Customer Reviews

Guide to Fiction Writing

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

 

 

Phyllis A. Whitney was one of my first favorite authors. Back in the day, I could hardly wait for her new releases to show up in my dad's monthly book club mailings. He would always buy them for me because, of course, he wanted to encourage a lively interest in books.

Phyllis Whitney fueled my love of reading then, and now, years later, she fuels my love of writing. Her "Guide to Fiction Writing" covers all of the basics including plot, characters, outlines, research, conflict, suspense, revision, etc. She delves into the craft of writing and expounds on the finer points such as "show, don't tell." The whole book is written in a comfortable, casual style, as though she is having a private discussion with the reader-who she clearly respects as a fellow writer. She's not sitting on a high horse looking down her nose at all of us. It feels more like she's sitting on the other end of the sofa.

What I like best about this book is the way the author projects enthusiasm for the business of writing and stays positive about finding success. "Good fortune and opportunities are always coming along," she writes. "Perhaps opportunity is like a train on an endless track. Now and then it makes a stop at your station, often without fanfare, and without warning...When the breaks came for me I was doing the right thing. I didn't know it was the right thing, but even when there was no opportunity in sight, I was working. You, who may be just beginning: What you do now counts. Never mind the rejections, the discouragement, the voices of ridicule (there can be those too). Work and wait and learn, and that train will come by. If you give up, you'll never have a chance to climb aboard."

Although it was written over twenty years ago, this book is timeless...as is Phyllis Whitney herself.

The step-by-step directions, along with helpful hints, make this a wonderful book for the beginning writer. Whitney designed this book as a textbook for writing classes she taught. I have enjoyed using this book as a guide for my own novel.

"It's easier to sell what you've written if it fits into a pigeonhole that can be labeled (no matter how much you dislike pigeonholes). Don't ignore this reality if you are a beginning writer who wants to be published."

Phyllis A. Whitney, a highly accomplished craftsman of many novels, writes the above-quoted pair of sentences in the last and fifteenth chapter of her fine and highly adequate book on writing fiction, a book that itself is its own pigeonhole, featuring the standard advice to be found in almost every how-to book on writing since the beginning of the 20th century: beginnings, middles, endings, scenes, suspense, goals, purpose, plot, transitions. While the book offers only a smattering of information or advice on point of view and on the topic of theme, on the topic of purpose, Phyllis Whitney is incisive and discriminating: each scene requires purpose -- that is, an attempt to resolve a difficulty, to take action on an obstacle or problem. Not even Ayn Rand could describe this feature of scenes better.

The reader feels distinctly in the hands of an author who knows her craft forwards and backwards, unlike many how-to authors who have short careers as novelists yet write gracefully stylish books long on advice-giving.

While this book was published in 1982 and its author born in 1903, there is very little standard information or writing in this book that is in the least bit dated, outmoded or old-fashioned, except for one small reference to a "transom" and another reference to "Negroes," instead of African-Americans.

The author admits that what uniquely inspires her fiction largely is setting -- not idea, not character, not theme. She even offers advice on how to get the most out of a place through researching books, without ever once traveling to distant places. She's not afraid to utter the bromide -- write what you know, but then adds, logically and practically, if you don't know, do some research.

Lastly, Phyllis A. Whitney admits that she herself has her own collection of books on writing. I will bet your first royalty check that she got her format for this book from them too.

What do you want your book to say? That's your premise. This work is money well spent, to develope your premise. You'll get soem great ideas, and the work will take your thoughts into new directions.

Phyllis Whitney's Guide to Fiction Writing is an insightful look into how to develop your writing, written in a friendly, almost breezy style. She talks about developing your ideas and your career, as well as such mechanics as how her notebooks are organized and how she does research. Don't bother with the bits about submitting your manuscripts, as that way of life is gone. Instead, read this book for the inspiring way she communicates that those who work hardest at being a writer have the best chance of being a professional writer. For more in-depth book reviews I've done, search for goldenrulecomics on Squidoo.

This is not a recipe-style writer's how-to book. Ms. Whitney talks honestly about writing and about her process. She has some good ideas--which makes sense, given her successful writing career--to help a writer develop. The book is old and talks about typewriters and agents, but the main part of the book is truly helpful and inspiring.