Refuse to Be Done

A great book about writing: to the point, well written, actionable, and with some compelling advice I hadn't heard before. I enjoyed how Bell laid out his process from the big picture right down to word-level detailing (going as far as making hit-lists of hackneyed words/descriptions that he avoids, e.g. “chiseled features” and “manicured lawn”). Motivating and engaging.

Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell is a book about the craft of writing novels and editing your manuscript. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “From lauded writer and teacher Matt Bell, Refuse to Be Done is encouraging and intensely practical, focusing always on specific rewriting tasks, techniques, and activities for every stage of the process. You won't find bromides here about the “the writing Muse.” Instead, Bell breaks down the writing process in three sections. In the first, Bell shares a bounty of tactics, all meant to push you through the initial conception and get words on the page. The second focuses on reworking the narrative through outlining, modeling, and rewriting. The third and final section offers a layered approach to polishing through a checklist of operations, breaking the daunting project of final revisions into many small, achievable tasks. Whether you are a first time novelist or a veteran writer, you will find an abundance of strategies here to help motivate you and shake up your revision process, allowing you to approach your work, day after day and month after month, with fresh eyes and sharp new tools.”

Some say writing a novel is equal parts inspiration and perspiration, but Matt Bell has a very compelling argument that great novel writing is mostly perspiration through rewriting, revising, and editing, editing, editing. Having written seven novels already myself (plus my first attempt at a novel that went straight into the garbage) and working on my eighth novel now, I have to say I found Bell's suggestions for writing and editing very intriguing, even downright inspiring. There is definitely an inspirational tone in this book that is above and beyond most writing craft books that I have read, mainly because writing novels is hard. It can be a long, grueling slog at times, so to receive that reminder that what you are doing when writing a novel is hard—and to congratulate yourself after certain milestones—is inspiring. His three stages of novel writing is very practical and I enjoyed thinking how his tips could work in my own process. For my last three novels, I did the work of outlining before I even started the writing process. Bells suggests to outline after the first draft is complete; let the inspiration lead the way, then organize later. Interesting! I'm considering doing this with my current work in progress.

I do have to say that Bell's suggestions only make sense to me since I've written quite a few novels already. I'm not sure they would have made sense to me as a newbie writer. The whole idea of novel writing was murkier to me then. But now, having gone through the process so many times, Bell's suggestions are great as well as very practical. He does do a good job early on of saying just to keep writing when you start, no matter what. Just keep going! Incremental progress is better than no progress at all. Unfortunately, this is the part that all newbies have to just get through, no matter how much cheering they will receive from everyone. That's the hardest part! Having done that, I can honestly say that Bell is a fantastic cheerleader as well as writing instructor. Take his process and apply it to your own. You'll find excellent instructions as well as inspiration here.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.