a story example, did he need to have it be one in which a family of four is traveling, gets attacked, the wife and daughter are raped and murdered, the son is blinded, and the father has to confront his indifference to a son he might not have fathered but he did raise?

On this read, the writing examples were so needlessly violent and sexualized against women, not even particularly well written, and the writing advice so vague, that I am hard pressed to read it again to ferret out any good advice amidst this nonsense. Can't recommend.

There's a reason why Bird by Bird by Lamott and Writing Down the Bones by Goldberg and On Writing by Steven King are the books writers recommend. We do need more books on craft from a wider variety of authors. I really like Mathew Salesses' Craft in the Real World. But this feels like it was jotted down, or dictated to someone else, for a quick paycheck.

First read 2021: Recommended to me by my thesis advisor as I enter into the last year of my MFA. A good, fast read to jump start writing a novel, filled with many bits of practical advice that, even when some are repeated in other books, always bear repeating. Establish a writing practice. Read your work aloud. Revise. This one will go on my permanent shelf. It has value in that, if I need a quick jolt of advice, I can read it in an afternoon. This would not be the only book I'd recommend to a writer before embarking on a book, but it's a good first book, and one to have along with others for a balanced diet of advice.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of four newish books I recently read mostly so I could finally get them off my queue list, all of which were actually pretty good but are mere wisps of manuscripts, none of them over 150 pages or so in length. This one is the nonfiction This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley, an author I don't necessarily like that much personally but certainly respect a whole lot, among other things for being one of the only black authors in history to break through the lily-white publishing barrier of the science-fiction industry. That said, this extremely thin how-to book feels more like a weekend toss-off on Mosley's part than a finished and polished manuscript; a book that purports to show you how to finally get off your ass and in twelve months actually write that novel you've been telling yourself for years that you're going to someday write, but in fact is an odd mishmash of different kinds of literary advice, some more practical and some more craft-oriented, organized a bit sloppily and with not much concrete "real" advice in there at all. It's worth checking out if you get a chance to do so for free, but I'm not sure I'd recommend shelling out $20 to read this not exactly helpful fluff article turned full-length book.

Out of 10: 7.0

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little 103 page book was exactly what I needed for this time. If you are a seasoned writer, this book will probably not be anything new. In fact it's not the most in-depth book on novel writing at all.

It's not a how-to or step-by-step guide for rule followers. This is more an overview on what a person needs to do in order to get what is inside of them onto the written page. It covers a general overview of time management, finding your voice, pros and cons of which person perspective you want to write in, plotting, prose, drafting, editing, etc.

Brief and to the point is exactly what I was looking for. It helped me a lot in confirming things I thought to do intuitively.

If you're looking for something short and sweet that will give you a little encouragement to do the thing, this is perfect.

[Falisha Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was short and simple. I loved it. It gave me even more fire in my belly to continue writing my book and not give up. Hopefully it also will help me make it higher quality as well:)

[Dylan Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's good to get back to basics. While I don't agree with everything in this, I appreciate the message Mosley gives here. A good, short book for beginners and non-beginner alike. 4/5

[Rami Hamze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent place for a novice writer to start. It summarizes the universal basics of fiction writing. it is a good 101

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated reading Mr. Mosley's well-worded advice for aspiring writers.

[eggdropsoap · Rating 1 out of 5]

A stream of billowing, E. coli–tainted silt to fill up your pan while you strain to sift out the few scant flecks of advice it might contain. Not worth it even if you can find the useful advice, and you may even leave it with nothing of value, only dubious stains.

----

[CW for rape. [Yes, in a book about basic writing advice. No, I can’t even either.]]

Appalling.

Meandering and vague, the advice ranges from the obvious to the naively ritualistic—when it’s present at all. At times a section works up to suggesting an insight, then rather than deliver on its implicit premise it winds down with a whimpered evasion.

The prose is mushy and wordy without saying much. There’s an entire section—one of the rare bits that shows some substance—on strengthening prose by mercilessly removing words that do no work for a book, yet it does not seem to have occurred to Mosley that what is good for fiction prose might be applied to the non-fiction book he was writing.

But this is merely disappointing, not appalling.

What’s appalling is what was so easily avoided with the least work consulting with another’s perspective. (Perhaps the evasive dismissal of outside critique of his work in progress, so plainly and unreflectively disclosed later, serves him less well than he supposes.)

Do you like unannounced, casual treatment of rape? Because that’s what you’ll find. The implication in the introduction that all men have the urge, among other things, to rape, gallantly restrained so as to participate in civil society, should have been the clear warning.

