title: Discovering the Writer Within: 40 Days to More Imaginative Writing
author: Bruce Ballenger
description: Messrs. Ballenger and Lane, each coming from the non-fiction and fiction sides of the fence, respectively, take the Biblical "40 day" timeframe and slap a step-by- step program upon it, filled with exercises and techniques designed to make your "inner writer" face light of day, embrace confusion, develop an eye as well as an ear, and finally, face the ultimate test: writing regularly, even when you don't feel like it.
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  ![image](../images/01_Title_Page_fmt.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For Marjorie
  
  
  of course
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [foreword](contents.html#r3)
  
  
  THE HAPPENING WORLD
  
  
  BRUCE STERLING
  
  
  When one writes about an antique science fiction novel, it’s common practice
  to promptly trot out a list of “what he got right” versus “what he got wrong.”
  As if prediction were the point of the enterprise—and sure enough, Stand on
  Zanzibar truly revels in prediction. Few novels have ever had so much of that,
  layered on so thick.
  
  
  However, the truly appealing things about this novel are not its predictions.
  They are certain things John Brunner achieved, which no one has done before or
  since.
  
  
  Before he essayed this remarkable book, while in his early thirties, Brunner
  was a productive and disciplined professional science fiction writer. Brunner
  had pseudonyms galore, and could hammer out a paperback novel in a matter of
  weeks. A lifelong Briton, Brunner had also managed the considerable feat of
  crack