How to Write: Advice and Reflections [Paperback]

Richard Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 1996

Uniquely fusing practical advice on writing with his own insights into the craft, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes constructs beautiful prose about the issues would-be writers are most afraid to articulate: How do I dare write? Where do I begin? What do I do with this story I have to tell that fills and breaks my heart? Rich with personal vignettes about Rhode's sources of inspiration, How to Write is also a memoir of one of the most original and celebrated writers of our day.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"If you want to write," says Richard Rhodes in the beginning of How to Write, "you can." That is not to say it will be easy. Rhodes is the author of short and long works of fiction and "verity" (he dislikes the word nonfiction, because it defines such a broad range of writing by what it is not), including The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which won a Pulitzer Prize. "Even now," he discloses, "all these books and articles later, writing often feels to me like groping in darkness along a wall."

While Rhodes has much solid advice about the grit one must bring to the writing life--"the best remedy for fear of writing ... is ... ass to chair"--it is his analogies about writing that are most refreshing. "Writing is a craft," he says. "I mean craft strictly: like carpentry or pottery, writing is handmade. Like other crafts as well, writing can sometimes be organized to the special depth and resonance people call art." Elsewhere, Rhodes compares structuring a work of writing to generalship. "A general," he writes, "needs to know what troops and weapons he commands and how they're deployed, but he also needs to develop a strategy for fighting battles and winning the war. The battles probably won't go as he plans, of course. If his strategy is sufficiently flexible, he'll be able to adapt it to circumstances and still come out victorious." And finally, he says, "writing is always like scuba diving, a descent as deep as you can or dare to go, given your capacity and your level of skill."

From Publishers Weekly

Rhodes (The Making of the Atomic Bomb) has enjoyed a long career as a magazine writer and as an author, mainly of verity?his preferred term for nonfiction?but also of some (less heralded) novels. This book has the virtues and defects of a long chat at Rhodes's table: the author offers worthy encouragement for fighting psychological barriers, and useful advice on tools and research. His discussion of voice and structure, though aimed at both writers of fiction and writers of verity, is a bit sketchy for fictioneers. Similarly, while his guidance on writing magazine articles is interesting, his take on the business of writing?after the usual caveats regarding its difficulty?relies a bit much on his happy war stories. Most useful, and unusual in books of this genre, is the author's textured account of the editing process, including his own blow-by-reworked-blow example of an essay-in-the-making. This isn't quite a comprehensive guide but an encouraging companion, especially for those familiar with Rhodes's work.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (October 16, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688149480
• ISBN-13: 978-0688149482
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhodes tells it like it is - writing is hard work!, January 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Write: Advice and Reflections (Paperback)

I found this book to be an excellent insider's account of what it takes to make it as a writer today. Rhodes shares many of his successes and failures along the way, and is very honest about the reasons for all of them. He also shares his life with the reader in a way that helps you understand how complex the writer's motivations, interests and, ultimately, his humanity can be.

Rhodes also offers a great deal of practical advice and insight into both the writing craft itself and the challenges a writer regularly faces - whether they be personal, financial, or otherwise. His easygoing, subtle style pulls you effortlessly along and you eventually understand why he has the authority to write such a book in the first place.

You will learn a great deal from Rhodes if your interest is personal, professional, or both.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A quality mix to inspire growth in your writer's craft., October 26, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Write: Advice and Reflections (Paperback)

This solid book will inspire you to pick up the pen and take your muse out for a walk. A pleasant mix that serves up a full course meal for the writer in you. Rhodes uses his own growth, from a young struggling writer of Hallmark Cards to a Pulitzer Prize winning author, to enlight and encourage us. He covers writers block, agents, research, editing and more. His style is accessible, the content practical, with no attempt to be a comphrensive guide. Not a series of writing exercises, ala Natalie Goldberg or Julia Cameron, this book is more like a conversation with someone who's been there, done that.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An open window on a brilliant mind, April 13, 2000

By 

Walter V. Cicha "Cichacech" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Write: Advice and Reflections (Paperback)

Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Rhodes has accomplished a rare feat with his book on the art and science of writing. Instead of unemotionally instructing the reader on "how to write," he has opened himself up and revealed the doubts, challenges, inspirations, and disappointments that drive people to express themselves in writing. Throughout the book, he uses his own experiences as examples, often with candor that borders on confession. The result is an amazingly effective revelation on the multi-faceted processes involved in effectively expressing one's thoughts and ideas in an organized written manner. For a professional scientist (chemist) that also loves to write beyond his field of expertise, this book has proved to be an invaluable gift. Richard Rhodes is a man of immense intellect, knowledge, and patience, three ingredients that have created a piece of art from what easily could have become a boring "how to" manual.