Book Review: HOW I WRITE

There are a lot of books that tell you how to write a novel, how to construct stories, build tension, write dialog, understand the ins and outs of the publishing industry–what we call “craft” books. Some are absolute must-haves for every writer (e.g., Stephen King’s ON WRITING), many are excellent and worth reading, and some are okay. When selecting good craft books, there are a variety of approaches the aspiring novelist (like me) can take. One (and by no means the only one) that I took was to look for books by successful writers, whether or not I read their books or even their genre. I read ON WRITING not because I’m a Stephen King fan, or because I like horror, but because he has been very successful, and I thought he might have some interesting things to say. (I have since developed an appreciation for his talent and own a few of his novels.) It was for this same reason that I picked up HOW I WRITE by bestselling author Janet Evanovich. I had heard of Janet Evanovich, but I have neither read nor even own any of her books. However, she has managed to carve out a career as a writer–a goal to which I aspire–so I thought her insights might be valuable.

I wasn’t wrong. There’s a lot of helpful advice and encouragement in this easy-to-read book. Janet pulls no punches in describing how she goes about writing novels, how long it took her to get published, and the ups and downs of the business. But her style is very chatty and upbeat, and she peppers the text with examples from her Stephanie Plum novels which both illustrate the points she makes, and show how much her novels reflect her personality. This book is written in the same voice as her fiction, so if you are already an Evanovich/Stephanie Plum fan, you’ll definitely like it. I can’t say I’m rushing out to buy ONE FOR THE MONEY, but her style made this book an effortless and enjoyable read.

She co-wrote the book with non-fiction writer Ina Yalof. Ina’s role seems to have been more one of collator and organizer. Each chapter deals with an aspect of writing: creating characters, structure, revising, etc. Then each chapter is subdivided into parts (supporting characters, names, plot, critiquing, and so on). The actual text of the book then consists of questions and answers that Ina, I presume, has culled from the questions Janet frequently receives in her mailbox every day. Periodically, Ina provides a brief summation of a topic, or of a general principle Janet is communicating. But the bulk of the book is Janet answering readers’ questions. And I think this works very well, since it takes the book out of the merely theoretical to deal with issues people are actually having. Janet’s answers are often witty, but always honest and helpful.

The book was written in 2005, and published in 2006, which means some of the advice is, I think, a little dated given the rapid changes in the publishing industry over the past few years. For a start, she advises a novelist who lists a number of possible genres for his/her novel to put them all in a query and let the agent decide. I don’t know of a single agent that would advise this approach (p. 134). She is also very wary of self-publishing. “If you’re interested in getting a personal journal or family history in print for limited distribution,” she says, “then self-publishing is okay.” (p. 162) Perhaps sound advice in 2005, but times have certainly changed, and self-publishing is losing a lot of the stigma it carried seven years ago.  She advises against sending queries by email (p. 151); today, most agents will only accept queries by email. Finally, on the subject of self-promotion, she says “The truth is, most authors would be better off spending their time writing the next book than self-promoting the first one published.” (p. 204) Book sales depend on the publisher, she says, and seems to advise leaving it up to the publisher to do most of the promotion. Again, sound advice in 2005, but in 2012, book promotion is much more of a shared responsibility–especially given the pervasiveness of social media in our culture.

As you can see, these negative points are not Janet’s fault; she was writing for her 2005/2006 audience, and had no idea how much things would change. Thankfully, these constitute a very small part of the book, and anyone who has done research on publishing today will be able to make the necessary mental updates.

One thing I thought especially helpful is that she shares an example of a query letter. Since I know some of my readers are in query-writing mode right now, I thought I would share the example she gives in the book. I don’t know if it’s her actual query letter for ONE FOR THE MONEY, or if it’s one she created for the book–either way, I think it’s a good example:

Dear Robert Gottleib [Janet’s real agent]:

One for the Money is set in Trenton, New Jersey, and features girl-next-door, out-of-work lingerie buyer Stephanie Plum. Desperate for a job, Plum blackmails her bail bondsman cousin into hiring her into the unlikely position of a bounty hunter. First up on Plum’s to-do list is find Trenton cop Joe Morelli and drag his butt back to jail. Morelli’s accused of murder and has skipped on his bond. There’s a long hot history between Morelli and Plum. Now she’s out to even the score and earn the capture fee. Plum’s Jersey attitude, intuition, luck, perseverence, and a surrounding cast of characters help her get the job done.

Some sex, some off-stage violence, some cussing, a tight mystery plot, and lots of pizza. Ninety thousand words. I’ve enclosed a postcard for your convenience, hoping you’ll want more.

In short, HOW I WRITE is a useful and entertaining book that I think a lot of aspiring writers can at least get encouragement from, if not also a lot of helpful tips and advice.