Customer Reviews

Fiction Writer’s Workshop

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This is a great book to help the struggling writer, or the writer that just wants to hone his skill. Just like the title indicates, this book is a giant practicum in writing. Joseph Novakovich is able to put a creative writing class into a book with ease. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that focuses on a topic, from settings to dialogue and everything in between.

Novakovich focuses on each topic with in-depth detail. He provides specific examples from his own work as well as others to get his ideas across. He has found a way to simplify the idea of writing such that it may be easily explained. I felt that Novakovich covered dialogue, setting and description better than any other help-book that I have read. In fact, my problem has always been with "show, don't tell". I was finally able to learn the difference thanks to Novakovich.

But, he doesn't stop with just the lecture part of the lesson. At the end of each chapter is a series of exercises to build your writing muscles. The exercises focus on the material in the chapter that he just covered so you actually learn the ideas by performing them. He also follows each exercise with an explanation of what you should be looking for in your "answer" allowing you to see if you did indeed grasp his teachings.

I have read many books trying to improve my story telling ability. The "Fiction Writers Workshop" is the best one that I've come across to date, and I believe that my writing has improved greatly from the lessons Novakovich provided.

This book is chock full of good exercises that will get you writing instead of just reading. I think that's an important part of any instructional writing book because you're probably reading a book like this in order to write, or at least write better.

Novakovich starts with discussing where writers get ideas for fiction. I think this is a good chapter, because it's one of the most asked questions by novices. Reading through the chapter, I realized that any source is a good source. I was also surprised to find that many times writers get their ideas from real life. Then they twist the idea just a bit and "Eureka!", they've got the basis for a story. This was enlightening because I think a lot of beginning writers have the idea that the "real writers" make up the story in their head all the time.

Every chapter ends with a series of writing exercises, and Novakovich encourages you to complete them all. Each exercise will probably take you anywhere from ten minutes to a half hour to complete (depending on how much you put into it). Of course, you can skip the ones that sound boring and nobody's going to give you an "F", but I'd suggest you do all of them if you want to get the most out of this book. You may be very surprised with what you come up with and if one of these ideas starts you on the path to a story, you should look at that as a blessing.

Novakovich covers the major components of fiction thoroughly, but isn't so longwinded that you start to lose interest. Each chapter can be read in probably less than an hour. Still, there is a lot of good advice. His style is very clear and straightforward and a cinch to understand. Novakovich really demystifies the writing process and provides you with exercises that show you that you can do this, too.

While working through this book, most of your time will be spent on the exercises. Some writers may turn up their nose at this idea. Admittedly, it did sound a little bit like "homework" to me when I first started reading it. But I decided to try to keep a good attitude and work through the book anyhow. I can say that once you start writing it, you'll find that your writing is improving and your storytelling skills are beginning to develop. Doing the exercises helps build discipline too, which every writer must have.

To those who don't see the value of writing exercises: it's important to remember that any art has fundamentals that must be learned. The musician's time isn't always spent performing, for example. Much of the time is spent on studying theory, or practicing scales and short exercises until their body is able to perfect the basic movements.

Writing stories is like that too. Even though most of us already know how to type to a certain extent, we are often clueless as to how to go about beginning a story, dealing with conflict, writing dialogue, etc. By reading through this book and doing the exercises, you won't be clueless for much longer.

Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a "blah" setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.

Once you have read an introductory book like Brayfield's Bestseller or Kings 'On writing' this is the book to buy and use.

Novakovich covers there basic elements: Setting /Character/Plot/PoV/Dialogue & Scene/Begins and endings / description/ vice and revision. He uses numerous examples form published literature and each chapter concludes with a number of good exercises.

One topic Novakovich does not cover is writers block. Maybe that is because he provides the solutions. Writers block is either due to lack of ideas or anxiety about one's writing. Novakovich provides the solutions - a chapter on the sources of fiction and a reference book to dip into every time one feels a anxious.

The beauty of Fiction Writers Workshop is the exercise - do them - and that all aspects are covered in one short book. That is also its disadvantage. Successful writing is complex, it requires fluent and adaptive use of a number of skills. To become fluent you will need to read and practice each in greater depth than can be provided in one book that covers them all. Don't make the mistake I made of going in depth on one skill first. It can lead to imbalance. Start with Fiction Writers Workshop and you will gain a balance.

