Customer Reviews

Fiction: The Art and Craft of Writing and Getting Published

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael Seidman is my editor at Walker & Co. He's an opinionated, stubborn, argumentative person, and the book world needs more like him. If you want another book full of conventional wisdom and stuff you've read before, go buy something else. If you want one thoughtful, experienced person's honest appraisal of writing and publishing, buy this book. You may disagree with parts of it, but you'll never suspect you're being BS'd. This is the truth to the best of Seidman's knowledge, including his observations of both the creative and business aspects of the writing life. The book business will probably seem less arbitrary after you've read FICTION: The Art and Craft of Writing and Getting Published.

FICTION was given to me by a somewhat biased writer, a writer that is on the AOL board that is monitored by Mr. Seidman. (Okay, my sister gave me a copy autographed by Mr. Seidman and I can be bribed but it takes more, but not much more, than $14.95 to buy or rent me!)

I read it on a recent trip by rail across the U.S. I found it very informative on the industry; he makes it clear that we might think of writing as an art but we are producing a product for an industy.

I enjoyed the exercises and found them good practice and a delightful way to pass the time of a long train trip.

I do not think that I have ever read a book that combined such practical information on writing with the information on the publishing industry. I find myself working on the exercises, rereading portions of the book almost everyday. For practical information and no small amount of inspiration I find this book invaluable. I highly recommend this book to everyone that is interested in writing, interested in publishing, interested in books, how they get from the writer's mind to the reader's hands.

This is a concise, intelligent piece of work written in three clearly defined segments; the most intensive being the first part which deals directly with the art of writing in the real world. There is then a short, centrally located segment which is about networking that makes plain good sense look quite simply like a brilliant idea. The Third and last section deals in no uncertain terms with the Business of Publishing, and make no mistake, the guy who wrote it has more than 40 years experience in the field, so each page he presents to us is not only useful, it's a no fooling around, fact-filled leaf within a series of only hundred and some business oriented pages that complete this valuable text. The book then is punctuated with an ending comprised of short, comprehensively helpful lists. Do yourself a favor and don't miss it.

Picture this: By some strange twist of fate you're trapped in a bar after hours and your only companion is a man who holds the answers to why you just can't seem to sell that manuscript....and, he's talking! Okay, that's a little dramatic but, not terribly far from the mark. This book takes you behind the scenes of the publishing industry and not only answers the hows but the whys (which I found to be invaluable insider information). The chapters on writing are not only practical, but inspiring. (This guy's got the mind of an editor and the heart of a writer....a priceless combination.)

This is one of the few books on writing that manages to avoid the snooze factor right to the last page and made me feel a little more savy and a lot more inspired than any book of its kind.

Put it this way, if you don't read it, that's one more writer I've got a leg up on.

Any writer of fiction who cares about good stories but wants to know the realities of publishing should own a copy of this book. FICTION is packed with insights into writing and suggestions for finding one's own path to creating work that is both saleable and satisfying. While I've enjoyed books by Lawrence Block and BIRD BY BIRD (and recommend them highly), I find that this is the sort of book that I'll come back to again and again for recharging my enthusiasm and sharpening my techniques. While the advice seems dead-on throughout, I particularly liked the sections on characterization and the hero's journey. As for the advice on description...I've never seen better. The writing exercises are valuable tools for developing the writing skills to create good work; then there's the information about the mechanics of publishing, once the good work has found a home. Additionally, Seidman's engaging, conversational writing style makes the book a pleasure to read. For me, the best thing about FICTION is that it not only answers the questions that writers have--it ultimately teaches the thought processes that'll help them find their own solutions and their own paths to creating their best work.

Seidman's approach to writing is not for the faint-hearted or those with a cookie-cutter mentality, but it is for someone who wants to get a solid handle on craft. With decades of experience working for top publishers and editing some of the best in the business, Seidman has distilled his knowledge and made it easily available for anyone truly interested in learning how to write. Seidman's books on writing should line every writer's reference shelf.

This is what happens when Strunk & White takes An Idiot's Guide to Getting Published to a cheesy motel room for a weekend of frolic. You get the perfect love child of how to write a book for publication without looking like the proverbial idiot. Seidman manages to beat the unsuspecting reader over the head with his well worn copy of Elements of Style in such a way that you don't really notice the lumps until later. Then he switches hats and lets you know exactly what's going on behind those closed editorial doors. Apparently they aren't designing new and inventive ways of make authors pull the rest of the hair out and swear to take up horticulture.

If you want to write a book and you want to publish it, then this is one of those that should grace your collection of how to write books and get published tomes. It's compact, it's laminated cover doubles as a coaster in a pinch, and you can actually learn some punctuation rules if you're not careful.

Seidman does something very special in this book: he talks to writers as a friend trying to demystify the process of writing and the process of getting published and beyond. It's an absolutely refreshing change from other writing books that admonish, cajole, preach, and give self-help pep talks. It's an enjoyable book, which makes it that much more important to those of us who want to learn.

Award this one six stars. From the hand of an experienced and crafty editor, FICTION not only provides strong help for the writer writing, it lays out fundamental current business practices that any writer will find useful once the manuscript is completed. The section on contract negotiations is excellent. Opinionated, probably controversial in places, this hard-eyed look at the art and the business of publishing is nevertheless affirming, accessible and inspiring. FICTION should be in every serious writing class and on every writers' bookshelf.

I have read several manuals on writing fiction. Seidman's is strongest on instructing the aspiring novelist on the working methods of the publishing industry. However, he seems to like jazzy and highly stylized fiction much more than any other type. If you don't want to write this kind of fiction, his instruction on topics like description, point of view, and structure are of little real help. Yes, he does include the basic rules in each topic (i.e., make your description pungent, don't shift point-of-view in a clumsy fashion), but everyone who writes a book about fiction writing includes these same rules and they all say the same thing. My advice is to buy this book only if you want to write the kind of fiction that Seidman likes. If you don't, then think about buying one of the other manuals on the market that teach you how to write the kind of fiction you want to write.