How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies by Amy Wallen and Emil Wilson is a charming and innovative guide that seamlessly intertwines the art of storytelling with the delightful experience of baking. This book offers aspiring writers a fresh perspective on the novel-writing process, transforming it into a creative journey that is both practical and enjoyable.

The book's structure is appealing, each chapter corresponds to a different type of pie, cleverly linking baking ingredients and techniques to essential elements of novel writing. This metaphorical framework not only engages readers but also creates a memorable way to grasp complex writing concepts. For example, just as a pie requires a sturdy crust to hold its filling, a novel needs a solid foundation to support its narrative.

Wallen and Wilson’s writing style is approachable and infused with humor, making the learning process feel less intimidating. They break down the components of storytelling—such as character development, plot structure, and thematic depth—into easily digestible pieces, much like the ingredients in a pie recipe. This method encourages writers to experiment and play with their ideas, fostering a sense of creativity that can often be stifled in more conventional writing guides.

The book also highlights the importance of community and collaboration in the writing journey. Wallen and Wilson share personal anecdotes and insights from their own experiences, reminding readers that writing is not merely a solitary endeavor but one that can greatly benefit from feedback and support. This perspective is particularly valuable for writers who may feel isolated in their creative pursuits.

The inclusion of pie recipes adds a delightful touch, inviting readers to take breaks from writing to engage in a tactile and rewarding activity. The act of baking can serve as a form of meditation, allowing writers to clear their minds and return to their work with renewed energy and inspiration.

How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies is a refreshing and imaginative guide that distinguishes itself in the crowded field of writing resources. Amy Wallen and Emil Wilson have created a book that not only teaches the fundamentals of novel writing but also celebrates the joy of creativity. For writers seeking a unique approach to their craft, this book is a must-read, offering both practical advice and a deliciously enjoyable experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Oh, man, I love this book! So witty, so different, and honestly, super helpful! Can I start off with being completely honest? I wanted to review this book for three reasons:
1) I loved the cover (look at it!!).
2) I am a wannabe author so I gobble these kind of books up.
3) It’s about my two favourite things: writing and food.
And it killleddd it! Beautiful illustrations by Emil Wilson throughout, tips that actually make sense, and hello??? Recipes for pies?!?!?! Ugh. Perfection.

I absolutely loved the writing style, and I felt that it was so different from all the other writing tips books out there. I would have LOVED to have a teacher like Amy Wallen; she makes me want to study writing.

Original, fun, and insightful. A recommended purhcase for collections where writing craft titles are popular.

I had the privilege to read this book off of netgalley for my honest review. This book was a good book to show you how to write a novel using the picture of pies. It tells story and the how to make novels and some recipes for pie. Great book! I recommend this book to everyone.

This is a really cute and clever writing handbook, comparing the process of writing a novel to the process of baking a pie. The illustrations are fun and beautiful, and some of the pie recipes look delicious and I’ll definitely be trying them out. The writing advice is nothing groundbreaking, but Amy Wallen has such a humorous and engaging writing style, and it makes this a very enjoyable read.

I have at least one friend who will definitely be getting this as a gift in the future!

Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The whole point of this part writing craft, part cookbook, and part memoir is to draw parallels between the process of writing a novel and that of baking a pie from scratch. On the surface, the concept of the book is so simple. You might think it won’t fit on the shelf of writing craft books. But its strength lies in its simplicity, in the warm and friendly vibe it gives out. The author’s style, so approachable, reassures us that novel writing is possible and, if we persevere, we could do it too.



I found this book adorable; even the dedications hark back to the theme. At regular intervals, the pages are peppered with helpful icons that tell us, Eat Pie Here.



The chapters have creative names such as Pie as Saving Grace, Pie Butt in Chair etc. Easy As Pie and Other Lies reminds us of the misconceptions that writing is easy.



None of the information that the author shares is new. She tells us we have to write a lot and often, that we must be loose with our ideas and not hang on to anything too tightly, that we must read like writers. She shares one important thing that other writing books don’t reinforce often enough, that we should save the bits we cut in a Trash file, in case we think we need them later. It is sound advice, but it feels diluted because of all the other fun stuff.



Along the way, she hands out writing advice particularly relating to the long, slow road to publishing, and offers recommendations on which books to read to know more about the craft. She also takes us along on her own journey towards publishing MoonPies and Movie Stars, her first book, and relates her experience of teaching the craft of writing to students. Above all, she reiterates that she learned how to write a novel by writing a novel.



The 20 recipes in the book include Basic Pie Crust, Chicken Pot Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Mushroom Hand Pies, No Guarantee Peach Pie etc, including a recipe for making Humble Pie, the only recipe for which I have all the ingredients. The author shares her pie making journey too, the successes and failures in the early days, and how she practised and got better.



