by Karen Wiesner
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Product Description
Many aspiring and experienced novelists toss out hundreds of pages (and waste valuable time) before they have a workable first draft of a novel. With Karen Wiesner's book, those days are over. In this guide, readers will find: -A systematic method for completing a detailed first draft in just thirty days -Sure-fire methods to reduce time-intensive rewrites and avoid writing detours -Comprehensive, detailed, and interactive worksheets to make the process seem less like work and more like a game Flexible and customizable, this revolutionary system can be modified to fit any writer's approach and style.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A good organizational tool for the unorganized writer, 2008-09-24
The beauty of this book is that details a method of organization that can help you put your novel in order. If you are like I used to be you would sit down to write, but run into problems because you have so many ideas floating through your head and you don't know where to start, end, or anything else. And what comes out on the page is junk. The meathod in Karen Wiesner's guide will help you to start small--by doing character sketches and location descriptions. Then you move to a broad, general plot. And so on, piece by piece, until you eventually put it all together in a detailed outline. This has increased my organization when it comes to writing and allowed me to ideas on paper with out having to redo them a dozen times before getting it right (only to later discover it wasn't so right after all...) I can get through the early parts of writing a story without spending a lot of time on a scene to discover it doesn't fit in the plot line. This book has been a great benifit to me as a writer.
This book is good as long as you understand what you are actually getting. Despite the title you will not get a completed first draft out of the process described in this book. What you do get is a very detailed outline. This is the reason I gave the book only 4 stars.
This book isn't for everybody, though. If you are already well organized with your writing you probably wont get as much out of this book. If you are like me, however, give this book a try.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Good for Inspiration, 2008-09-03
This book helped me get my novel started. I did not follow the 30 day plan. I had to eat and sleep sometime... The book is a little wordy and I spent my first couple of days just reading this book instead of writing. However, I would recommend this to any 'first timer' who is looking for a place to start. It has good ideas such as using 3x5 file cards to set up an index for characters, places, etc.. to keep track of details. It makes assumptions regarding what information you already know about your book like characters and plot. Most writers have at least an idea of where they are going before they start so this helps you think more in detail. Just don't do what I did - use this book as an excuse to delay putting the first word down on paper.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Great Tool to Develop Discipline, 2008-08-27
If you're from the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) school of thought, you know that the mere discipline of writing regularly is an important first step to actually getting work done. In fact, every writing teacher out there will tell you that you need to write as often as humanly possible to nurture that writing habit.
Wiesner's "First Draft In 30 Days" can be seen as one of those valuable tools to help jumpstart that discipline. It's like NaNoWriMo with planning. With the help of detailed worksheets, Weisner equips you with the tools to help PLAN your novel and, if you fill out the worksheet items comprehensively, the experience is akin to receiving daily writing prompts.
Like what others have said, the book's title is misleading, but I wouldn't automatically slap one star on it. What Wiesner has done with this book is to encourage productivity, which in itself is valuable. To me, this book can best be used as follows:
1) Follow the process as detailed in the book. Best efforts should be exercised without the full expectation of a comprehensive first draft. Go through it as a month-long drafting and brainstorming exercise.
2) When the month is done and all the worksheets have been filled up, set everything aside and start a new story for the next 30 days.
3) Repeat for the third month. At the end of three months, you would have the bare bones for three stories.
4) On Months 4 to 5, review the worksheets of your FIRST story and fix or modify it. Focus on enriching and reinforcing the story elements--character, theme, structure. Do additional research. Write first drafts of key scenes and moments. By the end of this month, your story should be fit for a real first draft.
5) On Months 6 to 7, get your worksheets for your SECOND story and apply step 4. Do the same for your THIRD story on Months 8 to 9.
6) On Month 10, do a modified NaNoWriMo for your FIRST story. Do a comprehensive review, then hammer out 2,000 words a day. It should be easier at this point since you've already threshed out a lot of the story details earlier on.
