The Writing of Robert J Ray

The Weekend Novelist

Who doesn’t dream of writing a novel while holding on to a day job? Robert J. Ray and coauthor Bret Norris can help readers do just that, with this proven practical and accessible step-by-step guide to completing a novel in just a year’s worth of weekends.

The Weekend Novelist shows writers of all levels how to divide their writing time into weekend work sessions, and how to handle character, scene, and plot. This new, revised version is far more skills-based than its predecessor, and includes both classic and contemporary literature models, contains a sample “Novel in Progress,” and at the end offers readers the choice to rewrite their novel, draft a memoir, or turn their rough draft into a screenplay. Readers for a decade have been instructed and inspired by The Weekend Novelist. This new edition will help many more strive to realize their writing potential.

• Offers a practical, structured approach to finishing a novel
• Ray has taught more than 10,000 students over 25 years and continues to teach new classes that attract new readers to his books

The Weekend Novelist Rewrites the Novel

You’ve finished your first draft—congratulations! Think it’s ready for publication? Think again. The next stage is all about revising and reworking your manuscript—fine-tuning the plot, adding or improving subplots, and fleshing out characters; in short, addressing important structural issues that make or break a novel.

Robert J. Ray, who helped thousands of writers get from blank page to first draft in The Weekend Novelist, now guides the same audience through a series of seventeen weekend revision exercises designed to fit into any busy lifestyle, focusing on everything from rewriting scenes to developing sound flashbacks to refining characters’ back stories. Throughout the book, Ray illustrates his lessons with examples from such great works of literature as Jane Eyre, Gorky Park, and The Great Gatsby so that writers may more easily identify how and why a certain technique or structural element helps or hinders their own work. Also included are checklists, timed exercises, plot diagrams, and charts—all aimed to get you rewriting and revising your draft with confidence.

The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery

Like Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, Sara Paretsky and Thomas Harris, you, too, can learn the trade secrets of quality detective fiction.

It’s true.  Just one year from now, you can deliver a completed mystery novel to a publisher–by writing only on weekends.  Authors Robert J.  Ray and Jack Remick guide you through the entire mystery-writing process, from creating a killer to polishing off the final draft.  Each weekend you’ll focus on a specific task–learning the basics of novel-writing, the special demands of mystery-writing, and the secrets professionals use to create stories one scene at a time, building to a shivery, satisfying climax.  Using Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library as a model for the classical mystery tale and Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park for the hard-boiled mystery, this unique step-by-step program gives you all the information you need to reach your ultimate goal: a finished book in just 52 weeks! 

Play or Die

Senior Tennis and the Art of Spin

A riveting memoir that chronicles the extraordinary journey of Lester Elder, an aging tennis enthusiast determined to reignite his passion for the game. More than a sport, tennis becomes a lifeline, pushing Lester physically while fostering camaraderie and connections.

Join Lester as he navigates the twists and turns of the modern tennis world, finding camaraderie, resilience, and the sheer joy of playing the sport he loves.

Whether you’re a seasoned tennis enthusiast or someone looking to discover the joys of the game later in life, “Play or Die Senior Tennis” will leave you inspired and ready to delve into the game with newfound zeal.

 

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

TIP-TOEING INTO YOUR NOVEL REWRITE

Where are you with your novel?

100 pages?

200 pages?

A full manuscript?

First Draft?

Second Draft?

How’s it going?

Not as easy as you thought?

Writing a novel is easier if you’re crazy and creative and willing to start over.

Lots of work.

A steep learning curve.

Joys and sorrows.

But with each book, you get better. And there are all types of people who can help you.

Join a writer’s group.

Work your pages with friends.

Take a writing course.

Dedicate a chunk of your life to writing.

Form your own writer’s group.

But if you’ve got a bunch of money.

And if you just want a novel naming you as author.

Then zip over to google and search using words like these:

“how to write a novel” and watch the screen for omens like this:

“Write Your Novel in 9 Months.”

Or like this:

“Finish Your Novel in 9 Months.”

Nine months?

A subliminal clue: to some folks, writing a novel is tantamount to having a baby.

Sweet.

