Customer Reviews

James A. Michener's Writer's Handbook: Explorations in Writing and Publishing

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This is a great insight into one of the great writers of our time. This book shows how he works. As a handbook for the upcoming writer, it's only value is in seeing how one of the masters works. though it does not "help" new writers, it is a valuable book because it shows the process michener takes.

This book is an excellent resource for me, and one I'll refer to often. The information on research methods, and especially editing, are invaluable. I've been writing for many years, and found I still have so much to learn.

I found this book to be of no help to me as a writer whatsoever. It is mostly an account of how Michener has written, edited, and published his own works with very little suggestions for others. It is page after page after page of typed, retyped, highlighted, and scratched-out texts of his works; pages of scrawling, unintelligible handwritten notes (by Michener in his writing process). More directed at getting a work published than on writing techniques and so forth.

See, even the greats must revise!

Hey, I suppose it's interesting to read a guy's first drafts. Perhaps one can learn things about his psyche. But I certainly didn't learn much about writing, and in the last section of the book where all my supposed writing questions were answered, I found Michener pompous at best.

I look at it this way: even the greats write awful first drafts!