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Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts
They say writing is rewriting. So why does the second part get such short shrift? Refuse To Be Done will guide you through every step of the novel writing process, from getting started on those first pages to the last tips for making your final draft even tighter and stronger.
From lauded writer and teacher Matt Bell, 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. In the first, Bell shares a bounty of tactics, all meant to push you through the initial conception and get words on the page. The second focuses 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, breaking the daunting project of final revisions into many small, achievable tasks.
Whether you are a first time novelist or a veteran writer, you will find an abundance of strategies here to help motivate you and shake up your revision process, allowing you to approach your work, day after day and month after month, with fresh eyes and sharp new tools.
From lauded writer and teacher Matt Bell, 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. In the first, Bell shares a bounty of tactics, all meant to push you through the initial conception and get words on the page. The second focuses 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, breaking the daunting project of final revisions into many small, achievable tasks.
Whether you are a first time novelist or a veteran writer, you will find an abundance of strategies here to help motivate you and shake up your revision process, allowing you to approach your work, day after day and month after month, with fresh eyes and sharp new tools.
168 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2022
About the author
Matt Bell
39 books1,677 followersMatt Bell’s next novel, Appleseed, was published by Custom House in July 2021. His craft book Refuse to Be Done, a guide to novel writing, rewriting, & revision, will follow in early 2022 from Soho Press. He is also the author of the novels Scrapper and In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, as well as the short story collection A Tree or a Person or a Wall, a non-fiction book about the classic video game Baldur's Gate II, and several other titles. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Orion, Tin House, Conjunctions, Fairy Tale Review, American Short Fiction, and many other publications. A native of Michigan, he teaches creative writing at Arizona State University.
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February 2, 2023
Matt Bell is a novelist and a creative writing professor based in Phoenix, AZ, and Refuse to Be Done is a matching writing craft manual. Don’t expect to find any high-flying literary criticism essays in this book. What you’ll find is more akin to a set of IKEA assembly instructions. Still, Matt Bell’s approach to writing fiction is pretty compelling. As the title suggests, it’s a method in three steps—not that any of these steps can be churned out in 30 minutes, mind you.
Long story short: the first step is to compose a generative revision, or exploratory draft, or a “shitty first draft”, in Anne Lamott’s wording. At this stage, Matt Bell provides an abundance of tips and tricks (not everything is ground-breaking but worth having in mind nonetheless) to develop some narrative alertness and, most of all, to get going, avoid getting stuck, steer clear of the proverbial “writer’s block”; the aim is essentially quantity over quality, with an emphasis on keeping it fun and exciting.
The second step is to clean up the mess and produce a narrative revision. This means creating an outline or synopsis and revising the story at a macro level. Only once the outline makes some sort of sense (Bell doesn’t offer much guidance on that score, but other writing craft books do), one can roll up one’s sleeves and rewrite the whole damn thing from scratch—probably one of the best and most provocative pieces of advice in Bell’s book.
The third and allegedly final step is to work on a polishing revision; in other words, going over the whole second draft several times with a set of fine-tooth combs, checking and fixing the structure, the prose style, the dialogues, killing the weak or unnecessary darlings, and then lather, rinse, repeat until the final version sounds and looks good.
One of the great virtues of Matt Bell’s manual (besides its brevity) is that it removes the mystique surrounding the writing process and shows how handmade, labour-intensive and repetitive it needs to be to reach some degree of excellence—hopefully… More like proper cabinetmaking than quick and dirty IKEA.
Long story short: the first step is to compose a generative revision, or exploratory draft, or a “shitty first draft”, in Anne Lamott’s wording. At this stage, Matt Bell provides an abundance of tips and tricks (not everything is ground-breaking but worth having in mind nonetheless) to develop some narrative alertness and, most of all, to get going, avoid getting stuck, steer clear of the proverbial “writer’s block”; the aim is essentially quantity over quality, with an emphasis on keeping it fun and exciting.
The second step is to clean up the mess and produce a narrative revision. This means creating an outline or synopsis and revising the story at a macro level. Only once the outline makes some sort of sense (Bell doesn’t offer much guidance on that score, but other writing craft books do), one can roll up one’s sleeves and rewrite the whole damn thing from scratch—probably one of the best and most provocative pieces of advice in Bell’s book.
