Novel Shortcuts: Ten Techniques that Ensure a Great First Draft

by Laura Whitcomb

Proven techniques for writing a high-quality first draft fast! Novel Shortcuts shows you how to quickly write a first draft that's also rich and engrossing. (It's really possible!) Through detailed instruction and valuable exercises, award-winning novelist Laura Whitcomb addresses everything from premise development to foreshadowing to tone and beyond. You'll uncover shortcut strategies and tools    • A four-step approach for crafting stronger scenes    • Plot-planning devices, including plot webs, timelines, and plot menus    • Guidelines for building your story around essential crosshair moments    • Comprehensive checklists featuring quick fixes to common story gaffes relating to plot, character, voice and style, setting, description, and more Plus, learn how to stay committed to and enthusiastic about your project as you develop it from a new idea to a complex and realistic story. Novel Shortcuts is your roadmap to a smooth and expedient writing process!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

261 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Laura Whitcomb grew up in Pasadena, California in a mildly haunted house. She received her English degree at California State University at Northridge in 1993. She has taught Language Arts in California and Hawaii. She has won three Kay Snow Awards and was once runner up in the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest for the best first sentence of the worst Science Fiction novel never written. In her spare time she sings madrigals with the Sherwood Renaissance Singers and is the props mistress for the Portland Christmas Revels. She lives in Wilsonville, Oregon, with her son Robinson.

The movie rights for A Certain Slant of Light sold to Kristin Hahn, producer of The Departed. ACSOL will be published in Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, Polish, and Turkish. The audio book is published by Listening Library. In 2005 ACSOL was also chosen for the "Discover Great New Writers" program at Barnes & Noble bookstores.

The Fetch was #5 in the top ten of Children's Indie Next List 2009 and was published as an audio book by Recorded Books. The paperback will be available in fall 2010.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come. Really nice albeit brief look at structure and plotting a novel. Whitcomb uses several examples from her own writing as well as external resources.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the best part of this book is Chapter 2, which covers "Deciding How To Tell Your Story." The sole reason I purchased this book is a 10 page section in Chapter 2 that discusses writing "devices."

"Devices" can create a more meaningful story by having a gimmick that unifies point of view, style, tone, and props. Easier said than done, and many will wish more space was devoted to this less-covered topic given the other nine areas discussed have countless books.

Starting novelists will likely appreciate the book the most. More advanced novelists may cherry-pick tips like I did, or skip it entirely given the glut of general writing advice books.

[ناصر سليم · Rating 3 out of 5]

این کتاب اثر خانم لورا ویتکامب
با ترجمه: خانم موسوی
و شامل ۱۰ فصل می‌باشد:
فصل اول: دستیابی به هسته رمان
فصل دوم: برنامه‌ریزی نحوه روایت داستان
فصل سوم: لحظه‌های کانونی
فصل چهارم: میانبری به صحنه
فصل پنجم: توازن، صحنه، خلاصه و بازتاب
فصل ششم: پی‌ریزی طرح داستان
فصل هفتم: اقتباس نقاط قوت بهترین آثار
فصل هشتم: وقتی همه چیز بد از آب در می‌آید چه کنم
فصل نهم: راهی سریع به سوی احساسی عمیق‌تر
فصل دهم: اهداف و معجزات

۲۰۲۴/۱/۱
۱۱ دی ۱۴۰۲
اولین کتاب خوانده شده در سال ۲۰۲۴

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must for a first time novelest. It has been so helpful for me. I have tried to read other writing help book but they were too rigid and overbearing with rules and terms that confused me. Whitcomb brought it all down to my level and helped me see the big picture of my novel without ignoring the detail work. I feel much, much better equiped to write a complete novel now. She is so encouraging and freely tells you her tricks for overcoming different moment of writers block. I am more anxious to complete my first draft of my first novel now than i have ever been.

