See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick Lit
Authors: Sarah Mlynowski, Farrin Jacobs
ISBN: 9781594741159

See Jane Write: A Girl’s Guide to Writing Chick Lit is a smart and snarky how-to write a novel guide written by bestselling author Sarah Mlynowski and former chick lit editor Farrin Jacobs.

When you think of a how-to book, you probably think of something pretty dry and boring; this book is just the opposite. Written in a fun teal colored font with lots of section heads and boxes, the book is quite easy and entertaining to read.

Something very cool and unique about this book compared to other how-to books is that the authors interviewed other bestselling authors like Meg Cabot, Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella and Sarah Dunn for tips and tricks to writing a novel.

What I really loved about this book was getting two different important perspectives: tips from a writer and tips from an editor. Hearing about mistakes Mlynowski made along the way and mistakes that Jacobs absolutely hates finding in a manuscript really gave me some insight into the novel writing and editing process.

One of my favorite chapters has to be ‘No More Excuses, Missy’ which lists 8 different ways of procrastinating writing a novel and how to get your butt in gear and actually start writing. The category I probably most fall under is ‘the really busy’ to which the authors say: “If J.K. Rowling can do it, so can you. If you want to write badly enough, you will make it a priority.”

After discussing the history of chick lit, what chick lit is and different types of procrastination, the novel jumps into the logistics of novel writing: developing characters, plots, how to edit, and finally, how to get your book published.

The end of the book offers definitions to publishing terms and a list of publishing companies.

Now that I’ve read this book I have absolutely no excuse not to start my novel.

Happy writing!

4.5/5