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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Absolute Best on My Long Shelf, June 27, 2008
This review is from: The Mind Of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Hardcover)
Like so many writer/ editors I have a shelf full of writing how-to's--two shelves, actually. But The Mind of Your Story is the one that I would take to a desert island with me. First, perhaps, because it is a truly engaging and lively read, cover to cover: Full of little mysteries to be solved as the author re-creates short passages from her own novels, and the books of other writers, and asks the reader to find the problem. She then presents the solution. What fun, and so much to learn in so few words!
Second, because the author does summarize in a really useful way the basic "rules" of writing fiction: Plot, pace, locale, dialogue, voice. Honed and polished no doubt by her experience as a teacher of creative writing, including her tenure as an instructor at the Santa Barbara Writers' Institute. Short and sweet. Right to the point. A reminder list for the experienced writer; a succinct overview for the aspiring writer of what he or she needs to know--"rules" not withstanding--about the writer's craft.
Third, because in Part II of The Mind of Your Story the author presents what to me was an altogether new and original concept of how a narrative does have a "mind"--the author's words--of its own, a mental organization, as one's own brain works, that drives, or should drive, the presentation of the story. The author writes "Like a good jockey, you can speed your fiction up or slow it down, all the while maintaining a pace that beats as regularly as your fiction's heart. That's because a fiction's pace is tied to its sense of time, what I like to call the mind of the story."
She speaks of "the movement of time within a fiction"--a concept that deals with potentially problematic dilemmas for a writer, such as the use of flashbacks (seldom and only when these relate directly to the reader's experience in the moment). The concept of a story having an intelligence of its own has been expressed in other ways, but in the explanation, and illustrations, presented in this book, the concept becomes not random but explicit, an idea that may be employed intuitively, as great writers surely do, but truly understood in the explication in this book.
Finally, when I return from that desert island, I need to say that Section III, the final section of the book, "Start All Over Again," deals with what I have found in my experience as an editor one of the more difficult matters to impress on aspiring writers: That is revision and re-writing. The author presents revision as an essential part of the creation on a novel, no matter how long one may need to lay the work aside to "cool" after the final ("whew"!) "The End" is typed. And does so in a way that I believe should impress on the writer the excitement, satisfaction, and importance of re-writing once the initial creative effort is spent.
I have been looking for a flaw in this book. Can't find one.
I have purchased several copies of The Mind of Your Story (as Amazon would know and does remind me each time I re-order). One I sent to a new author whose fine manuscript I was so happy to read, to let her know, in better words than I could express, what she has done right--and how she might revise. Another for a new graduate headed for a liberal arts college major, whose understanding of the principles of fiction writing, will, I am certain, be helpful to her in her own classes. Two more, one for me to underline and refer to often (as I have--the index is excellent), and one to loan out. A five-star recommendation for writers (and readers) at any level.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Book Design but Nothing Fresh, November 16, 2008
This review is from: The Mind Of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Hardcover)
Grace Ring, the designer of this book, has stolen the show. It's visually captivating. Unfortunately, the text by Lisa Lenard-Cook is not as original.
If you are one of Ms Lenard-Cook's students, or a member of her community at the Writer's Digest site, you will certainly want to own this summary of her teachings. If, however, you have taken classes elsewhere, attended conferences, or have read other books about writing, you will find nothing new here. It isn't that her advice isn't sound, because it is. It's just that it's overly familiar.
Some may say that so much has been written and said about the subject that nothing more can be added, but this is not true. Story theorists, discouraged by the inability of so many contemporary stories to engage readers, have investigated epics and other classic tales to unravel their secrets.
If you are a beginning female writer, "The Mind of Your Story" might be a good place to start (though, be warned, the author's self-consciously literary style and transparent promotion of her own work can be a bit off-putting). If you have had any experience at all, you would be better off with one of the following books:
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
Stealing Fire from the Gods: The Complete Guide to Story for Writers and Filmmakers (2nd Edition)
The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition
The Art Of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis In The Creative Interpretation Of Human Motives
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
The Writing Life
On Writing
For a top-notch, practical guide to creativity, try
The Complete Artist's Way: Creativity as a Spiritual Practice
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Looking Book But That's All, July 22, 2008
This review is from: The Mind Of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Hardcover)
To begin with, I have just about every "recent" writing book there is. Yes, I admit it. I'm a Book junkie. But I still make time to write every day. Nonetheless, I bought this book reluctantly because I needed to make a $25 purchase in order to receive free shipping. At the same time, I was also hoping to find "something" helpful or learn of a few writing tips to justify my purchase. Sadly, I was disappointed.
This book offers a very down to earth and personable read about the heart of fiction, which the author illuminates by talking about a few facets of fiction like pacing, plot, pov, and the such (look at the free preview for a detailed listing of the table of contents). Cook delves into each area with heart but fails to give any in depth treatment of the subject that you can utilize in helping you to write. Her book feels more like a collection of essays / vignettes on the "beauty" &/or generalizations of writing.
At 270 pages, I expected a much more detailed treatment of writing such as Premise, Theme, and characterization. Also, this book has an aurora of a new age feel because of the many needless pictures within this book that have nothing to do with writing. In fact, these clip art take up about 20 full pages within the book.
However, as engaging as I found Cook's writing to be, I felt by the end of the book I was left with nothing except for inspiration and perhaps a refresher on the extreme basics of writing and a pretty book to look at.
This book might serve a purpose for the beginner as a companion text, if only to elucidate on some of the generalities of writing fiction, for anything else, look elsewhere.
Some better books to consider in comparison to what this book is trying to achieve are: Elizabeth Lyon's "A Writer's Guide to Fiction", Dara Mark's "Inside Story", and Stanley Williams' "Moral Premise".
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