But surely, just a poor turn of phrase, I worried at the time.

Oh no, not at all. When we get to the extended working example, we find Bob Millar elevated to protagonist by the expedience of a little rape and murder of wife and children. Just a casually-introduced catalyst to plot and character development, inserted into this paper pablum with the thoughtless indifference of the entitled. And then he returns to it throughout the longest chapter, repeatedly prodding with calloused hands a stomach-turning pustule of violence, because it’s ~character building~.

To ground this critique in maximal charity, I must disclose that I learned three things of value from the remaining hate-reading of this book:

- Why some people insist that writing every day is the *only* way to write (reimmersing in your manuscript is much more work after a day away)
- A method of identifying words that can be removed to strengthen prose
- Dialogue and description should always do more than one job, preferably multiple

This is however praise so faint it fails to emit a single photon. All were revealed in a few words buried among a hundred pages, and didn’t at all need the rest of the book to land. Their value lies in concision, and they stood out from the rest of the advice like bullhorns in fog. The advice on plotting, story, characterisation, and structure—the majority of the book, that is—is indefinite to the point of uselessness. To use a word he liked to repeat (contrary to his advice to avoid such): it is flaccid.

None of those lessons were worth wading in a swamp bobbing thick with surprise sewage, especially since they are all superficial enough to be readily available from better books. This book says a whole lot of nothing, with a steaming helping of rape-is-good-drama apologia ladled on top.

What’s clear by the end is Mosley doesn’t know how he writes, except in the most superficial ways, and cannot share any real insights. At times he is actively disdainful of the idea that there is skill or craft to writing. His concluding note is a shrug that he has only the roughest advice to offer, then a mystical gesture towards the inner heart of a writer as the true source of quality. The utter lack of self-awareness is astounding, all the more so for having been laid out so clearly on the page before him by his own hand.

There are far better books on writing—more substantial, more effective, more deft, more insightful, more practical. This book is valuable only as a lesson in the kind of mediocrity to not produce.

This book is the equivalent of “draw a circle; now draw the rest of the owl raping a young girl.”

[Jeffrey Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing groundbreaking, per se, but good to hear again. Rewriting and revising is always what I struggle with the most, and there was some good advice here to improve how I'm approaching it.

[Damla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bildiğimi sandığım bazı şeyleri bilmediğimi fark ettim. Güzeldi. Yine de her dediğine katılmıyorum. Olay örgüsünün ön planda olduğu romanlar için daha doğru bir rehber sanki, ama tabi her roman böyle değil.

Bir de şu 'her karakterin dönüşüm geçirmesi gerek' mevzusu benim kafama yatmıyor. Yahu üç ayda hangimiz o kadar değişiyoruz ya da kalıcı olarak değişiyoruz da karakter dönüşsün?

[Oldman_JE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, but wish it had been longer.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great writing-advice book because it's extremely short and you can't really use it to procrastinate on your actual writing projects. It gives great advice and I really liked how he described plot as a series of revelations, which is a helpful way to think of it. I read it in about a day and it was a really good overview of the process of writing a book. He stresses spending time every day on it as the most important thing, which isn't too different from other peoples' advice, and makes it clear that everything else is really just details. I like Mosley's direct communicating style and really appreciated this book. I look forward to reading some of his fiction, as I mainly know him from him Master Class videos.

[Kathleen Flynn]

I read this some time ago, before I'd written a novel (which took longer than a year, sorry), came across it tucked away, and thought it would be fun to read again.

It's extremely short, and I enjoy Mosley's gnomic style and way with words. The practical advice is good as far as it goes, which isn't too far. By far the best advice in here is to write every day. And that writing is basically rewriting.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up This Year You Write Your Novel because I was reading Mosley's The Man in My Basement and Devil in a Blue Dress and wanted to understand Mosley's choices in the book. There were some authorial moves I understood, some completely threw me.
This Year You Write Your Novel is a short, powerful book. I read lots of books on writing methods, techniques, scene, character, language, et cetera and I was truly impressed at how much Mosley packed into 103 pages. It's all there. Now here's the funny part; I wouldn't recommend the book to someone who's been writing for a while, say a year or two, and doing it as a past time or leisure time activity. My sense is it would prove too confusing or even misinformational. It's a great book (full of gems) for people who are about to write and those who already have a career going for them. The former will find a useful guide into a world they don't know much, if anything, about. The latter will find lots of triggers for things they know but not consciously, for techniques they use but can't name and will find themselves going "Oh, that's right, that's right" more often than not (I did, anyway).
Example: "The cooler third-person narrator allows us to see the world of this novel from a certain impartial remove." I read that and understood it immediately although I'd never thought of it as such. But the next line closed me, "This gives a kind of balance to the fiction that permits a reader to more easily suspend their disbelief." For me those two lines together were a kind of "Whoa!" moment. I had to stop reading to let the power of what Mosley was sharing sink in. Here's another one: "...there's a difference between explanation and verbal action." Authors who've agonized over whether you're showing or telling (I do, a lot), here's your answer.
There were eight major and several minor moments like that in 103 pages. That's definitely a Whoa! moment.
This one's a keeper if you're starting out or even on your way in a writing career.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of practical advice and insightful ideas. Read it to reignite some creativity this year. Unfortunately, it would appear you can’t write a book without actually sitting down and writing. Sigh.

