Refuse to Be Done
Subtitle
How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts
They say writing is rewriting. So why does the second part still get such short shrift?
"Refuse to Be Done" by Matt Bell is a craft book approaching novel writing through the lens of revision and rewriting, meant to take the writer from the first page to final edits.
"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, one for each of the three major stages of drafting. In the first section, Bell shares a bounty of tactics, all meant to push the writer through the initial conception and get words on the page. The second section, Bell explains, is focused 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 meant to be applied to a manuscript one at a time, breaking the daunting project of final revisions into many small, achievable tasks.
This is a book to give to an aspiring writer, to assign for course adoption, and even to interest the general reader. While geared for the novel, many of its tips are applicable to all types of creative writing, fiction and nonfiction
Bio
Matt Bell is an associate professor in the creative writing program of the ASU Department of English.
Praise for this book
(A) heartening guide to writing a novel ... Bell’s cheerleading is bolstered by plenty of interviews and examples ... and writers intimidated by the process will find solace in the case he makes that while good writing is not easy, putting one’s whole self into a novel is an ‘incredible joy.’ Budding novelists, take note.
Publishers Weekly
Drawing on the wisdom of everyone from Ursula K. Le Guin to The Pixies, plus his own successes and struggles, Matt Bell has given the world a tremendously clear (but never over-prescriptive) guide to the wonderful mess of writing a novel. I want this book in my students' hands yesterday; I'm grateful to hold it in mine today.
Rebecca Makkai Pulitzer Finalist for "The Great Believers"
