How to Let Your Favourite Authors Teach You How to Write Your Own Bestseller

It’s not magic, it’s craft

Most writing advice is designed to help you get from an idea to a finished draft, focusing on general principles and conventional wisdom that can flatten out the inspired magic of the best writing. In Novel Study, Kristen Tate peers behind the curtain at the dazzling techniques used by today’s most successful novelists and translates them into tools you can apply to your own work.

Using close reading and structural analysis of excerpts from a broad range of contemporary novelists across multiple genres—including Ann Patchett, N.K. Jemisin, Tana French, Casey McQuiston, and Rebecca Roanhorse—Novel Study answers questions many fiction writers struggle with: How do you write a tantalizing opening chapter? How do you maximize plot suspense? How do you tell a story with multiple point-of-view characters? How do you create immersive settings and authentic dialogue? How do you write sentences that sing? Every chapter starts with a question and ends with concrete takeaways you can start experimenting with right away.

Even better? You’ll get tips and templates that will help you build your own Novel Study files, focused on the works and authors you want to learn from.