The illustrations, mostly with a red colour palette, were delightful and inviting, and complemented the book well. Emil Wilson has done a great job. The characters drawn by him look like Teletubbies but wear black glares and pretend they are into cloak-and-dagger stuff. There are sweet drawings of a book and a pie dancing together, and of a pie offering therapy to a book writer.



There is a fun boardgame for the writing process and interesting illustrations about famous authors and the imagined ingredients of their pies. For instance, Hemingway’s pie is made of booze, fish, game, cigar and more booze. Agatha Christie’s pie – Who knows?



The author has even included a comic strip about this book and why the publisher might have agreed to publish it, hoping to get pie, of course. On an amusing side note, the publisher is called McMeel.



If you’re looking for hard core writing advice, this book isn’t it. But as a pie cookbook-cum-writing craft book, it is a sweet, savoury and fun read.

Clever idea, and I can’t wait to try the recipes. I’ve read many writing craft books, and many cookbooks. This is a new approach, though if I apply the pie baking to my work every time I get stuck writing… well, it’s not the time of year to count calories.
I did wonder how the author expected writers to analogize things like leaf lard” to what felt like standard writing advice. She has a friendly, open voice that will appeal to seasoned writers as well as newcomers. Easy to read, and inspiring, with wonderful illustrations.
Thanks for the advanced reader copy provided by the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley. This book was published October 18, 2022.

How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies is a guide for aspiring and current writers for writing and life, collected and presented by writing coach Amy Wallen. Released 18th Oct 2022 by Andrews McMeel, it's 240 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

The author/educator (she is that, both published as an author and experienced as a facilitator and leader-of-workshops) is humorous and compassionate. She gets it. The premise of this book could have been absolutely stultifying; do this - then that - then that other thing (/monotone in a bullet point list)... This is emphatically not that; not even to the smallest degree. She uses her own experiences to guide readers through the process from beginning practice to actually sticking through the process. Unusually for writing workshops in my somewhat limited experience, she is -genuinely- funny. Just the first chapter elicited a few chuckles along with the insightful and practical information dense instruction.

The art and illustrations by Emil Wilson are quirky and humorous and suit the text very well. Additionally, there's pie. I was admittedly skeptical of the whole pie-as-writing metaphor, but in this case, I freely admit to being wrong.

It's full of useful information: how to train up writing endurance, how to (maybe) find inspiration, what to write about, how to find a group and how to support and help one another, etc. In short, the sort of things one would expect to learn in a writing workshop. It also contains actual, mostly sensible, recipes for literal pie: chicken pot pie, everything pie (leftover pie), mushroom pie, lemon meringue, etc.

I can't honestly say how well the pie recipes work since I didn't try any, but the writing parts of the book are useful and accessible.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book was beautifully presented, so enjoyable to read and I couldn't be happier I picked it up. I don't want to give a word of it away, but I will tell you the recipes looked delicious.

This book amused me, the pictures are amazing, and half of it I want to quote to my writing students.

Amy Waller writes a humourous account of writing with the analogy of writing being similar to making pies. As she also bakes pies, she includes anecdotes about learning to make the pies, her experiences with the pies, and includes the recipes. Throughout are hilarious and cute illustrations to support, enforce, or lend humor to the text.
As I'm interested in the writing process but not publishing, that part dragged for me but more from my lack of interest than her writing. Very Anne Lamott vis a vis Bird by Bird, but tastier.

#arc
#netgalley
#howtowriteanovelin20pies

What a fun mashup between writing advice manual and cookbook! The illustrations are fun, laugh out loud additions to the text of the book. Does it contain the world-rocking secret to being able to write a best-seller? No, but there's definitely a good amount of writerly commiseration and details that might be good for aspiring writers unfamiliar with the progress. Does it contain some interesting pie recipes to feed you along your writing journey? Yes! There were definitely pies I had never thought to make that I wanted to immediately go buy ingredients for, particularly the interesting savory recipes. Overall, a fun coffee table-type book for writers.

I received a copy of this book on NetGalley to review.

A really cute and impactful book on writing, told with illustrations, anecdotes and recipes. Despite the distractions of pies and recipes, the content in writing came through loud and clear. The author provides tangible advice often through the scope of working with students and novice writers. It felt relatable and best of all motivating.

I learned so much and had such a fab time reading HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 20 PIES. Both in writing and baking, with equally fab illustrations for both. Plus recipes!

