Novel Ideas: Writing mode Innovative Fiction by Williams, Paul NEUF

This concise yet comprehensive study explores innovative practice in the novel and, from the perspective of creative writing, the astonishing resilience of the novel form. It offers a practical guide to the many possibilities available to the writer of the novel, with each chapter offering exercises to encourage innovation and to expand the creative writers narrative skills. Beginning with early iterations of the novel in the 17th century, this book follows the evocation of innovation in the novel through Realism, Modernism, Postmodernism and into todays dizzying array of digital and interactive possibilities. While guiding the reader through the possibilities available (in both genre and literary fiction), this book encourages both aspiring and established writers to produce novels with imagination, playfulness and gravitas.

Dynamic and interactive, this text is distinctive in offering a grounding in the literary history of the novel, while also equipping readers to write in the form themselves. It is an essential resource for any student of creative writing, or anyone with an interest in writing their own novel.

Dr Paul Williams is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Program Coordinator at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He is co-author of Playing With Words, with Shelley Davidow. His Young Adult novel The Secret of Old Mukiwa won the Zimbabwe International Book Fair award in 2001 and his memoir Soldier Blue was nominated as Book of the Year in South Africa in 2008.

Introduction: The Novel.- 1. Rise of the Novel: It was a Dark and Stormy Night.- 2. Realism: The Willing Suspension of Disbelief.- 3. Modernism: The Fragmentation of Reality.- 4. Minimalism: Le Mot Juste.- 5. Magical Realism: How Flying Carpets Really Fly.- 6. Postmodernism: Constructing Reality.- 7. Metafiction: Writing About the Mirror.- 8. The Transgressive Novel: Writing with Dark Ink.- 9. Ecriture Feminine: Writing the Body.- 10. Postcolonialism: Writing Back to Empire.- 11. The Graphic Novel and Illustrated Books.- 12. Interactive Narrative and Digital Possibilities.- Conclusion: Writing Innovative Fiction