[Scott Firestone · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The reader is always looking for two things in the novel: themselves and transcendence." So that's it. You just have to be able to write transcendence and you're all set! Seriously, though, this is a solid little book of advice for aspiring writers. Mosley starts off on shaky ground when he says that if you don't have 90 minutes of uninterrupted time to write, that you shouldn't even bother, which is just TERRIBLE advice. How many great novels would have never been written if the time-strapped authors had listened to that baloney.
But past that, it's pretty dang solid--if unremarkable. There's almost nothing you haven't heard before or since. The best advice Mosley provides is for the aspiring writer to study poetry--maybe even take a class in it. It's a form that forces you to pare down your words, and look closely at the rhythm of your writing. He's not suggesting you will become a great poet--and he admits he isn't one at all. But the discipline will make you a better novel writer, and I agree.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere out there is a handbook for writing and the writer's lifestyle; this is more like the "Quick Start Guide" falls out of the box. But if This Year You Write Your Novel is the Quick Start Guide of the writer's lifestyle then Writing Down The Bones is the in-depth, O'Reilly-published "Missing Manual".

I did not like Walter Mosley's book as much as Natalie Goldberg's. This one went into some mechanics but didn't seem to speak from the soul, didn't seem to speak to what motivates a writer. Mosley provides us with what seems like a list of definitions; e.g., he elaborates on first- vs. third-person vs. omniscient narratives and the dis/advantages of each. His examples were well-written and illustrative (i.e., to his credit, they were a step above strict definitions) but still, his book seemed targeted at the true amateur. Which perhaps it is.

What perhaps Mosley intended there however, is for you to sit down and read the book in one hour-long sitting on January 1st of your very own Year of the Novel.

One thing that I did like very much here though: Mosley writes that every author (aspiring or otherwise) needs to write every single day. This is no surprise; every book I have ever seen about writing and the writer's lifestyle talks about this. What Mosley acknowledges is that sometimes "write every day" means that you re-write or journal or just read your own work out loud to yourself.

[Kecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I blew through this little book in a little under an hour while hanging out at the Des Moines Public Library waiting for my friend to finish his volunteer duty at the Iowa State Fair.

I've never used the "You would recommend this book to" field before in a review but I feel it's useful here because with this book Mosley is addressing a very specific type of reader: the person who has never ever picked up, read, or possibly even heard of any kind of how-to about writing. For that reader, this is a very easy-to-read and bare-bones introduction to the fundamentals of writing fiction.

For anybody else, however, there isn't anything in here that hasn't already been said in a bunch of different ways by a bunch of different people. In fact, just about everything in here you can get for free online. While I appreciate Mosley's take on the subject out of respect for his body of work (just as I appreciated Stephen King's take on the subject out of respect for his body of work), I'm not motivated to spend money for this book. But again...I'm not in the audience for this. My collection of books on writing takes up a shelf of its own.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much, if not all, of what's written here can be found in other works, but rarely is it expressed in such a straightforward and economical way. Not everyone with a story wants to work their way through the syllabi of a creative writing degree. It's not just the well educated who can turn a story into a novel.

Mosley explains the fundamentals of novel writing and offers advice and encouragement. This is a brisk read and a good place to start for the fledgling fiction writer.

[Rebecca I · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very concise book which gives great tips about the writing process. It is short enough to be an easy to use guide to refer to again and again while in the process. The title, refers to writing your novel this year, but what that means is -- it will take a year to have a decent finished product if you do the process step by step. He brought up a few things I had not thought about, so overall I see it as a very helpful book about writing.