But, wherever you find yourself in the journey of your novel, whether it’s just the spark of an idea or a manuscript nearing completion, remember, you’re not alone.

Embrace the adventure, the highs, and the lows, but most importantly, don’t hesitate to seek guidance.

As an author who has traversed these paths many times before, I invite you to tap into my experience and insights.

Let’s navigate this winding road of storytelling together.

Dive into my treasure trove of advice and let’s craft your masterpiece, one word at a time.

On Novel Writing

You’re poking at a genre that’s been around for centuries.

First novel—written by a woman.

Murasaki Shikibu.

In the 11th century.

Picked up by Cervantes in 1605. This guy wrote Don Quixote.

The novel was whipped into shape by writers like Johnathan Swift—he gets credit for Gulliver’s Travels.

Except for Murasaki and George Eliot, novel writing was for Men Only—and here comes Currer Bell, the male pseudonym for Charlotte Bronte, who stunned the 19th century reader-world with Jane Eyre, which has generated more than two dozen films in English.

And more in other languages.

So if you’re writing a novel today—in the early stages of the 21st century, wouldn’t you be wise to take a long look at Jane Eyre?

Try to figure out how Bronte stunned the world?

The thing we call a novel grew up in the 19th century—hauling drama from the stage into the living room.

If you had a novel to read, you could have drama without grabbing a Hansom Cab and freezing your toes on the road to the theater.

Back then, your novel would have competed with theater-goers.

Today, your novel competes with screens—

TV

Laptop

Cellphone

I-pads

Movie Theaters.

This competition with screens—means you should tell your story with scenes.

Not narration.

You can count scenes—you’ll  need 50-75 for your story.

You cannot count your passages of narration.

Narration is the prose you find on Facebook.

Narration swoops and soars and writhes on the page.

It’s packed with authorial emotion.

Narration is great for writing about despair and doom.

Woe is me.

Where can I get that published?

Where can I get paid for exposing my angst? My woeful woes?

The novel is a form of entertainment.

The first line promises a story:

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” (Rebecca)

“When I wake up the other side of the bed is cold.” (Hunger Games)

“When he was thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Let’s say that again: Your first line promises a story.

 

So when you rewrite—no matter what agony poured forth in your first draft—you’d be smart to focus on story. Is your novel about a poor girl who has a drunk for a dad?

Or is it about a dude who gets drafted and becomes a hero when he saves an important person from drowning?

Or is it about a sensitive person who gets bullied in school and who grows up to own the factory that employs the children of the bullies who beat up on the sensitive person way back when?

Whatever you decide, it’s smarter to write scenes. A scene is a systematic presentation of setting, action, objects, dialogue, end of the scene, off to the next scene.

A scene has a time-limit.

A scene helps you focus on your characters—and not get wound up in wordy narration.

A scene needs at least two characters—three is better because the third character is often the Archetypal Intruder—the source of drama, moving your story along.

Narration is hard to chop because it sounds like you.

Narration carries a message: This is MY BOOK and MY voice and a horde of novelists who came before ME did okay with narration.

Step back.

Think about all those screens.

Once you write a narration—it’s hard to chop.

It’s easier to dump a bad scene.

Or to rebuild it.

Your pleasant friends at Grammarly utter this promise: “How to write a novel in 7 steps, With Examples.” Here are the seven steps:

 

  1. Generate ideas.
  2. Create an outline.
  3. Write a first draft.
  4. Seek feedback.
  5. Revise.
  6. Write a second draft.
  7. Edit your novel.

 

Take note: none of these helpful online helpers bother with scenes or objects or core stories. They haven’t noticed that screens have taken over the world—and that includes entertainment—but you know better—laptops and cell-phones and desktops and iPads and note-taking tablets have us by the throat—and their weighty insistent presence makes one picture worth more than 1,001 words—and please remember that mantra when you re-write your novel.

Good luck with your rewrite.

Tell us how it’s going.

And thank you for your time.

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About the author.

Robert J. Ray is the author of the writing guide “The Weekend Novelist” and eight Matt Murdock mysteries, including “Murdock Cracks Ice.”

He has taught college literature, writing, and tennis. He lives in Seattle with his terrific wife.

Robert J Ray

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