Troubleshooting Your Novel

Troubleshooting Your Novel will take your story to the next level of excellence.

Let an award-winning novelist guide you through the process of making your book the best it can be.

By building on the principles and theoretical framework laid out in Story Trumps Structure, this book moves to the hands-on level with checklists, timesaving hints and tricks of the trade, and hundreds of questions for manuscript analysis and revision.

Concise, practical, and easy-to-use. Each chapter stands alone so you can flip to the section you need, identify a specific problem, and address it.

Learn to focus on what lies at the heart of story—tension, desire, crisis, escalation, struggle, discovery—and break out of the box to write fiction that truly resonates with readers.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Winner of the 2018 Storytelling World Award

REVIEWS

"I encourage every writer out there—whether published, about-to-be-published, or just with the desire to be published—to read this book...I assure you, the finished product will be a thousand percent better."

—Steve Berry, New York Times and #1 International Bestselling Author



It is a testament to the skill of Steven James that he can write a book on craft that is every bit as much a page-turner as one of his best-selling thrillers. I read this book in a kind of thrall, enjoying the wisdom on every topic it touched upon. Writing is rewriting, as they say, and this eminently useful guide is a tool kit for making that good book better, and making that better book great.

—David Corbett, Award-winning author of The Art of Character

Steven James is a master of the writing craft, as well as gifted teacher. He's both engaging and insightful. It's no secret that these qualities make him a Writer's Digest Conference attendee favorite. He knows what he's talking about and he knows how to effectively share his insights with others. Our post-conference attendee surveys confirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is one of the best. Certainly we welcome his return.

—Phil Sexton, Former Publisher at Writer's Digest