The third and allegedly final step is to work on a polishing revision; in other words, going over the whole second draft several times with a set of fine-tooth combs, checking and fixing the structure, the prose style, the dialogues, killing the weak or unnecessary darlings, and then lather, rinse, repeat until the final version sounds and looks good.
One of the great virtues of Matt Bell’s manual (besides its brevity) is that it removes the mystique surrounding the writing process and shows how handmade, labour-intensive and repetitive it needs to be to reach some degree of excellence—hopefully… More like proper cabinetmaking than quick and dirty IKEA.
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May 29, 2022I have an old YA novel in a place you'd expect an old YA novel to be -- in a box in the study closet. At the time I didn't appreciate how close it came. You don't get handwritten rejection notes (written as an aside on the boilerplate one) by a New York editor of a big-shot publisher just every day. She loved the characters and especially the descriptions, which reminded her of her own summer camp days in New Hampshire as a girl, but the plot... the plot needed work.
The plot thickens these 25 years later. I wondered what I could do with that finished product if I treated it as a draft and went at it again, this time with a sharper focus on mounting problems and challenges for the characters.
So I got this little yellow book I'd seen somewhere on a site called Goodreads, a site I love despite its new owner (Amazon) and not because of it. And interestingly, as I seldom love "how to write" books because, I figure, the author should already be famous for novels because s/he knows so much about how to write, I wound up enjoying this one to a degree.
Why?
Brevity, for one. My paperback copy is a mere 151 pp. If you're going to emphasize cutting to the bone, especially in the final stages of prepping a manuscript, your book should do as it says.
Practicality, for two. This little number is chock full of strategies. Ask not for whom Matt Bells, because he's happy to share ideas from two other great sources -- other how-to-write gurus and great novelists who have been interviewed on their craft.
Inspiration, finally. Any book of this sort should leave it's readers saying, "Hey, I can do that. Even me, of all people. Can do. Will do. Want to do.
Now all I have to do is step one: find the box in the closet. It hasn't been "Marie Kondo-ed" yet, so it could be hidden under a spark or under a joy.
The plot thickens these 25 years later. I wondered what I could do with that finished product if I treated it as a draft and went at it again, this time with a sharper focus on mounting problems and challenges for the characters.
So I got this little yellow book I'd seen somewhere on a site called Goodreads, a site I love despite its new owner (Amazon) and not because of it. And interestingly, as I seldom love "how to write" books because, I figure, the author should already be famous for novels because s/he knows so much about how to write, I wound up enjoying this one to a degree.
Why?
Brevity, for one. My paperback copy is a mere 151 pp. If you're going to emphasize cutting to the bone, especially in the final stages of prepping a manuscript, your book should do as it says.
Practicality, for two. This little number is chock full of strategies. Ask not for whom Matt Bells, because he's happy to share ideas from two other great sources -- other how-to-write gurus and great novelists who have been interviewed on their craft.
Inspiration, finally. Any book of this sort should leave it's readers saying, "Hey, I can do that. Even me, of all people. Can do. Will do. Want to do.
Now all I have to do is step one: find the box in the closet. It hasn't been "Marie Kondo-ed" yet, so it could be hidden under a spark or under a joy.
November 28, 2021
Loved this craft book, and I thought I had had enough of craft books, but Bell is both passionate about novel-writing and encouraging/realistic with techniques to overcome the long periods of fear/loathing/despair that one encounters when writing a novel. Four of my favorite pieces of advice were: write the islands, follow your excitement, beware of “Have to” scenes, and learn what book you’re not writing. More to come in the longer published review.
May 15, 2022
Thoughtful. I liked the three sections and can see myself using them diagnostically to figure out what to do in each stage. Judging by what pages I dog-eared, some sections seemed more useful than others (but that's probably where I'm at in my WIP right now!). Anyway, clear and useful book.
April 9, 2022
Sometimes I learn from a writing book because I agree with it. Sometimes I learn because, in disagreeing, I find myself having to articulate and crystallize opinions that I might not have thought about otherwise. This book was a disagreement-learning situation.
The book is extremely extremely process-oriented. As in, it’s very much about the process of writing and not about what makes a good story. There's a lot about these little tricks that Bell likes to use—widen your margins! change your font!—not very much at all about constructing plots or building characters. And woefully little about the frame of mind he’s in as he forces himself through what sounds like an excruciating, arduous process.
