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Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise Novels with Creative Writing Tips, Tools, and Strategies | 
 enlarge | Author: Darcy Pattison
Creator: Kirby Larson
Publisher: Mims House
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $16.20
You Save: $1.80 (10%)
New (9) from $16.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 34029
Media: Perfect Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 124
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 0979862108
EAN: 9780979862106
ASIN: 0979862108
Publication Date: April 2, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise is an innovative, in-depth workbook which helps writers revise novels and write the book of their dreams. Foreword by Newbery Honor medalist Kirby Larson. Revising has never been easier. Using fun and easy techniques, you'll write a stronger, richer, deeper story, a story that makes readers weep and laugh and turn the next page. Unlike most books on revision, Novel Metamorphosis turns theory into radical new tools which are practical, tangible, concrete. It cuts straight to the heart of your manuscript's problems, develops your writing and editing skills, helps you understand the critical underlying structure of your story, and helps you learn theory as you work. The exercises will spark in-depth discussions in your critique group.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Provides Many "AH, HAH" Discoveries! May 26, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Novel Metamorphosis is an easy revision guide that helps writers unearth solutions to nagging problems in their manuscripts. This user-friendly book is a plus in any writer's reference library!
 Wets Your Palette but Leaves you Lacking May 6, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is about 95 pages long (not including some blank worksheets, index, table of contents.). The exercises at best will serve anyone who is attending the author's retreat. In comparison to other writing books, the price of this book is way to expensive for the very little it has to offer.
Perhaps an extreme beginner can find a few exercises helpful, I certainly didn't. The author's website has much more useful information than this book has. I give it 3 stars, because with all book reviews, it is subjective to one's own expectations and background. I'm sure that this book would work best in tangent with attendance to the author's retreat, which allows for feedback and more intense study and practice of the exercises she illustrates in this book. However, her self-discovery questions at the end of each chapter, leaves one with more questions than answers.
Check out Martha Alderson's "Blockbuster Plots" for process and James V. Smith's "The Writer's little Helper" for help on craft instead. The issue with this book is that it is not insightful enough. There is not enough "meat" in it to substantiate it's price and usefulness.
Perhaps a "Revision" on this book with in depth discussion on craft and process would benefit this book. Buy it if you are attending her workshop. At best it will serve as a "light" workbook on revision. But for "self-learning" it is very lacking.
The biggest annoyance is that she refers you to reading another book on "Revision" from the start, because her book simply doesn't cover those basics (well that defeats my point in getting her book on revision...).
On the plus side, she has a nice list of "Books Recommended for Further Reading", although I had many of them already, it is helpful for someone who needs some guidance.
Change for the Better April 22, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Novel Metamorphosis, used in Darcy Pattison's wonderful workshop, is full of helpful tips and tricks to whip your novel into shape. Starting with a very helpful outlining exercise designed to help the author see the overall flow of the manuscript, the book follows a logical sequence with which to review and revise a manuscript. The exercises include "big picture" issues addressing plot and tension, as well as more specific tips for addressing scenes, sentence impact, and word choice. Many of the exercises are useful for any type of manuscript (not just novels), and their helpful for writers of all levels, whether just beginning or previously published. This book is a welcome, straightforward, and useful addtion to any writer's toolkit. It doesn't simply tell the writer what to do in the revision process; it walks the writer through the entire manuscript, step by step.
Workshop in a Book April 19, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
When I enrolled in Darcy's workshop, I already had two published novels and I'd been part of a critique group for 10 years. Sure, I expected to take home a few new insights about writing that would help me grow in my craft - that's what happens whenever you immerse yourself in writing or critiquing, right? But I was not prepared for how much I would learn!
Darcy shows you how to come at your writing from many different perspectives, how to analyze what works or lags on each page, from chapter to chapter, and through the pacing and plotting of the whole.
I've recommended Darcy's workshop to many, many other writers.
If you cannot attend one, this book is the next best thing. But I warn you, put on your activewear: This workbook is about DOING - actively analyzing and revisioning your work - not about passively sitting in a chair and reading witty observations.
Gail Langer Karwoski, author of "Quake! Disaster in San Francisco, 1906"
At Last - Real Help for Novel Revision! March 27, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways To Revise Novels with Creative Writing Tips, Tools, and Strategies, delivers on its promise of genuine hands-on revision techniques. Figuring out what to do after completing a draft and how to identify where strengths and weaknesses are can be pretty overwhelming. It is for writers with a finished draft that Darcy Pattison's latest book offers hope and help in spades. She takes the writer through a series of specific exercises designed to help (or force!) the writer to really see his or her book anew. From tracking the narrative and emotional arcs of the work to an ingenious method of "shrunken pages" which allows an at-a-glance picture of the strength of each chapter or section and how it fits in with the whole, from identifying the heart of the story to understanding why that is a critical task, this book maps out strategies for making your book the best it can be. It is difficult to imagine a writer who wouldn't benefit from some or all of the techniques discussed, and the suggested reading list at the book's end is a valuable resource in itself. Well suited for small group work but also workable for the lone or isolated writer, Novel Metamorphosis is genuine strengthening medicine for serious writers ready to take their novel drafts to the next level.
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