Customer Reviews

The Secret DNA of Writing Essays--And Everything Else

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a high school English teacher and former language arts specialist in my school district. I first met Bill Drew about 25 years ago when he was spreading the word about his "newview" theory to public school teachers. His "Newview" theory is, as he claims, the secret to purposeful, meaningful writing. I have read many books on writing and the teaching of writing and have learned much from them. But none of them will tell you what Drew has discovered. We can talk about purpose, creativity, newness, and originality in rather abstract ways. But Drew will show you the key for making old ideas new. Learning his "newview" theory was a real ah-ha moment for me. Another reviewer commented that this book won't teach you everything there is to know about writing, which is true. No single book can really do that. But what it will teach you is indispensable, and, except for teachers who have read Drew's theory, it has never been taught before. Your students need this.

As a tool for teaching composition at the high-school or even middle-school level, The Secret DNA of Writing Essays really has no competition. It is the only tool of it's kind to teach kids a step-by-step process for creating a meaningful and worthwhile thesis statement. And much more importantly, the very method used teaches kids how and why the thesis has to imply a persuasive movement from a reader's assumed or commonplace understanding of a topic towards the authors stated thesis. Once students grasp this lesson, teaching them to provide adequate support for the thesis within the body paragraphs becomes infinitely easier.

Having spent a few years teaching high school sophomores basic composition, I can say from experience that the job is not easy and that the challenges that this book meets are among the most crucial and difficult challenges that confront both teacher and student. And best of all, the product and methodology is inexpensive, easily learned, easily remembered, low-tech, and adaptable. What more could you want?

Though this book would be great for high school students, this book should be required for all Freshman in College. Bill's NewView is right on. All good writers use NewView whether they realize it or not. This book clearly shows you have to be a better writer by using NewView. The $10 price tag isn't sufficient for the value of what you learn from this book. I also found that Bill has created a website: [...] with extra services to assist you in becoming a better writer.

Bill Drew is to be commended if only for being brave enough to step into the murky waters of how to teach writing. There's little consensus on how to go about teaching students how to write. Data gathered from an ambitious survey of college freshman writing courses several decades ago defied generalizations, and I suspect the picture hasn't changed much since. Theoretical approaches ("fads" is probably a better word) to teaching writing come and go--in my forty years as a teacher of different kinds of writing at various levels, I've witnessed several "composition vogues."

Traditional theories of "rhetoric" (the art of speaking and writing well--and Drew reviews several) is that they are of little value (or interest) to a student until the student is actually in the act of writing--or has already written something. Lectures on theory are not only ethereal, they bore and frustrate students. Yes, Drew sets forth a theory, but students really run into it only while they are in the act of writing, or have finished writing something.

I've come to identify four essential ingredients to successful instruction:

1) The writer must read a lot of good writing, preferably the kind of writing he or she will be invited to write.
2) The writer needs to practice writing.
3) The writer needs concrete feedback (preferably individualized) on what he or she is doing right or wrong.
4) The learning must take place in a "safe setting"--lots of positive, helpful encouragement.

So how does Bill Drew's The Secret DNA of Writing Essays--and Everything Else stack up to these criteria?

1) The novice writer is invited not only to read a variety of short pieces of writing, but is guided step-by-step through how the author actually composed the "essay" and why that worked.
2) The writer is then guided through the actual process of composition on--and this is important--a variety of topics to which he or she can in fact contribute something "new" (most young writers have limited experience with "big" ideas, but they do have personal experience).
3) Lots of feedback, positive and negative, is built right into the actual act of writing. The writer sees how his or her writing measures up to the criteria of good writing.
4) Drew's writing process is very "user friendly"--students are guided in a very systematic way through how to take an "Old-View" (established idea) and shape it into a "New View" (a thesis--their new idea) and support it with details from their own experience.

If that's what good writers essentially do when they write--and Drew makes a good case for that--then new writers can, with guidance, do likewise with the help of Drew's writing program.

Don Norton

Focused. Insightful.
The KEY to truly breakthrough writing.

When I was handed this manuscript for The Secret DNA of Writing Essays -- And Everything Else, I was teaching a course called Book Publishing 2.0. I thought it was potentially "interesting". Sort of my default mode after seeing hundreds of manuscripts every year.

It didn't take me long to get into it. And once inside the pages of this book, there is no turning back. This book changes you -- for the better.

Bill Drew has taken the process of creating any written content. Broken it down into its primary "chunks". Then magically shows you how to recraft it to be so unique, so powerful, it becomes much more than your original concept could ever be.

As a content creator and "optimizer" for the web, I find Bill's approach invaluable. I can take a simple napkin sketch of an idea: a title of an article or press release. A concept for a business. A video storyline.

Run it through the Secret DNA process (Bill calls it "New View". It's New View vs Old View). Once you "get it", you can find a dozen or more ways to amplify your message and make various versions of it that are truly unique. Yet all are much more powerful than the original.

Highly recommended book for writers who need to make a statement. Stand out from the pack. And sell their ideas.

One of my favorite new books on creativity (the other being Hugh MacCleod's awesome "Ignore Everybody").

A highly recommended buy. You'll make your money back within the first 10 pages of the book. The rest is pure profit... forever.

NewView is to essays what water is to life--you can't go without it, but it alone isn't enough. As Stephen King said in his book On Writing, "It is possible to turn a competent writer into a good one, but one must be competent as a starting point for such an improvement to be possible."

Unfortunately, it has been my experience that most students (and a good number of aspiring writers) simply aren't competent. A writer who is unable to use spell check, form a grammatically coherent sentence, or get across a thought lucidly and concisely has no use for this book.

Secret DNA is an indispensable tool for decent writers who want to take their work to the next level, but it will not stand alone. Drew's book should be used alongside a dictionary and The Elements of Style--not by itself!

Drew is obviously very enthusiastic about his method, not to mention those others who have posted their reviews here. If you can get past the fact that he sounds like Billy Mays and they sound like groupies, you'll benefit a lot from what he has to say.

I'm delighted to share that TWO generations in my family have read and are successfully using "The Secret DNA of Writing Essays--And Everything Else." I actually got this book to help my daughter, a junior in high school, with her English homework (her least favorite subject). She says it has helped her cut her time writing essays in half. Seriously, if teachers knew this information and taught it to their students, the essay writing process would be so much easier for students.

I am a writer and public speaker and I read the book also. Loved it! I'm now using Bill Drew's "Old View/New View" information in not only my articles but in presentation and even emails to my customers. It is easy to understand and implement.

The best testimonial I can possibly give is that a 16-year-old is actually sharing the "Secret DNA" with her friends - you don't get higher praise than that!