Even outside of the main three-draft strategy—which never takes a bridge when there’s a perfectly good ten-mile detour available—Bell also recommends a lot of EXTREMELY time-consuming revision strategies. There’s one exercise where he recommends highlighting five types of passages in your book in five colors of highlighter, and he suggests rereading it five different times to do this. Another passage makes it clear that Bell expects you to write at least twice the amount of words your book will contain, then cut half out. The entire third section is about spending months If not years painstakingly going over every word to get the phrasing just right.
This all makes it clear that Bell expects to spend the better part of a decade on each of his novels, and probably half that time fine-tuning sentences until they bleed. Which is fine, if that’s the kind of writer you want to be. But if it’s not, this is probably not the book for you.
I did find some nuggets that I really agreed with, especially in the first draft section, but I just can't get down with the MFA-workshop model of reworking prose endlessly, or these shopworn exercises that want you to cut and cut and cut words. To me there is a limit, and saying things like "cut a sentence from every paragraph" either means: you have a shitload of fluff in your paragraphs, or else you will have cut away all the fat you can, and you will begin cutting meat. (But, this is the kind of thing I have realized I believe thanks to disagreeing with Bell.)
The book is extremely extremely process-oriented. As in, it’s very much about the process of writing and not about what makes a good story. There's a lot about these little tricks that Bell likes to use—widen your margins! change your font!—not very much at all about constructing plots or building characters. And woefully little about the frame of mind he’s in as he forces himself through what sounds like an excruciating, arduous process.
Even outside of the main three-draft strategy—which never takes a bridge when there’s a perfectly good ten-mile detour available—Bell also recommends a lot of EXTREMELY time-consuming revision strategies. There’s one exercise where he recommends highlighting five types of passages in your book in five colors of highlighter, and he suggests rereading it five different times to do this. Another passage makes it clear that Bell expects you to write at least twice the amount of words your book will contain, then cut half out. The entire third section is about spending months If not years painstakingly going over every word to get the phrasing just right.
This all makes it clear that Bell expects to spend the better part of a decade on each of his novels, and probably half that time fine-tuning sentences until they bleed. Which is fine, if that’s the kind of writer you want to be. But if it’s not, this is probably not the book for you.
I did find some nuggets that I really agreed with, especially in the first draft section, but I just can't get down with the MFA-workshop model of reworking prose endlessly, or these shopworn exercises that want you to cut and cut and cut words. To me there is a limit, and saying things like "cut a sentence from every paragraph" either means: you have a shitload of fluff in your paragraphs, or else you will have cut away all the fat you can, and you will begin cutting meat. (But, this is the kind of thing I have realized I believe thanks to disagreeing with Bell.)
January 15, 2022
The only thing I didn't like about this book is that it isn't out yet so I can't recommend and send it to all the writers in my life. This is an essential resource for people who are embarking upon writing a novel for the first time, revising for the 12th time, or writing a first or 10th book. It's accessible and thorough, but like any craft book, you can take what seems useful and leave the rest. I will probably revisit it again and again.
June 18, 2022
Anyone who writes is out of their minds, and I'm grateful this book exists to reinforce that because writing is A LOT OF WORK. There's a lot of practical and useful advice as well as revision strategies to consider. Maybe different projects demand different kinds of revision. I know I'll be returning to this book.
November 28, 2021
I requested a review copy of this to consider using it in the writing classes I teach, and I am definitely going to be recommending this to my students. There's a lot of helpful aspects, but here are a few:
It's a short guide, about 150 pages, with roughly 50 pages focusing on each of three drafts Bell proposes that novelists write. This is helpful, because I think that sometimes we writers pick up a craft manual when we're stuck and use it as a way to procrastinate. Bell will get you on your way back to the page quickly with some concrete ideas about what to do next in your drafting and revision process.
I especially found his ideas about the third draft--or the third phase of drafting--helpful. I'd already been using some of these because Bell mentioned them in his newsletter or on Twitter, and when I've offhandedly mentioned something about looking for "weasel words" in a writing class, my students all wanted the list and to learn more about the technique, so I can direct them toward this book. I think it's so hard to see what to do next when you've been working on a book for years and are sick of it, and Bell gives a number of techniques to squeeze just a little more of the stuff you don't want out of your draft before you hand it off to the next reader.
This is also a joyful book, I think, which is helpful. There are parts of writing which are really a slog, but Bell shares how he brings good energy to all the phases of the draft, and wants to extend the revising experience to make the book the best it can be.
