How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II: Advanced Techniques For Dramatic Storytelling

"Damn good" fiction is dramatic fiction, Frey insists, whether it is by Hemingway or Grisham, Le Carre or Ludlum, Austen or Dickens. Despite their differences, these authors' works share common elements: strong narrative lines, fascinating characters, steadily building conflicts, and satisfying conclusions. Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel is one of the most widely used guides ever published for aspiring authors. Here, in How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II, Frey offers powerful advanced techniques to build suspense, create fresher, more interesting characters, and achieve greater reader sympathy, empathy, and identification.
How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II also warns against the pseudo-rules often inflicted upon writers, rules such as "The author must always be invisible" and "You must stick to a single viewpoint in a scene," which cramp the imagination and deaden the narrative. Frey focuses instead on promises that the author makes to the reader—promises about character, narrative voice, story type, and so on, which must be kept if the reader is to be satisfied. This book is rich, instructive, honest, and often tellingly funny about the way writers sometimes fail their readers and themselves.

• How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling
• How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript
• How to Write a Damn Good Thriller: A Step-by-Step Guide for Novelists and Screenwriters
• The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth
• The Last Fifty Pages: The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings
• The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction
• The Craft of Scene Writing: Beat by Beat to a Better Script
• Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need
• 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface