It's a New Year - 2018

Welcome to the first Novel Points of View blog for 2018. The seven of us wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year with lots of books in your life, whether you are a writer or a reader.

I did briefly think about writing a post about New Year resolutions but the only one I’ve made this year is to live in the moment and cherish every day. Then I thought maybe some of you have the luxury of having been given book tokens for Christmas and have yet to spend them. Because I am unable to get to writerly events like conferences or workshops, or even to a local writing group, I buy lots of writing related books. Inevitably one or two stand out as being superior to the rest and the one I treated myself to before Christmas is definitely my book of 2017.

From the blurb of ‘Into The Woods’: ‘Much more than a 'how to write' book, Into the Woods is an exploration of this fundamental structure underneath all narrative forms, from film and television to theatre and novel-writing. With astonishing detail and wisdom, John Yorke explains to us a phenomenon that, whether it is as a simple fable, or a big-budget 3D blockbuster, most of us experience almost every day of our lives.’

 Anyone who writes knows that stories have a basic shape:  beginning-middle-end. Screenwriters know story structure inside out and learning how they approach the written word is something that has definitely made me think about my approach to writing. John Yorke’s book opened my mind to things that had never before occurred to me. My current work in process is my thirteenth book (a number I still can’t quite believe) but In a very short time ‘Into The Woods’ has become my ‘bible’ I’ve learnt so much from it.

If you are serious about your writing I urge you - spend that book token (or even cash!) on this book.