Book Review: Troubleshooting Your Novel by Steven James

As I mentioned in my intro, before launching into writing my first novel, I read a couple of “how to” books. This one was by far my favourite.

Troubleshooting Your Novel, Essential Techniques for Identifying and Solving Manuscript Problems by Steven James was exactly what I needed to get started on the right path.

James uses a great metaphor from the get-go to underline the importance of orienting your reader: imagine that you have been kidnapped off the street, a hood over your face, tossed into a van and then driven off. You can’t see anything. No one will talk to you. You don’t know how many people are there. Finally the van stops and the door opens. A man pulls you out of the vehicle and takes off the hood. What do you do next? Like anyone would, you scan the area, trying to figure out where you are, who is around, what’s happening. Is this a prank for a bachelor party? Are you about to be tortured in a warehouse? What do you smell? Hear? How do you feel?

James asserts that when a reader flips to the first page of your book, the hood is coming off, just like in this metaphor. The reader needs to understand as soon as possible who the players are, where the story takes place, what the stakes are, etc.

I found this metaphor and others in the book extremely helpful when writing Falling Star. I re-read Troubleshooting Your Novel several times while completing my first draft and it helped me decide what direction to take the story. I would highly recommend this book.

Do you have a favourite “how to” book to recommend? I’m all ears.