Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work Publications, lectures, resources, and tools for contemporary creative work
The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition, a spiral-bound novel writing workbook
The back cover of The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
Worksheets from The Novel Writing Workbook
Worksheets from The Novel Writing Workbook, including the Door Note and Contact Log
The index of The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition, open flat
The Door Note pages in The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
The Landmarks pages in The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
Arc at a Glance and Cast Overview worksheets in The Novel Writing Workbook
Days and Dates and Who Knows When worksheets in The Novel Writing Workbook
The Psychic Distance page from The Novel Writing Workbook
The Viewpoint Card worksheet from The Novel Writing Workbook
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the linked index
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Core Concepts section opener
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: a case study on Zadie Smith
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: The Working Vocabulary
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Arc at a Glance worksheet
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Draft Pattern Review worksheet
The Novel Writing Workbook, the digital edition on a tablet, included with the print edition
The Novel Writing Workbook, printable worksheets, included with the instant download
1/19

The Novel Writing Workbook

Most novels stall somewhere between the idea and the finished draft. The Novel Writing Workbook takes a book the whole way, one craft at a time: where ideas come from and how a premise forms, the people in the book and what they want, how events cause one another, the world they happen in, how much to plan, the drafting itself, and the scenes, sentences, and point of view a draft is made of. Each craft gets the depth a first draft needs: a definition, a test you can run on your own book in a few minutes, the ways it tends to go wrong, and a worksheet that does the job. When a problem outgrows that working version, the page names the companion workbook that goes further.

The book is written for writers who plan before they draft and for writers who find the book by drafting it, and it is built for work that runs in seasons. It asks for no streaks, word counts, or daily targets. Each worksheet ends with a line that says when it is done, and a door note and dated sheets give you a way back in after a gap. Twelve case studies follow real novelists through the question of each section: Min Jin Lee setting a finished manuscript aside and starting again from a new outline, Ernest Hemingway beginning The Sun Also Rises on the sixteenth page of his typescript, J. R. R. Tolkien rewriting back chapters when his moons went wrong, and Chinua Achebe nearly losing the only copy of Things Fall Apart. Use it from the first idea, in the middle of a draft, or on the day you come back to a book you set aside.

$20.00
Print edition (includes the instant download)

7 × 10 in, 298 pages, softcover, coil bound, so the book lies flat while you write in it. Black-and-white interior: guide pages, case studies, worksheets, and reference pages. Printed to order. Your order also includes the instant download, so you can start on the digital edition while the book is printed.

Instant download (digital + printables)

Digital edition: a 298-page PDF with the full-color cover. The index is linked, so you can tap any section or worksheet to jump to it, and every section is bookmarked. The worksheets are fillable, and the file works in GoodNotes, Notability, and other PDF annotation apps.

Printables: the full workbook set up for printing at home (298 pages, with printer-friendly section dividers); the Worksheets Bundle, with all 60 worksheets plus the 11 reference pages in the order they appear in the book; and the Bonus Worksheets, twelve more worksheets for particular jobs, from a clue plan to a flat scene repair. All three come in US Letter, A4, and A5. Print a fresh sheet whenever the book changes, and a set for every book you write.

Core concepts

What a story is, how novels get written, planning and discovery, how to begin, what each draft is for, and the working vocabulary the whole series shares.

Ideas and premise

Finding ideas, combination and play, generating material, genre and the reader's expectations, shaping and testing a premise, and theme, with a page of writing prompts.

Character

What makes a character feel real; want, need, and the lie; the ghost and the wound; agency, flaws, and contradiction; kinds of arc; the cast; relationships; and naming people.

Plot and structure

Story and plot; pressure and stakes; the landmarks; the common structures; tension and suspense; subplots and threads; setups, payoffs, clues, and twists; and coincidence.

Setting and world

Setting as pressure, the world of any novel, place and atmosphere, rules and what they cost, and writing worlds not your own.

Research, outlining, and preparation

How much to plan, research before and during the draft, four outlining methods side by side, and an outline that can change, ending in a Novel at a Glance.

The drafting process

Contact without quotas, a drafting plan with a finish line, the revision debt log and placeholders, the door note, telling one kind of stuck from another, coming back after a gap, and the last stretch.

Scenes

The scene turn, what a scene is made of, scene and summary, chapters and breaks, openings, endings, dialogue, and repairing a flat scene.

Prose and style

Clarity, verbs and nouns, description and sensory detail, showing and telling, filter words, imagery, rhythm, exposition, emotion, finding your style, and which sentences to fix now and which to leave for revision.

Point of view, voice, and tense

The viewpoint options and choosing one for this book, psychic distance, free indirect style, the narrator's voice, several viewpoints, tense, and keeping the choice steady.

The story bible and continuity

What to record and when to stop, continuity while drafting, timelines, who knows what, and motifs.

