Customer Reviews

How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to admit that I had never read any of Janet Evanovich's books until this one. Some of the reviews here were not as favorable as I would have expected. The reviewers were disappointed that nothing new had been revealed to them, wrt the mechanics of writing, but so what? I have many books at home dealing with that and can refer to them when needed. My interest in reading How I Write was just to get this particular author's view of the writing life. What motivated her to chose the mystery genre and how she came up with plots for her series of novels about Stephanie Plum. I wasn't at all disappointed in what I read and was actually inspired to get back to my own writing, particularly the advice Miss Evanovich gave to stop working and reworking the first chapter and to move on asap to chapter two. It helped to unstick myself and to move forward. Since finishing this book, I've begun reading the Stephanie Plum books. They are fast paced and quite humorous. I recommend How I Write to anyone who needs a chuckle and a little motivation.

It's no secret Janet Evanovich knows how to write. Her bestselling author status is testimony to that. It's also apparent she's a very generous author, open to sharing her insights and virtual "tricks of the trade" with aspiring writers. Evanovich clearly remembers her roots, and what it felt like to need the guidance and wisdom of more practiced, professional writers. Now she's ready to provide just that.

Though Evanovich is known primarily as a writer of crime/police procedural novels, this book covers a wide range of topics crucial to good writing in all genres. Subjects range from tips on creating believable, interesting characters to the nuts and bolts mechanics of writing. In between are concrete tips on how to structure a story, tips on revising and editing, and also, ultimately, getting published once you're ready to take that next step.

The book is written in a very clear, accessible style. Evanovich writes as if to a peer; there's no talking down or condescension to be found in her tone. Rather, the book is filled with very practical advice a writer could begin putting to use immediately. There's no high-flung pretense here. This is a book an aspiring writer can actually use.

For those unfamiliar with Evanovich's books (and I'll admit I've never read any of her fiction, at least not yet) there's very good information about the author, her books and also a glimpse into what must be the basis of her appeal. Janet Evanovich comes off as a very grounded, somewhat earthy writer, who's also funny in a gritty, street-wise way.

How I Write is a very generous gift from a very gifted writer. I cannot imagine how anyone even vaguely interested in writing wouldn't find something to take away from it. I recommend adding this one to your shelf of essential writing books.

I was a little disappointed to discover that much of the writing guide part of the book was written by a (relatively) unknown author, Ina something or other. I really expected it to be all Janet Evanovich's work. In fact, in some parts, Ina's tips are contrary to what Janet says she does. Interesting.

If you are looking for an A-to-Z guide to writing a book, this is not it. If you're looking for some great entertaining tidbits about your favorite mystery author, coupled with a few hints on writing, then you might want to give this a try. Parts were very entertaining with the typical Evanovich humor. But I wouldn't say that my writing will improve much as a result of reading this book.

I have a bunch of writing guides. And I won't lie, maybe I use them as a crutch. I feel like more of a writer for knowing they're sitting on my shelf. So because I have a bunch of books already, the fact that I can get the relevant information not covered in this book from others might tip my review to the positive.

This book is in question and answer format. I didn't find that annoying, although I do agree that sometimes J. gave a brief answer, or worse, provided a paragraph worth of stuff that avoided the question altogether. A lot of the questions are rough paraphrases of: Wow, you're such an amazing writer! How do you do it?. I don't think Evanovich is a great writer. But she is an above-average one and a bestselling one, and I think we can all learn something from a bestseller.

I found her chapter on getting published to be the best one. A lot of other books do not touch on the subject at all. I especially found her advice on finding agents to be helpful. However, like another reviewer pointed out, she doesn't seem to understand that what works for her will not work for a novice writer (her recomendation on fonts being one such instance). If you don't have other books, you might not be able to tell what's real advice and what's just in Evanovich-land. Also disapointing to me was her not spilling the beans about how many words she types a day. Inquiring minds want to know.

What I think is great about this book is it's humor and easy-access format. I have writing guides that have bored me to death. This kept me riveted and only took a few hours to read.

I think this is one of the best guides on the market for those who are just starting to get into writing. Because hundreds of pages on story goals and inner conflict can be very intimdating. Most guides complicate things by making a write self-aware about something that pretty much comes naturally. Evanovich gives the best advice: develop some cool characters, find out what they'll be doing, and-- for the love of goodness-- sit down and write!

