Famous Writers School: A Novel

Wendell Newton advertises his writing course in the back of a literary magazine, stating that he will help aspiring writers through his structured lessons. He begins working with a small collection of writers, sending out assignments that are explained through personal stories, such as the time when he was a young soldier working as a secretary to a general and was able to blackmail his superior into giving him a European vacation. In turn, his students send him whatever writing they want to, such as the ex-model and stripper who writes about the people who become obsessed with her, which quickly includes Wendell. Or Linda, who sends Wendell essays about stalking him and breaking into his house. The only student who is actually writing show more fiction, a tense crime novel that he sends in chapters, is the one who receives Wendell's strangest replies. Over weeks of correspondence, we find Wendell to be shadier than his early professionalism let on.

A satire of the snail mail writing schools of the past, the reader is plunged into slice-of-life stories from each character that may last a few paragraphs or ten pages. It may be a kidnapping, a romance, or a snotty reply from Wendell. Expertly woven together, it's both fun and remarkably well-written. show less

I picked up this book on a whim while browsing the new arrivals section at my local library. It had an unusual cover and a premise that intrigued me. Fortunately that was enough to make me take a chance on this unusual novel.

Wendell Newton runs a writing correspondence course. The novel is comprised entirey of the lessons Newton mails to his current crop of three students and the writing samples they mail back for his critique. The three students make colorful characters in their own right (a PhD flunkie/lounge singer, a desperate housewife/stalker, and a tractor salesman seeking editorial feedback on an offbeat mystery novel).

As the lessons progress, we learn that Newton is more charlatan than artist, dispensing half-baked writing show more advice while looking for angles to take advantage of his students. We also become engrossed by the tractor salesman's novel within the novel (entitled "Undress, My Lovely" if the cover art is to be believed), a bizarre caper written in a hard-broiled style and populated by small-town crooks and two-bit losers. And we're entertained by the tension between the tractor salesman's vision of suspenseful, plot-driven genre fiction and the instructor's preachings that good writing must be subtle and plotless, as well as devoid of blood-pumping action or sex.

I won't say more about how the instructor and his students' lives ultimately intersect. But I will say that this book offers a unique combination of suspenseful entertainment, interesting musings on what makes good (and bad) writing, and thoughtful riffs on how the art a writer creates is inevitably derived from what the writer has experienced or read elsewhere. If only some of this novel's loose threads had been tied together with a bit more care, I wouldn't have bumped this from five stars down to four. show less

This book takes a novel approach in its writing style, comprised entirely of the written communication between an instructor and his students participating in a correspondence school for creative writing. Wendell is a formerly successful author who currently makes his living through these courses. As the lessons progress, it becomes clear that Wendell is picking up as much from his students (sometimes quite literally) as his students are learning from him.

This writing style allowed for the creative addition of different points of view and wholly independent plot points. As they are submitted as assignments for the course, these storylines break up the flow in a pleasing way, and each student and his/her stories are well developed. Some show more of the sections are so well written with such interesting components, I found myself backtracking a little to read them again.

I read this relatively quickly, a sure sign of how much I enjoy a book. Then I came to the end. I can’t even explain it, even if I didn’t mind throwing out spoilers. It just kind of ended. Some of the stories came to their natural conclusions, but one of the most significant is left kind of hanging out there – and the way it ended was actually slightly distasteful – something completely out of character based on the rest of the book. Overall I still enjoyed it, but I knocked off a half star for the sheer bafflement of the end. show less

A hilarious read! Writer Wendell Newton offers his tutelage by mail to an eclectic group of folks looking to write. The correspondence back and forth between teacher and student gives the reader an interesting look into the minds and motivations of both parties. I look forward to future work by this author, a teacher himself.

What a fun and inventive book! Picked it up by chance and couldn't put it down until I finished.

I got half way through and got bored. Rather disappointing.