Have you
ever wished you had a successful published novelist to hold your hand through the
process of writing your first novel? If
so, look no further than Alan Watt’s book The 90-day Novel. Alan Watt is an
award winning author and founder of the LA Writer’s Lab, and with The 90-day
Novel he outdoes himself. This book is a must have for anyone struggling
with the process of getting the words of that first novel onto the page.
The book is
divided into three parts. The first part deals with process and preparation. The
second part deals with outlining and writing the first draft, and the third
provides helpful writing exercises.
Part one is
an overview of the entire process in hopes of putting the writer in the proper
mindset for beginning the process. Here Alan relates how The 90-day Novel came to be and the importance of freeing the
creative process by letting ideas flow without the constraints of story. He
prepares the reader for the process by providing exercises that help the reader
to do the following:
- To recognize that he or she is qualified to tell his or her story.
- To reframe his or her fears and use them as a way into his or her story.
- To develop the narrative drive or underlying meaning that drives the plot.
- To develop a clear sense of the antagonistic forces t o keep from being in bondage to the fixed ideas of the story.
But what
really sets this book apart is that part two is divided into weeks and days,
providing a schedule that takes the reader on a step by step journey through
the entire process of outlining and penning the first draft. For instance, the section
on outlining is divided into four weeks of seven days each. Likewise the section on writing the first
draft is also divided into weeks and days, with writing the first draft taking
two months instead of one. Each day he sets out a small goal along with
exercises that get the writer one step closer to the finished product: the
first draft. He also starts each day out with an inspirational quote such as
this one by Sylvia Plath.
And by the
way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do
it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is
self-doubt.
The valuable
aspects of part three are the stream of consciousness exercises and the
questions on structure which are the key plot points in the hero’s journey.
So, stop
feeling overwhelmed and get to writing with the help of Alan Watt and The 90-day Novel.
