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Into the Woods and Back Out Again
An Inspirational Guide to Writing (and Finishing!) Your First Novel
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view image of cover
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Into the Woods and Back Out Again description:
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It's the greatest adventure of them all.
It's not a movie. Not a television show. Not a video game.
It's the adventure to find the Great American Novel that is your destiny to write.
Follow Arthur on his quest as he battles the imps of illusion and the demons of doubt to become the author—the hero—he was always meant to be.
Veteran author Michael Matheny is the author A Hole in the Fog, Descending Into Heaven and Tales From the Last Resort, all available at Cantarabooks in paperback and ebook. He lives in New York City.
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| Tim W. Brown, author of the novels Deconstruction Acres and Walking Man: | As Reviewed in The Writer (June 07)
Into the Woods and Back Out Again lives up to its subtitle, "an inspirational guide to writing (and finishing!) your first novel". Interestingly, the author, Michael Matheny, approaches the topic using a parable rather than the predictable how-to format common to most advice books. Thus, the book achieves literary status in addition to motivating aspiring novelists. Additionally, it is suffused with a welcome sense of humor.
The story begins like those of many novelists: a love interest inspires the writer, in this case a voracious reader whom the protagonist, Arthur, meets in a bar and tries to pick up. Shot down, he goes home and drunkenly talks to the photograph hanging on his wall of members of the Algonquin Round Table. A supernatural episode ensues as Lord Algonquin ("Al") emerges from the photo and offers to lead Arthur on a quest to become a novelist.
Rich in allusion, the story takes Arthur through an odyssey in which he learns the novel-writing process. He rides a trusty steed, Ulysses, through a dark, mysterious forest. He must draw a giant pen, Ex Libris, from a stone. He wears magical spectacles that allow him to view the reality of numerous writers' traps, including carnival players who attempt to waste his time, a writing professor who promises him success if only he adopts his writing method, and a sexy woman who tempts him with her body and her father's riches.
Under Al's and Ulysses' guidance, Arthur rejects these distractions and buckles down to write his novel. He interacts with his characters and learns how to breathe life into them, and he learns how to plot a story complete with the appropriate digressions to foil readers' expectations. Above all, he learns to tap and control his imagination, discovering in the process that writing a novel is a high calling which demands as much courage and dedication as that possessed by the heroes of Arthurian legends. |
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