Finishing the draft

Reaching the end, the days after, the draft pattern review, the first read, the order of revision, first readers, and handing the draft on to revision.

Also inside

60 worksheets, and eleven filled reference pages to keep beside you while you draft, from The Working Vocabulary to When You're Stuck and The Handoff at a Glance.

Twelve case studies: White Teeth, Frankenstein, Rebecca, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Wide Sargasso Sea, Pachinko, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Sun Also Rises, Fight Club, Mrs. Dalloway, The Lord of the Rings, and Things Fall Apart.

The center of the Novel Writing Toolkit

The Novel Writing Workbook covers every part of a novel at working depth. When a problem outgrows its pages, a companion book goes further:

  • The Plot Workbook: building story through cause, consequence, and change.
  • The Character Workbook: constructing identity through tension and transformation.
  • The World Building Workbook: building worlds through logic, texture, and tension.
  • The Revision Manual: the pass-by-pass system for taking a draft to a finished manuscript.
Also in The Novel Writing Toolkit

The Toolkit bundles this book with the three craft workbooks and The Revision Manual. If you plan to get all five, buy the Toolkit and skip the single copy.

Worksheets also sold as planner inserts

Two planner inserts are adapted from this book: Point of view and tense, and Tentpole scenes. The workbook already has the full versions.

Print editions

Print editions are printed to order and shipped by our print partner, Lulu. Printing takes 3–5 business days, then your order ships with tracking, and the tracking link is emailed to you.

Estimated delivery, printing included: about 11–13 business days in the US, 7–8 in the UK, 10–12 in Australia, and 15–17 in Canada. Other countries vary.

Shipping is calculated at checkout. US orders over $50 ship free.

Because each copy is made to order, we can't accept returns or exchanges for a change of mind. If your copy arrives damaged or misprinted, or doesn't arrive, email hello@saintvioletcreative.com within 30 days of shipping with your order number and a photo, and we'll send a replacement.

Instant download

Every order includes the instant download, print editions too. Right after you order, you'll get an access PDF on the order confirmation page and in your confirmation email, with the link to your files and a short guide to using them. If you ordered print, you can start on the digital edition while your copy is printed.

Instant downloads can't be returned or refunded. If a file won't open or a link stops working, email hello@saintvioletcreative.com and we'll send a working copy.

The back cover of The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
Worksheets from The Novel Writing Workbook
Worksheets from The Novel Writing Workbook, including the Door Note and Contact Log
The index of The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition, open flat
The Door Note pages in The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
The Landmarks pages in The Novel Writing Workbook, print edition
Arc at a Glance and Cast Overview worksheets in The Novel Writing Workbook
Days and Dates and Who Knows When worksheets in The Novel Writing Workbook
The Psychic Distance page from The Novel Writing Workbook
The Viewpoint Card worksheet from The Novel Writing Workbook
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the linked index
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Core Concepts section opener
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: a case study on Zadie Smith
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: The Working Vocabulary
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Arc at a Glance worksheet
The Novel Writing Workbook, digital edition on a tablet: the Draft Pattern Review worksheet
The Novel Writing Workbook, the digital edition on a tablet, included with the print edition
The Novel Writing Workbook, printable worksheets, included with the instant download

Saint Violet is an independent creative studio for artists and writers building a more durable creative practice through tools, publications, workshops, and systems for attention, experimentation, and actual follow-through.

The Novel Writing Workbook

$20.00

The Complete Saint Violet Collection

If you find yourself coming back for more than one or two of these, the whole shop is available as a single instant download, built around the five books that take a novel from first idea to finished manuscript and growing with each new release, so anything made later arrives in the same library at no extra cost.

$250.00, one link to the whole library

Five books for novelists
  • The Novel Writing Workbook
  • The Plot Workbook
  • The Character Workbook
  • The World Building Workbook
  • The Revision Manual
Planners and ebook
  • The Creative Planner
  • Writing Notes
  • The Defiant Creative Process (ebook)
Zines and mini planners

Five zines and five mini planners.

Planner inserts

All 181 planner inserts, plus the 19 collections and folios built from them.

Notion templates

All three Notion templates, including The Idea Archive and The Novel Writing Organizer.

Bonuses

Bonus files, plus each new product as it's released.

See the collection

Formats
Workbooks8 items
Books & Zines8 items
Planners & Notebooks11 items
Calendars4 items
Planner Inserts200 items
Planner Insert Sets19 items
Objects & Apparel13 items
The Novel Writing Toolkit9 items
Gifts33 items
New Arrivals15 items
By purpose
Writing60 items
Planning99 items
Visual Art & Design33 items
Business & Freelance28 items

The Violet Underground

A free library of small tools for artists and writers. Enter your email and we’ll send you the link.

You're in.

Privacy Policy / Refund Policy / Terms of Service