It's a short guide, about 150 pages, with roughly 50 pages focusing on each of three drafts Bell proposes that novelists write. This is helpful, because I think that sometimes we writers pick up a craft manual when we're stuck and use it as a way to procrastinate. Bell will get you on your way back to the page quickly with some concrete ideas about what to do next in your drafting and revision process.
I especially found his ideas about the third draft--or the third phase of drafting--helpful. I'd already been using some of these because Bell mentioned them in his newsletter or on Twitter, and when I've offhandedly mentioned something about looking for "weasel words" in a writing class, my students all wanted the list and to learn more about the technique, so I can direct them toward this book. I think it's so hard to see what to do next when you've been working on a book for years and are sick of it, and Bell gives a number of techniques to squeeze just a little more of the stuff you don't want out of your draft before you hand it off to the next reader.
This is also a joyful book, I think, which is helpful. There are parts of writing which are really a slog, but Bell shares how he brings good energy to all the phases of the draft, and wants to extend the revising experience to make the book the best it can be.
June 18, 2022
Probably good for "pantsers" and overwriters, but I was disappointed. There is some good stuff, but nothing relevant was new to me. This is a very short book at about 150 pages, and fully half of that addresses the process of the first draft. And since it does so from the perspective of a total pantser, that half of the book was mostly wasted on me.
The "second draft" part, less than 20 pages, is basically how to pick the good parts out of the results of the previous and assemble them into something resembling a novel. The remainder is basically improving and polishing this. This might be expected to be more universal, and generally was, but it's all still assuming you're generally paring down, not adding on. Underwriters will be under-served.
One quote I liked from the early part was a refreshing change from writing as "calling" / mental illness crowd:
The "second draft" part, less than 20 pages, is basically how to pick the good parts out of the results of the previous and assemble them into something resembling a novel. The remainder is basically improving and polishing this. This might be expected to be more universal, and generally was, but it's all still assuming you're generally paring down, not adding on. Underwriters will be under-served.
One quote I liked from the early part was a refreshing change from writing as "calling" / mental illness crowd:
I was a reader before I was a writer, and I would, if forced, choose reading over writing;
March 28, 2022
This book is filled with lots of excellent tips for novelists, although any writer would benefit from some of the end-stage tips in the last section (about removing weasel-words, polishing dialogue, etc.). The author might be talking literally when he says "three drafts," but it seems more like three stages of novel writing, with possibly several drafts within each stage. At least that's how my process works. Still, it's a great way to approach novel writing.
April 19, 2022
A delightful, accessible, charming craft book that inspires and motivates and encourages as much as it advises. I'll consult this book as I dive back into my own novel, and I'll fold many of its ideas into my teaching.
February 11, 2024
One of the better books on craft. Lots of helpful tips and exercises that go beyond the “show don’t tell” technique, which feels done to death at this point. I gleaned most from the sections on second and third drafts, and I will definitely revisit those chapters when working on my own stuff in the future. Would recommend to anyone passionate about their book-length project but daunted by the process.
February 14, 2022
I am writing a novel right now and this book has so much good advice, not just from the author but from a range of other authors, whose interviews he's carefully harvested for the gems. And the advice on tightening your prose is good for any kind of writing. This book, which quotes a range of authors and uses strong examples of craft, is one of the most useful writing books I've read.
August 13, 2023
Matt Bell wrote one of my favorite reads of 2022, Appleseed. When I was looking for some writing craft books in prep for this year's Nanowrimo, I was super intrigued to hear how he writes, considering his book was a complex, creative masterpiece. He structures this book in three sections and outlines how the writer should approach each draft. I thought the advice was really sound and there are pieces of it I will definitely follow or at least attempt. I appreciated that he also referenced other books on writing as well as used snippets from published novels to illustrate his points. This will definitely help me in my future pursuits!
December 21, 2023
Honestly, this is more breaking down three *phases* of drafting. Some of the techniques Bell describes I could not imagine working for me, but others sound quite helpful. Aside from anything practical I may have gleaned, however, it's just so refreshing to hear other writers describe their process and articulate nebulous thoughts and feelings that plague us all. Recommended read, particularly for novelists.
October 17, 2022
Positive, encouraging, yet nothing new.
July 11, 2022
Matt Bell's Refuse to Be Done is awesome, and I will now be promoting it as the Strunk & White of novel writing.
