The Playful Way to Serious Writing [Paperback]

Roberta Allen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 061819729X | ISBN-13: 978-0618197293 | Publication Date: September 9, 2002 | Edition: 1

For anyone who has ever dreaded the blank page or struggled to find something to write and then agonized over how best to write it, or has simply found writing to be hard work, The Playful Way to Serious Writing breaks down common writing barriers and frees the writer within. Drawing on extensive experience in teaching creative writing and a lifetime of free artistic expression, Roberta Allen, novelist, short story writer, and author of Fast Fiction, has created a unique book of writing exercises packed with hundreds of verbal directives and visual cues. The key, Allen says, is ENERGY, "the force behind the words, the desire to bring forth something that has never before existed." Allen's ENERGY METHOD, which focuses creativity without interruption or that nagging inner critic, can be used for any type of creative effort at any level -- stories, novels, plays, memoirs, sketches, journals, and more. Attractive, engaging, funny, and free ranging, The Playful Way to Serious Writingis more than just a writing guide -- it is an endless sourcebook of ideas and a trusted creative companion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Were a creative writing professor and a kindergarten teacher to conspire on a writing guide, it might look something like The Playful Way to Serious Writing: An Anything-Can-Happen Workbook to Inspire and Delight. In a big font that looks remarkably like a school teacher's penmanship, Roberta Allen (Fast Fiction; The Dreaming Girl) espouses the "ENERGY method" of finding your inner voice; it is, she says, "a way to break that shell of fear," "bypass the inner voice that stops you" and " lose yourself like a child in the magic of creating." Suspension of cynicism is required, of course: write about what an FBI agent would think of your life, or choose a letter that has the most "ENERGY" and pen a story featuring words starting with that letter, and Allen is there to warmly cheer you along.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

ROBERTA ALLEN is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Playful Way to Serious Writing and Fast Fiction. Currently on the faculty of the New School, Allen is also an established visual artist and has exhibited worldwide, with work in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (September 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061819729X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618197293
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native New Yorker, artist/author Roberta Allen left home to live in Europe at age 20. For decades, she travelled alone to such places as the Peruvian Amazon, Indonesia, and Central America. Her travels inspired her story collections. Her art is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum. She taught creative writing at The New School (1992-2010), and has taught in the Writing Program at Columbia University. In 1991, she started private writing workshops in NYC: 2011 marks the 20th anniversary. She also coaches writers nationwide by email and phone. Visit her website: www.robertaallen.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cure for Writer's Block, January 15, 2003

By 

Terrence Longstreet (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playful Way to Serious Writing (Paperback)

I have free-lanced as a comic book writer since 1997. The money has been alright, but what I have sought is the sheer, incomparable fun of making up stories, of having characters I made up come alive. Last year, I hit a dry spell. I could come up with decent ideas and force myself to write them down, but the fun, the magic, had disappeared. Everything I came up with was drab and contrived, the writing was mechanical, riddled with clichés and cardboard solutions. I didn't know what to do. My mood soured, slowly the world started turning to stone. One day in December I came across Roberta Allen's THE PLAYFUL WAY TO SERIOUS WRITING. From then on, things began turning around. Her book describes the most original and powerful cure for writer's block that I have found. Every day I'll do two, three exercises from the book to get me started, and sometimes I'll use the techniques to do the actual work. Most importantly, using her method, I have discovered that the juice, the magic, the white light, that special something that makes it all worthwhile, has returned.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Energize your writing, January 14, 2003

By 

Nita Van Zandt (Nashua, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Playful Way to Serious Writing (Paperback)

In this book, Roberta Allen says "pressure brings energy to the surface." The book explains how tapping into the energy of a moment is the key to bringing out the flow of writing.

The book has many photos and lines to stimulate response. It's an energizing book to read, and the kind that you stop reading so you can go write!

I've read and taught many writing techniques to get people writing and this book was a fabulous find. Though using a timer seemed unnecessary to do the writing, I tried the five-minute technique. The emotional energy I felt in a word, picture, or memory DID move the writing forward in a playful, yet productive way. This technique injects a gaming element into what could be a drudge.

I normally write non-fiction and poetry, but have never been able to enjoy writing fiction. Using this approach of "finding the energy" has energized my fiction process as I follow the energy to new action, characters, and scenes.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Writers Only, October 3, 2002

By 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson "Author 'This is the P... (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Playful Way to Serious Writing (Paperback)

I have reviewed a lot of how-to books for writers; this one truly fills a niche. I've read how-tos that could help in one's personal life (like "Word Works") and how-tos like Syd Field's that give great advice for screenwriters and also might help novelists. I've also contributed to an e-book called "Musings" that ruminates on life, love and the written word. This, however, is the first I've seen that is quite this flexible.

As a former teacher, I can see "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" by Roberta Allen as a tool for elementary teachers, art teachers, photography teachers, English and creative writing teachers. Allen is a photographer and artist as well as a writer and this book is the most visual, the most appealing and the most practical exercise book yet.

That it is also fun is definitely a plus. I shall probably use my copy when speaking to genealogy groups about how to turn their heritage into readable stories. I plan to take a couple of the exercises in the book to my critique group (boy, will they be surprised!) and I plan to use a couple of Allen's graphically delightful pages when I tutor my Korean students. These pages weren't meant for that but think of the ESL possibilities in phrases like "a goatee" and "a potbelly." Immigrants often have the English basics. It is the colloquial phrases that throw them.

If you happen to run across this book on the shelf of your bookstore, grab a copy and open it. Leaf through the pages. It will get all of your creative juices flowing.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"