Author and writing coach Amy Wallen and illustrator Emil Wilson have cooked up one delicious book for writers seeking advice on topics such as writing, editing, landing an agent, publishing, and book promotion. It's the book I need as I clear space to complete my own memoir.

And the inclusion of making 20 different pies, with recipes, colorful art, and helpful tips, added depth alongside the writing lessons. They helped me better understand the principles involved in completing a book, as well as stirred up my interest in baking. When Amy said her fav concoction is chicken pot pie, I knew I was in the right place, as it is my fav too.

Highly recommended for writers and pie bakers of all levels. A sweet and savory treat!

A book combining advice for novel writing and pie recipes? I was hooked immediately!

What I was most struck by, in this book, was Wallen’s humor. She writes well and I found myself smiling and laughing softly to myself throughout this book. She’s funny when talking about her successes, she’s funny describing her failures.

She does wander often into tangents, although that adds to the feeling of intimacy of the advice. It feels like you’re sitting down with a friend and talking about her experiences.

I loved the watercolor illustrations within the book, especially the ones of the pies. The colors were lovely, and the softness of the designs were quirky and fun.

I also really appreciated that she’s quite clear on that there’s no magic recipe for a published novel beyond putting the work in. And she goes farther in her advice, talking about writing and editing and writing some more, but also talking in depth about the processes of getting agents and copyeditors and getting published. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly try to publish any of the writing I’ve done. But I feel like I have a foundation of knowledge for the beginning of the process.

I’m going to be preordering this as soon as I post this review!

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this delightful ARC!

I like writing (sometimes) and I like pies (usually), but I generally don't think of them together unless it's a pie cookbook. Which this kind of is. But it's also much more!

If it wasn't obvious, How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies is a how-to book with a heaping scoop of pie and a dash of self-help and memoir. The addition of pie itself would clue you in that this isn't some boring instruction manual, but Wallen's writing feels like a dear friend is telling you about their latest hyperfixation. It's fun and quirky and reminds you to not take yourself too seriously. And it reminds you to eat pie!

As someone interested in the process of writing and publishing but unlikely to ever actually do so, I enjoyed reading this. I have little to say other than it was very charming. There were times where I found myself getting a little annoyed with the meandering threads, but I wasn't in a great mood to begin with when reading those portions. The illustrations are incorporated well but are on the ugly-cute side when it comes to people. It does make sense thematically since the way Wallen explains how to is by showing her own failures humorously, but it does feel a liiiiittle jarring compared to the other illustrations.

How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies by Amy Wallen and illustrated by Emil Wilson comes out on October 18, 2022 (Just in time to get it before NaNoWriMo for anyone participating!).Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

An enjoyable and quirky book for first-time writers. The pie approach is not only amusing but also gives an alternative to “going outside and walking around” as an alternative “palate cleansing” activity in time for what I think is the pie season par excellence, aka Fall. Although it’s directed more toward those interested in novel writing, I feel that some of its lessons can be used in dissertation writing (my case), especially the part on rejection! Highly recommend it!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Generally speaking I enjoyed this, however, if you've read a lot of writing books I'm not sure how much of the actual writing advice is actually going to be useful to you. I supposed it depends on if you read it once and implement it or if it takes you reading something several times. The most unique thing about this was the combination of writing advice with baking pies. The illustrations were great and some of the recipes look delicious. I didn't actually try any because I don't trust the oven in my new apartment yet, but I may still get there. As a side note, the authors humor didn't really mesh with my own and like I said, I didn't find a whole lot new in terms of writing advice. However, if you're new to reading writing books, then yes, give this a go.

The author and illustrator of this book work very well together. Both the tone and graphics feel light and breezy, and the author writes with humor about writing and publishing…oh, and about pies. Early on she notes that both activities require just three ingredients, these are idea, ink and paper or flour, liquid and fat. Sounds easy? Well, not exactly and not always. Still, both are activities worth pursuing for those who are interested. It is simply that practice is required.

Around the humor, there is a lot of useful information in these pages. Much is said about the writing process. There are also some good looking recipes.

Also a word on the graphics. I loved an early one called Famous Artists and Their Pies. Featured were those by Hemingway, Austen and others. It was funny and clever. I smiled at another one set up like a board game that was entitled So You Think You’re Finished with Your Novel game.

This book would make a great gift for any aspiring writer, even if you are that person.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel for this title. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book. I absolutely loved it! Not only did it give useful advice on the craft of writing, but its approach was heartfelt and humorous. I enjoyed the illustrations and realized that I really missed books with illustrations. Why don't more books have illustrations? They added so much light-hearted fun to the already great information. Also, I loved the addition of actual pie recipes. This book was very encouraging and just a delightful read.