Bell's advice comes fast and furious — it is almost pointless to underline key passages; entire chapters get highlighted. The tips and tricks run the gamut, from helping the writer think about the big-picture process of creating a novel to smart hacks for crafting better sentences.
As Benjamin Dreyer says in his cover blurb, I will be keeping Refuse to Be Done close to hand as I work.
Bell's advice comes fast and furious — it is almost pointless to underline key passages; entire chapters get highlighted. The tips and tricks run the gamut, from helping the writer think about the big-picture process of creating a novel to smart hacks for crafting better sentences.
As Benjamin Dreyer says in his cover blurb, I will be keeping Refuse to Be Done close to hand as I work.
April 27, 2022
Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell is a book about the craft of writing novels and editing your manuscript. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “From lauded writer and teacher Matt Bell, 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. In the first, Bell shares a bounty of tactics, all meant to push you through the initial conception and get words on the page. The second focuses 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, breaking the daunting project of final revisions into many small, achievable tasks. Whether you are a first time novelist or a veteran writer, you will find an abundance of strategies here to help motivate you and shake up your revision process, allowing you to approach your work, day after day and month after month, with fresh eyes and sharp new tools.”
Some say writing a novel is equal parts inspiration and perspiration, but Matt Bell has a very compelling argument that great novel writing is mostly perspiration through rewriting, revising, and editing, editing, editing. Having written seven novels already myself (plus my first attempt at a novel that went straight into the garbage) and working on my eighth novel now, I have to say I found Bell’s suggestions for writing and editing very intriguing, even downright inspiring. There is definitely an inspirational tone in this book that is above and beyond most writing craft books that I have read, mainly because writing novels is hard. It can be a long, grueling slog at times, so to receive that reminder that what you are doing when writing a novel is hard—and to congratulate yourself after certain milestones—is inspiring. His three stages of novel writing is very practical and I enjoyed thinking how his tips could work in my own process. For my last three novels, I did the work of outlining before I even started the writing process. Bells suggests to outline after the first draft is complete; let the inspiration lead the way, then organize later. Interesting! I’m considering doing this with my current work in progress.
I do have to say that Bell’s suggestions only make sense to me since I’ve written quite a few novels already. I’m not sure they would have made sense to me as a newbie writer. The whole idea of novel writing was murkier to me then. But now, having gone through the process so many times, Bell’s suggestions are great as well as very practical. He does do a good job early on of saying just to keep writing when you start, no matter what. Just keep going! Incremental progress is better than no progress at all. Unfortunately, this is the part that all newbies have to just get through, no matter how much cheering they will receive from everyone. That's the hardest part! Having done that, I can honestly say that Bell is a fantastic cheerleader as well as writing instructor. Take his process and apply it to your own. You’ll find excellent instructions as well as inspiration here.
I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.
Some say writing a novel is equal parts inspiration and perspiration, but Matt Bell has a very compelling argument that great novel writing is mostly perspiration through rewriting, revising, and editing, editing, editing. Having written seven novels already myself (plus my first attempt at a novel that went straight into the garbage) and working on my eighth novel now, I have to say I found Bell’s suggestions for writing and editing very intriguing, even downright inspiring. There is definitely an inspirational tone in this book that is above and beyond most writing craft books that I have read, mainly because writing novels is hard. It can be a long, grueling slog at times, so to receive that reminder that what you are doing when writing a novel is hard—and to congratulate yourself after certain milestones—is inspiring. His three stages of novel writing is very practical and I enjoyed thinking how his tips could work in my own process. For my last three novels, I did the work of outlining before I even started the writing process. Bells suggests to outline after the first draft is complete; let the inspiration lead the way, then organize later. Interesting! I’m considering doing this with my current work in progress.
I do have to say that Bell’s suggestions only make sense to me since I’ve written quite a few novels already. I’m not sure they would have made sense to me as a newbie writer. The whole idea of novel writing was murkier to me then. But now, having gone through the process so many times, Bell’s suggestions are great as well as very practical. He does do a good job early on of saying just to keep writing when you start, no matter what. Just keep going! Incremental progress is better than no progress at all. Unfortunately, this is the part that all newbies have to just get through, no matter how much cheering they will receive from everyone. That's the hardest part! Having done that, I can honestly say that Bell is a fantastic cheerleader as well as writing instructor. Take his process and apply it to your own. You’ll find excellent instructions as well as inspiration here.