7) On Month 11, use step 6 on your SECOND story. On Month 12 (or the following month to account for the holidays), use step six on your third story.
8) At the beginning of the following year, take the draft of your FIRST story and edit for grammar and style. This should take less than two months. Do the same on the other two stories for the succeeding months.
9) And, voila! In less than 18 months, you would have produced three novels, ready to be passed on to your editors.
10) Take six months to break, do final revisions based on editor feedback, and catch up on normal life. You can also use these six months for preliminary brainstorming for future novels. At the end of this period, take out Wiesner's book and go back to step 1 to start a new novel writing cycle.
:-)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Not For the "Weak", 2008-06-20
This books is definitely not for those who need to write by the seat of their pants. It is for those who enjoy plotting and those who are serious about the organizational flow and skills needed to plot a novel of ANY genre. If you don't enjoy plotting, this book is not for you. Being a part of a group with over 2000+ writers, it is pretty much a given that those who dislike plotting will not be converted, nor should they be.
If you are a plotter, however, then this book has some very valid and excellent points. As I learned with my first completed manuscript, revising and going back and not only editing but changing large sections of the prose because I hadn't outlined fully and things didn't work is a PITA. I would much rather make changes to a 100 page outline then a 360 page novel. This is one of Karen's main points.
After reading and implementing techniques from this book, I had the pleasure to take a workshop from Karen, based on this book. She explained this approach, answered all our questions and reinforced that her worksheets do not need to be completed her way. Every writer has to find their way. As stated in the book, if you'd rather plot using paragraph summaries or free-flow writing, as opposed to the worksheets, then use them. Most writers (semi-new to experienced) probably already know this--at least if they've spent any time writing and learning with others and not just themselves.
I enjoyed this book and seeing how meaningful it is to have a fully detailed outline I highly recommend it to those who love to plot.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Excellent For New and Seasoned Writers Alike, 2008-06-18
Karen Weisner has a deceptively simple system that she has used to get published and stay published as an author. Lucky me, she has chosen to format that system into something the rest of us can use and adapt to our own work.
Karen gives us easy to use worksheets for each step in forming a detailed picture of the work we want to create. Personally, I have been one of those make-it-up-as-I-go-along writers my entire life, and while I could come up with some decent ideas for stories and even entire sections of them, I would inevitably stall and abandon project after project. Not a very good way to get published.
This method is so much better. Far from the staid, rigid outlines of English Class term papers, this system lets you create a fluid, adaptable outline that is easily translated into the story you want to write. You're not limited to writing in sequence, though the suggestion is to get as far along with outlining your chapters in order as you can. If you get stuck part way through, you can work on writing the already outlined chapters, or writing scenes for later chapters, for example. This is great for me, because I often get scene ideas in my head long before I'm ready for them to occur in the story. Now I can create them, and work them in as I'm ready for them.
I find it very simple to create my own worksheets, and once you have them set up you can adapt them into your own templates. Some of the details Karen needs may not be what I need or you need, and that's the beauty of it. Karen isn't telling anyone to write exactly like she writes; she encourages writers to make the system personal and adapt it to fit their own projects. While some people may think "Well, what do I need her book for, then? I could just make up my own sheets." I say this: I always vaguely knew I needed some kind of outlining system even while I struggled with the unstructured way, but again, I didn't know where to begin. This book gives you that beginning. It gives you the bones of a good, easy to use method and lets YOU take it where you need it to go.
I was fortunate enough to participate in an online workshop with Karen Weisner on this method and receive personal answers to my questions, in conjunction to delving into the book. She is very generous with both her time and advice, and the tone of her book reflects that about her. As soon as I began Karen's system, I found myself invigorated and refreshed with respect to my writing, and new ideas seemed to pop up every day. I'm currently working on my novel using the "First Draft" method, and I feel confident for the first time ever that I will have a completed manuscript done and ready to try and publish within a reasonable time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fresh approach to writing.
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