Customer Reviews

Writing Fiction For Dummies

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Review by Jill Williamson

Randy Ingermanson is my hero. I have been learning from him since I discovered his website in 2005. The man is not only a wealth of information, he teaches in such a fun and friendly way, you can't fail to learn. And now, everything Randy teaches is here in one convenient package. Man, how I wish he had written this a few years ago! It would have saved me a lot of trouble.

I highly recommend this book to any writer, but especially to beginners who want to write a novel. You'll learn how to come up with a plot and test it to see if it's strong, how to create amazing characters that are deep and engaging, how to plot your story and avoid the dreaded sagging middle, how to keep the tension and pacing strong, and how to edit your novel. This book even includes cool things like an interview between J.R.R. Tolkien and Frodo Baggins. Ahh, Randy. What a funny guy.

Regardless of where you are in your novel-writing career, you need this book. Whether you're brand-spanking new at novel writing or you have a few published books under your belt, in some respect or another (maybe many others), you're still a dummy about the writing biz. I would have loved to have this book when I began my first novel. And I'm thrilled to have it now, after publishing four. Early in Writing Fiction for Dummies, Ingermanson categorizes writers as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors, and the book guides writers at every one of those levels. But as a post-grad (I assume), I still found plenty of ways my novel writing could be tightened and deepened.

Ingermanson is well known on the conference circuit for his methodical approach to creativity, dispelling the myths that you're not smart enough or talented enough to write a novel. He doesn't sap one's right-hemisphere flow; he encourages it to flow in the best possible way--so it creates a story that will draw your readers in and stay with them long after they read the last word. Highly recommended!

I won't bore you by repeating the comments others have already made. Suffice it to say there are a few must-have writing books on my shelf. Writing Fiction for Dummies has just created a new space for itself.

John Wooden always stressed fundamentals at UCLA on his way to winning all those championships. Ingermanson and Economy do that here with brilliance. It means beginners, advanced writers and all in-between need to have this book in their library. I wish it had been around when I started. Highest recommendation.

I have been writing for over thirty years, but as I went through this book, I found a lot of helpful hints about writing. It takes you from the beginning to the end of the process. Good resource for a writer--especially a beginner.

I downloaded "Writing Fiction for Dummies" with some trepidation, figuring that any book with a title like that had to be hack-work. And that it also had to contain tips and advice redundant with every one of the dozens of other books I've read on fiction-writing. I thought that, by now, I'd read about everything to be said on the topic.

Boy, was I wrong.

This is THE best book on fiction-writing. Bar none. Period. End of story. It is THE most systematic, comprehensive, creatively fertile, and technically useful guide on the subject that I've ever had the pleasure to encounter. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've learned more about fiction-writing from Mssrs. Ingermanson and Economy than from all the other books on the topic, combined.

I won't try to itemize its many virtues or summarize the breathtaking scope of its content. Suffice it to say that if you are going to read just one book on writing fiction, "Writing Fiction for Dummies" is the one to read.

I wish I would've had Writing Fiction for Dummies when I wrote my first novel several years ago. Such a wealth of information! I appreciate the authors taking a multi-faceted approach, giving room for different types of plotters. I also applaud the attention to scene structure and self editing. If you're starting this journey, or you're partway through and you don't quite know how to continue, or you're farther along but want some excellent tips, this is an informational and inspirational read. It's such a holistic resource that I plan on using it when I teach fiction.

With something as personal a book on how to write fiction, it either works for an individual or doesn't. While this doesn't work for me personally, it still had at least one piece of information I badly needed within its covers, and I can see that it will be very helpful for someone who isn't wired as I am. I recommend this book to you if you are struggling to get your ideas for fiction down onto the page, no matter where you run into trouble.
Good companion volumes are Larry Brooks' Story Engineering, his Story Structure -- Demystified [also available as a Kindle release), and Victoria Mixon's The Art & Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner's Manual.

Writing Fiction for Dummies is one of the best writing tools I own. Written in the format of all the Dummies books, it has plenty of information lined out in a useful format. It is easy to skim for tips and highlights, and easy to understand. Besides some standard advice to writers, it contains a lot of material specific to writing fiction, including information on various genres. The references are useful and detailed. One of the authors, Randy Ingermanson, a best-selling author of fiction himself, has a Web site with fantastic software for writing novels that makes a perfect supplement for this book.

I've followed Randy Ingermanson's blog online for several years now. His Snowflake model for fiction writing is legendary, and he is thoughtful and kind as he gives out his knowledge on fiction. I can't think of anyone better to write this book.

I have tons of fiction writing books and I've worked as a first reader for literary agents, publishers, as well as worked with authors to get published. Randy has it all in this book in an easy-to-learn format. Everyone can learn something new, and I picked up a few things that is helping me. It's not only to help others with fiction writing, but also with my own writing.

He includes links to more information and his co-author, Peter Economy, adds much richness and perspective to the content. I have been going through the exercises in this book, and finding that I'm learning more about my own writing AND myself. It's been eye-opening.

While I would especially recommend this book to a new writer, it is also quite helpful for anyone on the fiction writing road. If you've written in one genre, it would be a good book to read when changing genres. He mentions many familiar novels, too, so the examples are helpful in illustrating points.

I just got this book this week, and it's already made a difference in my attitude and writing.

Writing for Dummies is one of the best of my 30 or so books on writing. The how-to is presented in an orderly and comprehensive manner with Dummies trademark humor. This book lays out step-by-step how to structure a novel and how to write it on six layers. The author admits this book may not be the best format for literary novels but for my favorite genres it can't be beat for a new writer.