This was one of the books I took with for my holiday in Provence, though I saved it for last, because I chose to read it as part of my interest in developing my writing, so work not fun. However, the book was a revelation and I wish it had been published four years ago when I first started writing. Though this assumes that I would have had the sense and wit to make the most of it back then, which is not a given.
Deborah Chester is the person who Jim Butcher learnt to write under. For those of you reading this and thinking writing to a formula is somehow wrong, stop and put your assumptions to one side. The formula referred to in the title is the list of things that a novel needs if it's going to work as a story. In short, this is a book about the craft rather than the art of writing.
I'm now using it to help me work through my second novel and it has also helped me to understand the feedback I received that said my first novel was not straightforward enough. What I can do to address this feedback is limited by my writing ability and all I can do is work at upping my game.
For anyone who is writing I can wholeheartedly recommend reading this book.
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