Thanks to this book I can see where I've gone wrong before and which of my previous works is worth attempting to rescue. If Frey ever gives a workshop in N.O. I will certainly attend.
It caught me right away with this concept"
"The reading of fiction, then, is the experience of a dream working at the subconscious level. This is the reason most sensible people hate the academic study of literature. Academics attempt to make rational and logical something that is intended to make you dream."
I like this is kind of down to earth, practical thinking. Frey suggests that your goal in writing a novel is to virtually bring your reader to a hypnotic state-- one which keeps your reality as the reader's temporary reality.
I also really liked Frey's down to earth conversational style. You really feel you are getting the nitty gritty from him-- no pedantics, no BS, just lots of practical, useful info.
I've been pretty successful as a freelance non-fiction writer, with cover articles in Writer's Digest, the National Enquirer (medical, not gossip) and articles sold to OMNI, Success, Family Health, Philadelphia and more. But I've never sold any fiction. During the last two years, I've read a number of books on story and novel writing. I class this as one of the better ones, with McKee's Story Structure, Bonnet's Stealing Fire From the Gods, and Vogler's Writer's Journey. They've all helped move me forward on my personal writer's journey. While I haven't yet sold anything as of this writing (April 2001) I have a much better understanding of what goes into a good story and, with Frey's help, what doesn't.
I'd love to do a workshop with him, and probably will when he comes to the northeast.
I found the chapter on "The Seven Deadly Mistakes" to be particularly useful: the topics here include Timidity, Trying to be Literary, Ego-Writing, Failure to Learn to Re-dream the Dream, Failure to Keep Faith with Yourself, choosing the Wrong Lifestyle, and Failure to Produce. I admired Frey's willingness to admit his own mistakes and follies from his life, even to the point of using them as examples in the chapter.
In some cases, I found what Frey wrote didn't necessarily help me _directly_, nor did this one have quite the same impact as his first. But what he did do was to force me to look at certain writing challenges from a different point of view. That alone was worth the trip, because it enabled me to find a way to write with more passion, with better descriptive language, and with a clearer eye to the final goal. Like the first book, I found it to be absolutely indispensible to new writers.
Like many other aspiring writers, I am a lazy person- collecting writing book after writing book, doing much more reading about writing than actual time at the desk composing fiction. But after reading Frey's books my head was exploding with so many concrete, practical ideas that could be fleshed out immediately that I rushed to write them down- and after having finished his books I have my first draft completed. It is the first time I have been able to piece together ALL the elements for a complete first draft, and all thanks to Frey's wonderful advice.
The most helpful aspect of Frey's books is the way he distills each distinct element of a good novel to its most basic structure, and using acknowledged classic novels as examples he shows how you can create those elements for your own fiction. How does a damn good novelist create reader sympathy for the book's protagonist? How does (s)he structure a plot? Keep a reader glued to the page, thirsty for each new word, sentence, chapter? Let Frey show you how.
In addition to "How To Write a Damn Good Novel" I and II, I recommend Stern's "Making Shapely Fiction" for quick inspiration and James V. Smith's "You Can Write a Novel" for concrete nuts-and-bolts instruction. If you can get your hands on it, "The Weekend Novelist" by Robert Ray is also very interesting.
Out of all these, read both Frey's books, in order. They are as valuable to an aspiring novelist as a four-year degree.