Mastering the Process

January 20, 2020
Mystery author George (The Punishment She Deserves) demonstrates her own cardinal virtues of writing—careful organization and meticulous attention to detail—in this skillful guide to creating a novel. Not one to wait for inspiration, George goes about her writing process like a job—a “challenging and deeply satisfying,” but still step-by-step, routine. She concentrates on explaining how she attends to character development, setting, dialogue, and developing plot points, offering exercises at each chapter’s end. The book’s great strength is in using excerpts from her 2008 novel, Careless in Red, to illustrate potentially abstract ideas, such as the choice among providing new situations, information, characters, or character agendas to create a turning point in the plot. Aspiring authors will likely have already heard her advice in one form or other, but the examples make it tangible and usable. Another strength is an emphasis on hard work: George describes, for example, her exhaustive process of writing every major character’s backstory. For those looking to access the same passion that might drive a Thoreau or Virginia Woolf, George is not a go-to. Craft is her métier. Writers looking for practical insights will find this book to be of great merit.

January 15, 2020
An up-close and personal class in writing a novel. Most authors of how-to-write books provide numerous excerpts and samples of work from successful, published authors in order to show aspiring writers how it's done. Hot on the heels of her last Inspector Lynley mystery, The Punishment She Deserves (2018), the award-winning George breaks this tradition by analyzing a single novel, Careless in Red (2008), one of her Lynley mysteries. The excerpts are extensive and sometimes quite lengthy, so expect spoilers. Throughout, the author calmly teaches by example, pragmatically walking readers through numerous sections of the lengthy novel. "What I actually want to do," she writes, "is show you how a particular process that I've developed over time works for me." Before George begins a novel, she conducts extensive research. Here, she includes photographs she took of the seaside in Cornwall where the novel is set and discusses how she was looking for a location to establish tone and atmosphere. What she discovered "ended up giving me an entrée into my novel." Once she has found a "plot kernel" and the settings, "everything else rises from the characters: the subplots, conflicts, theme, motifs, agendas, and the shape of the through line of the story." The author creates elaborate prompt sheets from which a character "rises up and tells me who he is." In other chapters, George explores dialogue, voice, point of view, and plot development. A key to the George method of writing is the "THAD," or "Talking Heads Avoidance Device," which is an "action that accompanies dialogue." Writers must "avoid writing a scene that comprises only dialogue and taglines." The author concludes with a detailed discussion of the importance of revising. "I'm a perfectionist," she writes, but she doesn't include much on language or style. Each chapter includes optional exercises. The author's nuts-and-bolts approach may be a tad too dry for some fledgling writers. "Take what you like and leave the rest," writes George early on. It's good advice for approaching this book.

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February 1, 2020

Anthony and Agatha Award winner George (The Great Deliverance) has authored 20 psychological suspense novels, four YA fiction titles, two short story collections, and a volume on writing titled Write Away. George asserts she did not set out to pen a follow-up to that latter work, but after several years of teaching and speaking at writers' conferences, she shared the process of creating her novel Careless in Red to novice authors as a step-by-step illustration of her methods with embedded writing exercises to reinforce lessons in craft. The resulting book has much to teach about developing character, plot, and point of view. In many ways, the best chapters revolve around the use of landscape and voice. VERDICT This practical guide to technique and intimate look into George's writing life wisely reminds readers and students that writing is a job and should be scheduled as such. The anecdotal material and reading lists offer penetrating looks into the author's sensibilities.--Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2020
In this comprehensive guide, George, beloved in the mystery community for her bestselling Inspector Lynley novels (beginning with A Great Deliverance, 1988), brings readers an insight into her writing process. She uses her novel Careless in Red (2008) as the set piece for the guide, quoting long passages to illustrate each of her points along the way. In the introduction, George recounts that her first novel received a long editorial letter, and she was determined to make sure she didn't have as many changes to make in future books. So her method developed, beginning with a deep exploration of place and character, which joins her right-brain organizational skills with her left-brain creativity. It's fascinating to see how information from George's freewritten character profiles emerge in the novel samples. Not all writers will jibe with this method?George is clear about this?but even the most seasoned writer will glean a few tips from the in-depth analysis. George's many fans may also be interested in seeing how her stories evolve from plot kernel to finished book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)