I can't teach you how to write, I can't give you that particular talent, but what I can offer is to guide you through the novel-writing process, to show you how to avoid the pitfalls, and to encourage you to complete a novel.

I've taught creative writing for almost twenty years and this book contains some of the methods I've used with my students.
Carolyn Lewis BA (Hons), MPhil in Writing

This book is a SilverWood Original title.

Carolyn Lewis is an author and Creative Writing tutor who runs classes and workshops in the Bristol and North Somerset area. Her novel Missing Nancy was published in 2008 by Accent Press.

She writes regularly for leading women's magazines including Womens Weekly, and since 1999 has been shortlisted for 24 short story prizes (most recently 3rd prize Frome Festival, shortlisted Wells Festival of Literature, 2nd prize the Silver Thread and 2nd prize Matthew Prichard Award).

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"Carolyn Lewis's The Novel: A Perfect Recipe will be indispensable to all aspiring writers. Her knowledge and experience are so brilliantly shared in this book, which is informative, enjoyable to read and full of ideas. If you need a perfect guide to help you write that first novel, this is the one to buy."
– Ali Reynolds – Ali Reynolds Literary Consultancy

"The presentation is lively, and everything about this book is refreshing and vibrant. The overall task is clear, as are the individual exercises. The text sparkles with erudition, good sense and experience... Carolyn herself says that there is no magic formula to writing a novel (possibly no perfect recipe either) but she shows us ways of seeing and noticing, ways of practising, ways to edit and take pride in our craft, ways of bringing it all together."
–Geraldine Taylor – MA, MBAC, award winning writer and BBC Wildlife Writer of the Year 2000

An extended version of this review appears in Bristol Review of Books issue 13, Spring 2010