I love Janet Evanovich's work, especially her Stephanie Plum novels. If you haven't read any of the Plum Novels yet, it combines mystery with humor and it works well. Thirteen best-selling books with one character must prove something right. When will someone make this character into a movie or two?

How I write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author (St. Martin's Press) is culled from her writing tips(the Q & A section ) she gave on her web site. What makes the book unique is this isn't those tried and true methods that all those writing book talk about, these are from Janet own and unique experience of novel writing. She is a voice of knowledge, listen to her real life stories and gave wisdom. Her style in telling this book is part humor and part facts of life, but all Janet!

Her coauthor Ina Yalof, chimes in more on the technical side, but her voice is one of experience.

From the beginning writer to the one who been writing a long time will get a piece of wisdom to take away with them. This book cover the process-including (dare I say it) Writer's block to the end of the line (being published!). It's a quick practical reference guide is one of the best I have seen for sources of Information.

This is not a DUMMIES GUIDE TO WRITING. It is an intelligent self help book with verbal high-jinks that Janet Evanovich is known for.

So is this book worth it . . . You better believe it! Add this to your writing library now!

As a freelance non-fiction journalist looking to start writing fiction, I found this book helpful. I already know about submissions, agents, and such, so I wanted to learn about the process of fiction writing--where do authors get ideas? how do they plot their stories? how do they develop characters? This book simply answers those questions. Yes, it's not a very deep book. It just skims the surface. But if you're just getting started, this book is worth a look. It's helpful if you are familiar with the Stephanie Plum series, too, to get the most out of it since Evanovich pulls specific passages out of her novels to illustrate a point. In fact, I read one of the novels at the same time as "How to Write."

HOW I WRITE is fun to read but it doesnt reveal anything that isnt in every other how-to-write book. Evanovich gives you the basic stuff without disclosing anything that makes her writing special. I didnt expect she would.

Most how-to-write books dont really explain how to write beyond the general prescription, which is lacking in good details.

Just because someone tells you how they go about writing best-selling novels, doesn't necessarily mean that if you follow their advice, you too will produce a best-seller. This pretty much sums up how I feel about Janet Evanovich's book, "How I Write". This book is written in question and answer format(I believe that this is because many of these questions were posted by readers on Evanovich's website), and through her answers, Evanovich explains the process she goes through in writing her novels. The book is interesting, in that it is interesting to see into the mind of a best-selling writer, but I found that very little of the "advice" could be practically applied to my own writing (the exception to this is Part 5, on getting published, which I found to be very useful).

The Q and A format of this book and the large number of quotes from Evanovich's books gave me the feeling that this book was produced quickly and by someone other than Evanovich), so as to cash in on Evanovich's success (the fact that this book has three authors, Evanovich, her daughter and Ina Yalof, adds further weight to this theory. It is nowhere near as good as Stephen King's writing manual, On Writing, which gave me the feeling that King had put as much effort into writing it as into his novels. If you are a big fan of Evanovich and her Stephanie Plum series of novels, by all means buy this book. You'll probably enjoy it. However, if you want to learn about writing, then your money will be better spent on King's book.

I read this book over the weekend while trying to get motivated to write my own novel. It is in Q&A style and very easy to read. I liked the format and that she was positive and energetic. I had never read any of her books before. Not much technical or specific writing advice but I highly recommend it to get you or someone you know who's interested in writing kick-started. The gist of it was: just sit down and write, even if it's crappy.

Janet is so generous in her writing advice on her website and in this book. No you won't find stuff on how to get published but there are tons of other books that tell you how to do that. Plus she has great advice on her website about that.
What this book does is makes you want to write. She makes writing fun. What could be more fun than drinking champagne and eating m and ms and writing sex scenes? It sure makes me want to start typing. Plus she gives great advice on characterization and plotting in a fun way. Many writing books are dry. I picked this book up at Borders - just saw it by chance, began reading it immediately and love it.
Plus if you read carefully you will find lots of great writing tips on how to structure your novel and other important writing skills.
I like the hard copy so much I just bought the audio edition!