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Irving Wallace
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The Writing of One Novel Kindle Edition

by Irving Wallace (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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In The Writing of One Novel, Irving Wallace shows how the basic idea of a novel about the Nobel Prize awards took form over sixteen years, tells of the false starts, the persistent detective work, the many drafts, the elation, the despair, the work inseparable from the writer’s craft. His book has been widely hailed as a unique portrait of a writer’s work.

John Barkham, Saturday review syndicate:
“How do novelists create works of fiction? The answer—better than any critic could hope to give it—is provided in this literary autopsy by Irving Wallace, one of the most widely read novelists of the day I cannot recall ever having read a laboratory report of this type before. No one interested in writing, editing, or just reading fiction should miss this professional postmortem. It ought to be made a standard text in writing schools.”

NATIONAL OBSERVER:
“Mr. Wallace, who kept journals and diaries at every stage of progress (in writing The Prize), has managed to make it all come alive for us, permitting us a sense of sharing in the making of the book.”

CLEVELAND PRESS:
“Wallace’s anatomy of a best seller is a fantastic record of almost total recall.”

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER:
“The Writing of One Novel is an extremely valuable book for writers, and because its author is the eminently successful Irving Wallace it can be read avidly by a much wider circle of enthusiasts. Wallace is a best seller extraordinary and this present book is a comprehensive survey of how he came to write, how he wrote and how he was affected by the reception of The Prize The book seems utterly honest.”

ST. ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH:
“Never before have I seen a successful writer tell so much about the ways of his work.”

LOS ANGELES TIMES:
“Irving Wallace’s candid and searching account of the conception, gestation and birth of The Prize... I found it a fascinating and revealing book... an excellent case study of what went into and came out in a single novel.”
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  1. Print length
    241 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    March 19, 2021
  5. File size
    881 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08ZK99XCT
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crossroad Press (March 19, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 19, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 881 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

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Irving Wallace

Irving Wallace

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Fernando Rodriguez, Ph.D.
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a gem!!!
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
I am not a book reviewer. But reading has been an enjoyable journey associated with many stages of my life. As I grew up, like any other youngster — I guess —, my imagination ‘fed’ on different stories and styles in the books that I was able to read and understand. My passion for continuing with this pastime was slowly built up over the years by excellent books written by intelligent and influential writers, who helped me to foster a good sense for quality reading. Irving Wallace was one of them!

And now, I found this gem, this remarkable novel: ‘The Writing of One Novel’, which amazingly describes how Irving Wallace wrote ‘The Prize’. Before complicating my existence with mandatory reading of textbooks and technical journals in college and graduate school, I discovered at a very early age the great American novelist Irving Wallace. Wallace became my favorite author in middle school. The first two Wallace’s books that I remember reading were the ‘Chapman Report’, followed by ‘The Man’. In those early days, and thereafter, I believe I read most, if not all, of Wallace’s fiction stories.

When you read Wallace’s books, it is like you’re a being a part of the story. In every novel, there is a sensation of engaging or coexisting with the characters, to the point of assuming the role of the acting protagonist; sometimes the antagonist! Moreover, it’s like a thrilling and stimulating experience to feel, almost every time, how one could ‘visit’ and ‘be transported’ to countries and unknown places, just by reading Wallace’s novels. His detailed and fine writing appealed to me in such a way that I felt immediately infatuated with his entire production. I still keep his best paperbacks in my book collection (including the Kindle versions) in both, English and Spanish, I must say.
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James Fraze
4.0 out of 5 stars Required reading if you want to pursue the life
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2013
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This book was far better than any how-to manual I have ever read and there are some excellent ones out there. Wallace does an excellent job of outlining how and when the idea of the novel "The Prize" occurred to him and the journey he embarked was as fascinating as how he went about writing the book. For beginner or the experience writer stuck in a rut, this is a wonderful guide on how to plan, plot, outline, and write a novel.

The only thing preventing me from rating this higher stems from Wallace going into a bit TOO MUCH detail on his day and how many words or pages he produced. While that is fine and it was interesting to see how he produced through some tough times, it got a bit tedious as he spent far too many pages detailing every thought he ever possessed along the book's journey.
Overall, an excellent book and I would like to see it reissued and made required reading for anyone choosing to embark on the writing life.
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Bakhshinder
5.0 out of 5 stars My Money Multifolded
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2014
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Since I am in mid of reading another book, I could not read 'The Writing of One Novel' yet. As I am the die-hard fan of the Irving Wallace, I dare to claim that this book will reward me its price multiplied by millions.
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Joe V.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2016
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One of the best guides to writing a novel.
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HDTV shopper
5.0 out of 5 stars The very best of its kind -- stands the test of time
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2009
Decades ago, before I faced the daunting task of becoming a novelist, I consumed many of the how-to books that purported to give you the guidance to create a novel. Most of them were not especially authoritative; they had a tendency to fall back on the "whatever works for you is the best advice," which was kind of a frustrating cop-out. Granted, the writing process may be an art, not a science, but there is a science to the craft.

This book was the most influential of any I've ever read. The reason is because the prolific and talented Irving Wallace did something of a post-mortem on how he wrote his best-seller, THE PRIZE (kind of a huge ensemble story focused on the innerworking of the Nobel Prize -- a big canvass genre he and Arthur Haley were known for back in the 1970s).

This autopsy goes through the entire birthing process of a single, best-selling work of fiction -- meaning we see it from concept to completion. The single-most important segment of the book for me was how Wallace kept tabs on his daily progress, by charting out the page output and the running total of the manuscript. As he got closer to the denouement of his story, his daily productivity was amplified. As simple as it may sound, I use this technique in my writing process and have found it to be revolutionary.

Irving was one of the great storytellers of the day, and I do miss the high-concept, big-canvass plots of the Irving-Haley days (perhaps Michael Crichton comes the closest to their works). Any aspiring novelist should read Stephen King's "On Writing" and this timeless work as well. There are a lot of pretenders out there eager to feed off your hopes and dreams and take your money, but this is a real-deal, nuts-and-bolts guide for real writers.
3 people found this helpful
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K. M. Schroeder
4.0 out of 5 stars Well-Worded Wisdom
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2004
This analysis of 16 years of authorial labor is a bit thick at times, and several sections in it would appeal only to close friends of the author for their overbearing detail. But these faults are easily forgiven for Wallace's frequently lyrical musings on the craft and his apt relatings of his personal quirks. The book he eventually shapes is, I believe, wholly unworthy of all this, but little of the overall impact is missed if you're no fan of pop fiction--much of his advice applies to the art of the novelist itself.

Only writers and devoted readers will really enjoy this, but if you classify yourself as one or both of these, then hunt this little tome down and fuel your inner spark.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

John M Ballard
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting theme meticulously researched
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
This novel concerns a " religious" theme, the discovery of a new christian bible, and the race to publish it in the arena of religious disapproval, and predates the da Vinci Code by several years. The profit element is also clearly here for the publishers, as the new bible will likely sell in the many millions, provided it is allowed to " hit the streets".
The story is exciting, lots of twists and turns, and for those who are either christians or know about the bible, its contents, the various versions of it such as the King James, and related subjects like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the narrative will have extra interest, although The Word works also as a straight thriller.
Highly recommended for its exciting and original theme, and for the detailed research that must have gone into its creation.
One person found this helpful
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Michael Woodhead
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in Canada on October 31, 2015
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Although I'm still in the process of reading it, the book is nonetheless very interesting. I enjoy Wallace's works, and this behind-the-scenes look at the writing of The Prize is just as entertaining.
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