How did you get to know the characters in your novel? [more inside]
posted by 2oh1 on Dec 16, 2009 - 28 answers

Help me find that perfect novel for a Christmas present. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 10, 2009 - 15 answers

I love Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball". What should I read next? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Dec 8, 2009 - 11 answers

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. [more inside]
posted by BitterOldPunk on Oct 22, 2009 - 26 answers

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?
posted by odinsdream on Oct 9, 2009 - 17 answers

Is this a real book? All I remember is that 1 or more characters could activate some kind of special powers or transformational abilities by imagining the shape of a particular object in their mouth. [more inside]
posted by vytae on Oct 3, 2009 - 4 answers

It's time for another round of 'name that childhood story'! Please help me identify a novel about a society that (literally) lived underground... [more inside]
posted by ghost dance beat on Sep 7, 2009 - 7 answers

Someone I know named a loathsome character in his novel after me. Is this sort of not cool? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 27, 2009 - 47 answers

Please help me understand aspects of the ending of the novel "The Terror" by Dan Simmons! Super spoiler-icious details inside (definitely don't read unless you've read the book, or are sure you never want to)... [more inside]
posted by taz on Aug 21, 2009 - 12 answers

How can I find sales stats and chart statistics for books released over the past 30 years? [more inside]
posted by arniec on Aug 4, 2009 - 4 answers

I crave a great novel that's as addictive as a popcorn movie. Please recommend me some literary page-turners. [more inside]
posted by Beardman on Jun 5, 2009 - 104 answers

Would it be seen as (and is it really) exceptionally tasteless to write a fictional novel about a soldiers' experiences in Iraq? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 6, 2009 - 16 answers

Is there any first contact science fiction (or other types of scifi, more generally) where the characters have actually READ first contact science fiction before? [more inside]
posted by OmieWise on Mar 24, 2009 - 23 answers

What is a classic, perhaps philosophical, novel about individual freedom to choose? So that no matter how desperate the situation you find yourself in, you always have choices about what to do, how to feel and how to think about your situation. [more inside]
posted by zaebiz on Mar 10, 2009 - 23 answers

Dear Hivemind: Sometime during the 90s or right at the beginning of the new century, I read a novel about a Roman slave, who was trained as a physician, and a character supposed to be Jesus during his lost years. [more inside]
posted by AArtaud on Feb 28, 2009 - 4 answers

Anybody have recommendations for good historical fiction/nonfiction books set in China or Southeast Asia? [more inside]
posted by ebeeb on Feb 19, 2009 - 20 answers

Do multilingual fiction writers ever translate their own work? [more inside]
posted by xetere on Jan 3, 2009 - 15 answers

Can anyone recommend good novels about gay people? Not just genre fiction but actually literature? It seems to me there must be, but I've never been able to find any.
posted by blue shadows on Dec 14, 2008 - 57 answers

ID That Story: novel (novella? short story?) in which a man is standing in line. Pretty much the entire story is his experience while waiting in line. It's a future/dystopia story. The man is waiting in line to make a complaint. He falls in love with the girl in front of him, though she's not allowed to turn and look at him. It's a parable about overpopulation. It was probably written in the 60s or 70s. That's all I remember.
posted by grumblebee on Nov 20, 2008 - 8 answers

I'd like to read a book set in/about every US state, and would love recommendations from those living in or from each state. Actual travel I'd been hoping to do won't happen, so please help me make a journey via the library. [more inside]
posted by carbide on Nov 18, 2008 - 46 answers

Working writers: how do you carve out time for fiction? [more inside]
posted by mynameisluka on Sep 5, 2008 - 18 answers

I need a longish, interesting, well-written book (fiction) to read on an upcoming trip. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by mosessis on Aug 21, 2008 - 58 answers

Why do novelists use "________" in place of a character's name? [more inside]
posted by serazin on Aug 11, 2008 - 10 answers

I'm looking for an old science fiction novel about an evil, blue giant titled "The Blue Man" - the Google and Amazon search is poisoned by both The Blue Man Group, and a young-adult science fiction novel "The Blue Man" which isn't it at all. [more inside]
posted by Slap*Happy on Jun 27, 2008 - 3 answers

Recommend a first Douglas Coupland novel, if you please. [more inside]
posted by grobstein on Jun 11, 2008 - 45 answers

trying to remember a book about an urban teenager with acting/dramatic talent who moves to rural Oregon. He invents a gangster past history for himself to impress the local kids, who then take it upon themselves to become 'gangsta'. The title is something like 'And The Shadows Overtook Him', but Google does nothing. [more inside]
posted by flowerofhighrank on Apr 28, 2008 - 2 answers

Who's written fiction within the last 5-10 years, that deals realistically with the experience of American people under 40? [more inside]
posted by toomuchkatherine on Dec 14, 2007 - 26 answers

Book identification: Children's book for teens set shortly after World War III, set at least partly in the Welsh valleys. [more inside]
posted by humblepigeon on Sep 3, 2007 - 4 answers

I’d like to read some fiction books where the heroine is intelligent, 40+ years old, not incredibly gorgeous or incredibly wealthy or incredibly famous, but with responsibilities (like teenage kids or a career), who has explicit & hot sex. Chick lit all grown up, you might say. [more inside]
posted by b33j on Jun 14, 2007 - 24 answers

FictionFilter: Family bookclub. We're convening in Woodstock at the end of August to discuss 3 books. Help me choose one of them. [more inside]
posted by billtron on May 22, 2007 - 17 answers

Is there a definitive resource on the web for finding literary agents who represent science fiction and fantasy? [more inside]
posted by JWright on Apr 6, 2007 - 13 answers

Is there a searchable site that details novel/fiction plots or storylines? (Important notes below.) [more inside]
posted by humblepigeon on Apr 3, 2007 - 5 answers

Help me remember the name of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel i read as 10 years or so ago. [more inside]
posted by sunimplodes on Feb 18, 2007 - 6 answers

How can I revive a dead novel? [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse on Jan 22, 2007 - 19 answers

How can I find the agent of a particular author? [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse on Nov 28, 2006 - 5 answers

Has anyone vastly improved -- or just changed -- someone else's already published writing by editing? [more inside]
posted by callmejay on Aug 30, 2006 - 25 answers

Can you libel someone in fiction if you don't use their name? If I were to write a story based on a real murder, in which anyone from my home town would instantly recognize the source, can an acquitted murderer sue me? [more inside]
posted by Bookhouse on Jul 27, 2006 - 18 answers

What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers

This should be an easy one. I'm trying to remember the title, and author, of a sci fi / cyberpunk novel I read a few years back. The book started in Galveston, Texas, then moved on to guys in the Caribbean running ecosystems on ships. I think it also involved an escape from Hong Kong on a ship, and later, jail in Mali. Oh and while you're at it, reccomend some lesser known books with a similar vibe, if you can.
posted by Jimbob on Mar 27, 2006 - 10 answers