"This is a great book, no matter what stage of writing you're at!"-The Writer Magazine
"Here is a must-have for would-be writers. Put this on the shelf right beside Strunk and White."-Booklist
"Addresses all the elements of successful writing."-Tampa Tribune
"Advice on getting your work published is worth the cost of the book alone."-St. Petersburg Times
A featured selection of the Writer's Digest Book Club; chosen by The Writer Magazine as a Best Book of the Year; compared by the American Library Association to Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style; acclaimed by critics, students and teachers and adopted by universities across the country, the unique collaboration between a major American novelist and a publisher is back in a revised second edition, bigger and better than ever.
The most useful and entertaining writing book on the market, the updated second edition has new exercises and expanded essays, covering every aspect of writing and publishing fiction and memoir:
How to begin a piece so that a reader can't put it down How to create compelling characters How professional writers use dialogue How to narrow a strategy for telling the story of your life How to write about painful material without coming off as a victim
Included are hundreds of insider tips, such as:
The seven important things when writing about loved ones The 10 most destructive things writers do What no one will tell you about rejection letters FAQs about agents and how much writers really earn What to do if your work is continually rejected
Marge Piercy is a New York Times best-selling novelist and memoirist. Ira Wood is a novelist and publisher. Their workshops, given nationally, address overcoming the inner and outer barriers to creativity.
Concrete analysis of fiction writing, with exercises I really appreciated the exercises in this book. It also has a very concrete analysis of what it takes to write good fiction. The only drawback of this book, for someone who is not interested in writing a memoir, is that various parts of the book pertain to memoirs (of course, this is in the title), so I found myself skipping those parts.
Practical and Worthwhile I don't generally read this kind of book because I've read most of them and they tend to give good, but general and somewhat idealistic advice. However this one has a helpful section on plot- a chapter laced with examples from their slush pile and workshop experiences. I also enjoyed the 10 Most Destructive Things Writers Can Do....
Second Edition even better than the first! Most of the time, reading books about writing improves one's writing as much as reading *The Joy of Running* improves one's cardivascular system. I have taught fiction to undergrads, and I usually tell them to spend their time at the keyboard rather than reading how-to books, which tend to be either facile or studiously dreamy.
However, *So you want to write* is based on Piercy's and Wood's workshops and exercises, and while no book will substitute for a good workshop, this book is worth your time. The suggested exercises point one's writing in new directions. The analyses of fiction examples within the book elucidate what was done right as well as deliniate what in the passages should be revised. The expanded exercises are worth purchasing the second edition, even if you already own the first version. The info about rejection slips and what they *really* mean is illuminating. The practical information about how a $100,000 advance is poverty wages is horrifying and absolutely essential to know.
This is an excellent book for writers seeking to explore the craft and broaden their writing.
TK Kenyon Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
