'For God's sake, keep your eyes open. Notice what's going on around you.' William S. Burroughs This step-by-step guide to the art and the craft of writing fiction is a refreshing blend of the practical (how to find an agent), with the more cerebral (how to handle point of view; the importance of rhythm). Throughout, Quick uses the hard-won experiences of his fellow novelists to give colour and depth to his own advice. Did you know, for instance, that Road Dahl wrote in a shed? That Nabokov composed his masterpieces on index cards? Or that most writers get their best work done in the mornings? Full of wit and lightly-worn erudition, 102 Ways to Write a Novel is an elegant, useful and even inspiring vade mecum. It will become a classic of its kind -- the book no writer of fiction should be without.
