A Novel In A Year
The Age
Saturday February 23, 2008
A Novel in a Year
Louise Doughty Pocket Books, $24.95 NOVELIST LOUISE DOUGHTY cuts through an awful lot of confusing and conflicting advice that is the usual dish served to aspiring writers. While acknowledging that writing does take talent, she also says that a novel is not the sort of thing that happens while you shut your eyes and pray for divine intervention.Based on a weekly column she wrote for Britain's Daily Telegraph, Doughty's book consists of 52 chapters on the craft of novel writing. Included are exercises to get the creative juices running, as well as more specific exercises to do with voice, tense, prose style and structure. However, the title is somewhat misleading. By the end of the 52nd chapter aspirants should be ready to start a novel rather than have completed a novel. But more accomplished writers may zip through the exercises and use the book as a guide for their own purposes. In effect Doughty's book can be used by novices and mother superiors alike.Doughty's voice is warm and congenial and her advice hard won and practical. As a novelist she is passionate about her art and compassionate towards those who are trying to pursue it. Doughty has written six books of fiction and the charm of this, her first non-fiction one, is bound to draw curious readers to those novels. The website telegraph.co.uk/novelinayear, set up in conjunction with Doughty's original column, is also worth a look.
© 2008 The Age