I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.
March 14, 2022
A great guide to writing a novel, for those who need help with process and figuring out how to get it done. It doesn’t go deep into specific issues of technique and craft, like language, character, plot, setting, theme and POV (though of course the book touches on them all), so if that’s what you’re looking for you should pair this with another guide.
I recommend this books for folks who’ve written short stories and want to gain the stamina to write long, have written a novel but found it a slog and want to explore options for a better process, or are keen novel readers with a grasp of technique but who need help figuring out how to get started on a manuscript.
I recommend this books for folks who’ve written short stories and want to gain the stamina to write long, have written a novel but found it a slog and want to explore options for a better process, or are keen novel readers with a grasp of technique but who need help figuring out how to get started on a manuscript.
April 20, 2022
This book offers a lot of great procedural advice for revising fiction, but not much guidance for writers who are trying to resolve story problems. If someone is looking for help with reevaluating a draft to change story elements, I would recommend The Last Draft: A Novelist's Guide to Revision.
September 16, 2022
I DNFed halfway in after rereading the while first quarter - I thought I just hadn't focused enough, but the book just didn't spike my interest. It may be the audiobook version - it goes on and on about tricks without a break to grasp what has been said. The same was true for going on and on about examples of literature. It must be a minority opinion, but I also think this can be summarized in an article.
Read
May 10, 2023Usually I’m happy to give a proper rating to a craft book based on, well, how useful it is? If it conveys anything new in the field or that might otherwise elude common sense. It’s tricky with Refuse, because there ARE great gobs of concrete, helpful craft techniques, there are a ton of lively quotes from great practitioners of the craft, and there’s a pretty economical flow all and all; unfortunately so much is redundant, filler, common-sense, or inelegantly expressed versions of rules that are otherwise commonly understood.
I don’t know if Bell offers ME much here, but I always feel pretty alien to these books, and I guess a lot of what I read these for is quotable material to help writers I’m editing for or workshopping with.
I also think the ethos of the book errs toward the tedious, to work hard and not necessarily smart—the writing I love always feels intuitive, it never needs that shark-eyed over-polish or skeletonized personality-stripping that embodies Capital’s drive (which, well, art shouldn’t have to, nor does it always succumb this way); Bell’s treatise is more about making a book inoffensive and smooth and shiny than g o o d, because of course how the hell do you define or advocate for “the good” in a craft book?
I think the first draft bag of tricks writeup is the strongest, even though it’s just supposed to preface the actual “revision” focus.
I think if you’re less antagonistic than I am to MFA-poisoned, centre-lane inoffensive novels and the like, and you’re looking for what probably could have been a short-essay’s worth of concrete advice on what guardrails might keep your project tidy and chugging along, then this will be very helpful for you.
I think if you’ve already written and published a book or two, you might be with me, scratching your head at Bell’s experiences and remedies for them.
I did read the whole thing though, which says something when I have this skeptical interface between me and an entire way-of-thinking.
I don’t know if Bell offers ME much here, but I always feel pretty alien to these books, and I guess a lot of what I read these for is quotable material to help writers I’m editing for or workshopping with.
I also think the ethos of the book errs toward the tedious, to work hard and not necessarily smart—the writing I love always feels intuitive, it never needs that shark-eyed over-polish or skeletonized personality-stripping that embodies Capital’s drive (which, well, art shouldn’t have to, nor does it always succumb this way); Bell’s treatise is more about making a book inoffensive and smooth and shiny than g o o d, because of course how the hell do you define or advocate for “the good” in a craft book?
I think the first draft bag of tricks writeup is the strongest, even though it’s just supposed to preface the actual “revision” focus.
I think if you’re less antagonistic than I am to MFA-poisoned, centre-lane inoffensive novels and the like, and you’re looking for what probably could have been a short-essay’s worth of concrete advice on what guardrails might keep your project tidy and chugging along, then this will be very helpful for you.
I think if you’ve already written and published a book or two, you might be with me, scratching your head at Bell’s experiences and remedies for them.
I did read the whole thing though, which says something when I have this skeptical interface between me and an entire way-of-thinking.
November 12, 2023
Okay, so this book, REFUSE TO BE DONE, by Matt Bell worried me at first. Bell is a "discovery writer" aka "pantser," and I am most decidedly a "planner" who outlines even most of my short stories. Also, the book starts off talking about such basic writing tactics that I worried it was beginners-only.