[Laini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of her focusing, brainstorming techniques, but her constant bragging gets old. "When I was working on my second novel, that won such and such award..." is repeated several times. OK, we get it. You won some awards. But tooting your own horn multiple times is too much. Mention it once, and I'll be impressed, but after that, meh...

[August · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm torn, because this has some really great information up front, and peters out about halfway through. Glad I marked it up so I can see what matters later!

[Jennifer Worrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good, but it seems like one of the first in the Writer's Digest series, like it wasn't too sure about it but went ahead anyway.

It seems the author wasn't too experienced herself when writing it. She can't explain why a few of her own writing exercises work. There a great many excerpts used as examples, which I love, but she often says things such as "this is tricky and you should maybe think twice before using it". I love that she's showing us all sorts of examples of writing, but if this is a book on first drafts, thus for novices, that comes across as daunting. Someone might wonder why they should bother trying, even if they're talented.

There are also a few references that I found odd. I had this book out from the library so long I'd forgotten who'd written it. Then an excerpt was used as an example and was attributed to Laura Whitcomb. Later I realized that was the author, but the excerpt was lumped in with the rest, with no comment like "from my story, X..."

However, it's worth a look because of the excerpts used as examples. This way, she shows different types of reflection, POV, etc., and it's a nice little guide to have for that reason.

[Lauren Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book the most out of all the books I took out from the library on the subject. One star off because the author refers to herself and her own novel a bit too much. In my estimation, the perfect book on writing is more like Writing Down the Bones, where it is unconscious of itself and concentrates on the writing.

My favorite parts where the little challenges or exercises that proposed solutions to writers' problems. One suggested to write your book's jacket blurb before you write the actual book. Constructing that 150 word paragraph can help you decide what you think the novel is going to be about and what you think people will like about it.

[Izzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate that there were a lot of good writing exercises available, the author did begin to grate on my nerves. As with most authors that write 'How-to' novels, her primary focus is to talk about herself and how many award she's won. No, thank you.

Your novels should speak for yourself. I don't mind if they talk about their work in terms of publication or use it to explain the point they're making but to be frank, I don't care how how many novels they have published and how many awards they've won. How is that going to help the reader?

[C.R. Sedore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say when I bought this book I was in need to know more about what she calls cross-hair moments. I had never heard of that before, but it made much since and my writing has improved significantly. It is the first writing book I ever bought and were the one in my desk I review while plotting my novels. It helped me immensely. I highly suggest it.

Though if you never have taken a writers class before then, this book is critical to buy. It has excellent brainstorming and out of the box thinking strategies.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a long or difficult read, so you don't get bogged down in it. The table of contents allows you to skip to the parts you want to read if you don't want to read it straight through. The ideas she imparts are helpful and interesting and she gives good examples of what she's talking about. I think it would be helpful for anyone trying to write a novel or revising a novel for publication.

[Lit-Creek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has lots of great practical advice for writers. All you have to do is tune out the author talking about all her great work and you will enjoy.

Finding the core of your novel,
Deciding how to tell your story,
Crosshairs moments,
Shortcut to the scene,
Balancing scene, summary and reflection,
Planning your plot,
Stealing trick from the best,
Fast track to the deeper emotion
What to do when it stinks,
Goals and miracles,

[Michael Carbonari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura writes and I believe. Her "How To" handbook is full of insightful and practical ways of the trade. Easy to read. Flows well. Makes sense. Made me feel I could begin my book after reading hers.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The steps and process of writing a novel are presented in a somewhat different approach that the author calls shortcuts. Suggested readings and exercises are provided. Some writing samples are included.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the Janet Evanovich "How I Write" this one is dry and boring. It had a few good pointers that I plan on trying, though.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading this excellent book to shape my next project.

[Henry McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the craft.
Exercises and troubleshooting guide are good and helpful.

[Lindah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing in-depth here, but a good framework for mapping out a novel before you write.

[CHIMEZIE]

nothing