I struggled with this book, almost laying it to rest on at least a couple of occasions. The prose was so bloated in the first one hundred pages, paragraphs of nothingness spanning multiple pages, that it became a chore to read. Several friends suggested I persist, and I did, making it to the end where like a marathon, the satisfaction of crossing the finishing line was stronger than the joy of the experience. It was a tough read, a battle to get to the end, and I do feel ignorant for not liking it more than I did, especially given the critical praise the book has received.
Yep, some sections I enjoyed, such as the French chapter, and yep, the characters were strongly defined, they were all believable, but I'd struggle to recommend this book to others.
Aside from overusing the word 'breakout' (it appears pretty much in every other sentence), Donald Maas has written a very readable book on how to construct a novel. He focuses on the themes that make a book engaging, such as the sympathetic characters and the twisting plotlines, rather than advice on how to strengthen your prose. Very readable, excellent advice and useful examples.
Fantastic book. Brilliant imagery and great story telling, highly recommended.
Stephen King is very good at what he does. And what he does, is write. I've read his books for the past thirty or so years and have always loved his style. His novels are imaginative and his prose is tight, understandable given he taught english language. So when he writes a book about writing, you feel, as does every other budding author, that this book will enable us to achieve his level success. Now, the problem, as with all very able people, is that they believe everyone else should be able to grasp what is obvious to them.
The problem I have with all self help books is that once I see a chink in the armour, then the book is weakened. In this case, this is King's argument that the book should be written quickly, unplotted, permitting the characters to develop and mature on the page, not stagnating as he says in the author's mind. For me, this is impossible. I tried this approach with a 3k word short story and it was a mess – story threads became lost and the twists were diminished without the forethought. I fully appreciate that as a full time author, and someone at the top of their game, they can plot an entire novel in their grey matter, but for me this doesn't work, I need to plan.
This is an excellent book, with brilliant examples to stress the clearly stated points and end-of-chapter exercises to ensure all the points have been grasped. The best writing book I've bought!
Colm Toibin's 'The Heather Blazing' is a masterclass in understated prose. The book follows the High Court judge Eamon Redmond, with flashbacks to his early years. The writing is sparse, lacking any emotion, mimicking Eamon's state of mind, despite several key events in his life. I liked it and would recommend the book, but did feel a little bit of purple prose wouldn't have gone amiss.
This was another good read from the Man Booker 2011 short list pile (a year behind but at least the bottom is in sight…) The book starts with a 'coming of age' for cat food wannabe Jaff, and ends with a touch of culinary experimentation of his own. Not my favourite of the short listed titles, but one I'd certainly recommend.
I like this book. Guy's writing style is informal and chatty, but concise and to the point. This is the first book of his that I've read, though oddly enough I was looking at another when I was sent this copy to review. After completing this, I'll certainly look for others. Much of this information is also available in Mark Coker's (Smashwords founder) 'Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success', but Guy has presented the information better and strengthened it with examples.
I felt the most useful aspect of this book was his use of links to illustrate a point. The book is riddled with them. Some are witty asides, but the majority are interesting and informative. The one I loved the most was when he demonstrated how professional editors work, by showing a marked up version of a Raymond Carver short. Others point to social media sites, others to useful tools, and however informed you believe are, I suspect that many of these will be new to you.
My only negative comment is that the book was trying to do too much. The first forty or so pages were discussing whether you should write, and explaining the differences between ebooks and paperbacks. If you wanted to be an author, I'm fairly certain those early chapters could be taken as a prerequisite. Similarly, many sections were glanced over when they could've easily formed a complete book in their own right.
Still, it's an informative book, and one I'm certain I'll be returning to!
This is only the second novel I've ever re-read, the first being Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's still as much fun as it was when I read it twenty-odd years ago!