Readers of this review can review it - tick the box 'useful' or 'not useful'. There is something I have noticed in those reviews. If reviews are critical then people are less likely to tick the box - 'useful' and more likely to tick the box 'Not useful'. What they are in fact saying is 'It was a nice review'. For a writer that is the worst kind of review. It leads you up the garden path. An author needs is honest candid review.

I'm not being nice about Fiction Writer's Workshop. It is that good.

just Jack

This is a very good beginner book and still helpful to the intermediate, but it is not one I would recommend for the pros. It is a faster pace than say the series Elements of Fiction. It does cover just about everything in fiction; though it's coverage is a little shallow. All in all I am glad I bought the book, and I think I will be referring back to it sometimes, though it is not the jewel of my collection. My favorite is Self Editing for Fiction Writers I think you should get that whether you are pro or beginner.

Novakovich is a master teacher, and this book is fine for some things, but I think he's really at his masterful best when he's dispensing practical exercises, rather than extensive theoretical background.

For sparking my own fiction, I much preferred his "Writing Fiction Step by Step", which takes you in a much more practical direction towards creating finished pieces.

This book is quite possibly the most helpful of any books or classes I have taken. Clear cut methods and his keep-it-simple-stupidness have helped me take my fiction to another level. The examples given are great and wonderfully chosen; Novakovich is a master of literature. This book, used correctly, will improve your writing greatly, and better still, you may surprise even yourself!

Fiction Writer's Workshop

FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a clear and lively style, with rich literary references from classic and contemporary fiction, Novakovich teaches you how to: uncover ideas worth writing about; evoke a vivid sense of place and time; invent believable characters for your fiction; support your story with strong organization and structure; tell your story from the best viewpoint; direct your dramatic action; open and close with power and grace; choose expressive details; write with a commanding narrative voice; and transform your first draft into finished, polished fiction. At the end of each chapter, a dozen or more unique writing exercises (each with a clear "objective statement" to focus your efforts) will help you put what you learn into action, while exploring new ideas, approaches and genres. After you complete each exercise, "check" questions will help you review what you've done - so that you may revise or rewrite. Encouraging real improvement over negative self-criticism, Novakovich helps you gain a more productive sense of where you can write one more line that will add life to what you already have down - or where you can delete a line that may obscure your readers' view. He helps you develop day-to-day self-discipline. And perhaps most important, he respects and encourages your development of personal style. "I will give you a lot of advice," he says, "but you need not take it." As a writer, Novakovich knows that the strongest fiction emerges from your own choices and directions. Fiction Writer's Workshop gives you clear, firsthand understanding of the elements of fiction . . . so you can make more informed choices and your fiction more successful.

Private Bookshelf Tutor!
Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a 'blah' setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.

Though it seems a bit overwhelming at first, heavy with academic style, Fiction Writer's Workshop rises in value as you perform the exercises. Josip Novakovich draws upon modern as well as classic literature to illustrate his points. The explanations are thorough and comprehensive. Of the most value are his exercises, each designed to teach, inspire and develop the writer skills within us all. Definitely worth adding to any writer's library.

The primary purpose and goal of a writer's workshop is to help writers improve their writing. Simply stated, but often quite difficulty to accomplish because like most things in life, writer workshops can be classified into one of three categories -- the good, the bad, and the mediocre. Now in an updated and expanded second edition, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich's "Fiction Writer's Workshop" is clearly one of the good ones in the form of a comprehensive instructional that covers every aspect of the art of fiction while providing aspiring and practicing writers with all the tools and techniques useful to developing the consistent, day-to-day discipline so fundamentally necessary for becoming a success professional at the literary craft. Offering more than one hundred writing exercises, with each exercise including a specific statement of purpose to guide the aspiring author through every step of the creative process, "Fiction Writer's Workshop" also provides self-critique questions with each exercise for assessing written works with an eye toward identifying weaknesses and strengths before moving on to the next lesson. Enhanced with the full text of eight acclaimed short stories complete with analysis and exercises suitable for modeling and the reinforcement of 'lessons learned', "Fiction Writer's Workshop" is appropriate for all fiction writers regardless of personal writing styles. Especially recommended for those aspiring to write publishable works of fiction, the "Fiction Writer's Workshop" should be considered indispensable reading for anyone who has every considered or attempted writing the kind of novels and short stories that would attract the attention of academia, the general populace, and generations of future readers yet unborn.