Frey, James N.

views updated

FREY, James N.

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—James N. Frey Events, P.O. Box 7427, Berkeley, CA 94707. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Author and educator. Lecturer and workshop presenter at schools and conferences in the United States and internationally, including Squaw Valley Community of Writers Conference, Oregon Writers Colony, Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Heartland Writers, University of California Extension, and California Writers Club.

AWARDS, HONORS: Edgar Allen Poe Award nomination, Mystery Writers of America, for The Long Way to Die.

WRITINGS:

How to Write a Damn Good Novel, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1987.

A Killing in Dreamland (novel), Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Came a Dead Cat, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Winter of the Wolves, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1992.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II: Advanced Techniques for Dramatic Storytelling, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Also author of novel The Long Way to Die.

SIDELIGHTS: James N. Frey is an author and writing workshop instructor who has also written several books on his craft, beginning with 1987's How to Write a Damn Good Novel. Frey's The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth draws on Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth and uses romance novels as an example of how readers are willing to read the same stories again and again. In the first half of the book, Frey examines mythic structure in such works as Beowulf, Peter Bencheley's novel Jaws, and the story of Robin Hood.In the second half, he includes a novella, The Blue Light, as an example of using myth in writing. Library Journal reviewer Lisa J. Cihlar called The Key a "well-written and witty how-to."

In his How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript, Frey guides writing readers through the steps necessary to complete a novel, detailing the art of creating compelling characters and constructing a plot line that will increase suspense. He concludes by offering advise on finding an agent and getting published. Booklist contributor David Pitt called Frey's approach "eminently practical and rich in details, a must for budding crime-fiction authors."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2004, David Pitt, review of How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript, p. 809.

Library Journal, June 1, 2000, Lisa J. Cihlar, review of The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth, p. 148; February 1, 2004, Ann Schade, review of How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, p. 103.

Publishers Weekly, April 27, 1992, review of Winter of the Wolves, p. 250.