The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises that Transform Your Fiction [Paperback]

Brian Kiteley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1582973512 | ISBN-13: 978-1582973517 | Edition: 1st

Discover Just How Good Your Writing Can Be

If you write, you know what it's like. Insight and creativity - the desire to push the boundaries of your writing - strike when you least expect it. And you're often in no position to act: in the shower, driving the kids to school...in the middle of the night.

The 3 A.M. Epiphany offers more than 200 intriguing writing exercises designed to help you think, write, and revise like never before - without having to wait for creative inspiration. Brian Kiteley, noted author and director of the University of Denver's creative writing program, has crafted and refined these exercises through 15 years of teaching experience.

You'll learn how to:

• Transform staid and stale writing patterns into exciting experiments in fiction
• Shed the anxieties that keep you from reaching your full potential as a writer
• Craft unique ideas by combining personal experience with unrestricted imagination
• Examine and overcome all of your fiction writing concerns, from getting started to writer's block

Open the book, select an exercise, and give it a try. It's just what you need to craft refreshing new fiction, discover bold new insights, and explore what it means to be a writer.

It's never too early to start--not even 3 A.M.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Brian Kiteley is the director of the creative writing programme at a leading US university. A frequent award winner, he is the author of many successful novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; 1st edition (August 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582973512
• ISBN-13: 978-1582973517
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Kiteley's third novel The River Gods was published by FC2 and is available as both e-book and paperback. He has also published two novels, Still Life With Insects and I Know Many Songs, But I Cannot Sing, and two collections of fiction exercises, The 3 A.M. Epiphany and The 4 A.M. Breakthrough. He is at work on novel set in Crete in 1988, about love, sun, sex, and the CIA, with cameos by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Brian Kiteley teaches at the University of Denver in the Creative Writing PhD program. His home page is:

www.du.edu/~bkiteley

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 96 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun book to use August 18, 2005

By TheCafeWriter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

And I do mean use. The exercises are intriguing and fun and sprinkled throughout rather than lumped at each chapter's end. I also found the writing style very accessible (as opposed to the usual dry 'lecture notes into a book' approach). The introduction may be appear long, but don't skip it. There's a lot of suggestions and ideas for getting the most out of this book.

Whether you're a beginning writer or more experienced, there's a lot of stuff in here that will get even a blocked writer generating material quickly and brainstorming new ideas.

I do have one complaint however - It's printed in what appears to be 6-point type! Very good lighting and strong reading glasses are a MUST for this one.

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Kiteley's Epiphanies July 17, 2006

By H. Grove TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Books of writing exercises mainly aim to inspire creativity in the writer. Usually the idea goes like this: by putting a constraint on the writer (a particular topic, a set of words to use, etc.) and often a word limit or time limit, the writer will come up with new material she wouldn't have thought of if she'd simply set pen to paper and said, "what comes next?" It can help to alleviate the terror of confronting the blank page that many writers face now and then.

Brian Kiteley's "The 3 A.M. Epiphany" is a little bit different, in several ways. For one, most of the books I've read use time limits, whereas this book uses word limits, pushing you to come up with small gems rather than reams of material to sift through.

The exercises also have an additional dimension to them that most don't. Each one is carefully constructed to help you explore a certain aspect of your writing. These aren't meant to be "merely" inspirational--they're designed to teach technique, as well, without reading like a dry instructional book.

There are types of exercises in here I really haven't seen anywhere else, particularly in the sections on "Internal Structure" and "Exercises for Stories in Progress", and I think you'll find them inspiring in ways that other books aren't. They'll make you think, work and write in whole new directions.

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommon and Great January 28, 2006

By Thomas Hunt

Format:Paperback

I was, to say the least, skeptical when I bought this book. I have read many books designed to spark ideas and motivate you to write, through various plans and exercises. But I came to this book anyway, hopeful. To imagine a book being a spark to the writing via the "uncommon writing exercises" it promises is saying quite a thing. Hard to live up to that hype. But Kiteley does it, and does it with such skill that you wonder what it must be like to sit in on one of his lectures. I read this book and simply envied his students. Creative approaches to writing are commonplace (often not that creative on second thought, and sometimes not even helpful), but "uncommon" approaches, as this book offers, are a wonderful thing to a writer wondering where to go next. If you are a writer satisfied with the present state of your craft, pleased that you've found a genre you like, and want nothing more than to write at the level you currently do, you don't need this book. But I feel sorry for your lack of adventure. If, on the other hand, you are a writer looking for a challenge, or a writer mired in the regular grind, take this book and study it carefully. The ideas in it are incredible new ways of seeing things that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Not every exercise will spark you. Fine. There are many, and every day is a new chance for an exercise that didn't interest you to change your mind. If you are serious about exploring the craft and not just skating along the surface of it, this book will reward you.