Boy, was I wrong. I learned a few things here and there in the first 70 pages in the book, so they weren't a waste even though they were pretty much solely about the first draft of a discovery writer.
But then, at page 71, SO MANY GOOD TIPS. Not every tip will be for every writer, but there's so much good stuff here for even experienced writers of the "I plot everything well before I write my first draft," type. Highly recommended.
(Also, I've had people ask me for writing books they feel comfortable giving teens who are into writing or to people who for whatever reason don't like vulgar language or using in a classroom environment. This book, excluding one very famous--and kinda important--quote, was vulgarity-free.)
Boy, was I wrong. I learned a few things here and there in the first 70 pages in the book, so they weren't a waste even though they were pretty much solely about the first draft of a discovery writer.
But then, at page 71, SO MANY GOOD TIPS. Not every tip will be for every writer, but there's so much good stuff here for even experienced writers of the "I plot everything well before I write my first draft," type. Highly recommended.
(Also, I've had people ask me for writing books they feel comfortable giving teens who are into writing or to people who for whatever reason don't like vulgar language or using in a classroom environment. This book, excluding one very famous--and kinda important--quote, was vulgarity-free.)
May 17, 2022
I ended up reading Refuse to be Done in one sitting, and found it wonderfully inspiring. As someone who's completed writing quite a few novels, I still found Bell's discussions to be interesting and worthwhile, and I can see this being a fantastic read for experienced and beginning writers alike. I'll certainly adopt some of the techniques he suggests in my own drafting process, and I've written down a number of the books he referenced to look up when I get a chance. I'd absolutely recommend this work to any writer who's either thinking about or already in the process of writing novels.
May 7, 2024
The most practical and clear book on craft I’ve ever read. I’ve finished my first draft of my first novel and only wish I’d read this book earlier. About to undertake ~draft 2~ (fully retyping the novel) so wish me luck! Excellent book.
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February 23, 2023Refuse to be Done / Matt Bell
I don’t really feel comfortable giving this book a star rating, as I feel that to some this book could be incredibly insightful and impactful. However, for me, it was not.
Refuse to be Done, ironically, is written by an author and professor at the university where I completed my English Degree. The fact that I never took one of his classes is somewhat surprising, but I assume many of his teachings can be found in this book.
In this book, Bell details his process for writing a novel- taking it from first idea to final draft. While there were some tidbits of information that I gleaned from this and find useful, I feel like the approach to writing that I take is vastly different. I don’t think either is necessarily the “right” way, but unfortunately hearing his method just stressed me out. Which sucks, because I really could have used a boost of inspiration to get through me rewrites for my novel. 🥲
Anyway, this is good for some and not good for others. If you are a writer, I encourage you to try this for yourself and see how you feel!
I don’t really feel comfortable giving this book a star rating, as I feel that to some this book could be incredibly insightful and impactful. However, for me, it was not.
Refuse to be Done, ironically, is written by an author and professor at the university where I completed my English Degree. The fact that I never took one of his classes is somewhat surprising, but I assume many of his teachings can be found in this book.
In this book, Bell details his process for writing a novel- taking it from first idea to final draft. While there were some tidbits of information that I gleaned from this and find useful, I feel like the approach to writing that I take is vastly different. I don’t think either is necessarily the “right” way, but unfortunately hearing his method just stressed me out. Which sucks, because I really could have used a boost of inspiration to get through me rewrites for my novel. 🥲
Anyway, this is good for some and not good for others. If you are a writer, I encourage you to try this for yourself and see how you feel!
Read
August 25, 2024this makes me both super excited to write my book but also,, i am experiencing dread for all the tenacity work i'll have to do. but, it'll be worth it in the end.
March 19, 2024
Best craft book I’ve ever read. Inspiring and useful.
January 15, 2023
A slim little book that within a few pages of reading got me started writing my first novel. Guess it deserves a five star review for that alone. Very practical, very helpful, and pretty freeing.
January 3, 2024
Great book on novel revision with both practical and actionable techniques for reframing, rewriting and re-seeing a novel during the first, second and third drafts. Also it’s read by Matt Boston who sounds exactly like Casey Kasem so it had all the America Top 40 countdown nostalgia vibes going for it as well.
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