The first book for writers that explores the emotional side of writing--dealing with everything from envy to guilt to the dreaded writer's block.
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Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
Inspirational essays on writing--by a novelist aborning whose piece ``Envy, the Writer's Disease'' made the cover of The New York Times Book Review and led to this book. Friedman sets out to uplift the writing reader and fellow novelist-to-be by opening her veins about the hardships of writing. More often, however, she opens her mind and gives the reader interesting snippets of Freud, Krishnamurti, Jung, and other wizards of the id. Most of her references are to women writers, with Mary Shelley getting the longest play in one of the best and most original passages here, in which the main problem of Dr. Frankenstein, the monster's ``author,'' is that he must ignore his family to get his work done. Friedman finds this problem common to authors who think they must write about their families but who must ignore the family's sensibilities in order to do so. She had that problem herself, she tells us, with her neurotically overweight sister. Friedman also talks about beginner's envy of famous writers, pointing out even Shakespeare's envy (``Desiring this man's scope, and that man's art'') and cries, ``Shakespeare desired another's art? Dear Lord, whose?'' Even so, this piece, the book's opening, is its most tedious stretch. The author is far livelier on schools for writers, writer's block, her first nonfiction sale (at age 34), and the landing of the contract for this book--at which moments the agony and the ecstasy are personal indeed and less abstract than Friedman's perfectly worked out similes and deep thoughts about the writer's mind. Not exciting as literary flower-picking, and only middling on the psychology of authors. Friedman's first novel should bring a brighter bloom. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Friedman's elegant prose style makes Writing Past Dark a delicious experience for lovers of language." -- Copley News Service, July 7, 1993
"The caliber of Friedman's craft itself is instructive and invigorating - better than even Annie Dillard's in The Writing Life." -- The Columbus Dispatch, September 8, 1993
"[A] slim, excellent book on the emotional aspects of the writer's vocation . . .intimate, honest, liberating." -- The Forward (March 1, 2002)
If you think writing is a lonely task and you can afford one book, buy this one. -- Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Addison Wesley)
"The caliber of Friedman's craft itself is instructive and invigorating - better than even Annie Dillard's in The Writing Life." -- The Columbus Dispatch, September 8, 1993
"[A] slim, excellent book on the emotional aspects of the writer's vocation . . .intimate, honest, liberating." -- The Forward (March 1, 2002)
If you think writing is a lonely task and you can afford one book, buy this one. -- Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Addison Wesley)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Writing Past Dark is so much more than a self-help book or a how-to-do-it guide. This is a book that dares to broach -- beautifully, boldly -- subjects that all writers grapple with and none talk about. Writer's envy! Writer's block! And to broach them in language that is lush and sharp. Friedman writes with soaring, exquisite precision. Her vision is original and her heart is large. Just listen to this: "A writer's concentation is ... mercy toward oneself. It is allowing imperfection. It is allowing mess. ... The mutter, the cracked voice, the false start, the false start again, all precede the song." I first read this book five years ago and when I picked it up again a month ago, it had the startling freshness of a dream.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
What an act of generosity it was for Bonnie Friedman to write this book! There was no earthly reason for her to share her thoughts on envy and writer's block, other than her own desire to pool her insight with other human beings who suffer the same perils and joys. A cause for celebration!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Did the word distraction get you? Me too. This book really helped me to focus on why I write and why I sometimes sabotage my writing efforts. From writer's block to finding the time to write, the author will be your companion as she gently brings you back to the page.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
That's the advice that Friedman gives in her introduction:
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing...believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties." Friedman presents many of those difficulties in her own life in a very honest and revealing way, starting with "Envy, the Writer's Disease." The only cure for envy? "Returning to my work," the author says. Friedman covers many other problems in writing, among them: Distraction, writing about those still living, writing schools, getting the meaning into your stories, writer's block, and what happens when you finally are published. (You mean life doesn't instantly become a bed of roses? Uh...no...)
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing...believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties." Friedman presents many of those difficulties in her own life in a very honest and revealing way, starting with "Envy, the Writer's Disease." The only cure for envy? "Returning to my work," the author says. Friedman covers many other problems in writing, among them: Distraction, writing about those still living, writing schools, getting the meaning into your stories, writer's block, and what happens when you finally are published. (You mean life doesn't instantly become a bed of roses? Uh...no...)
'Writing Past Dark' is an honest, moving, and sometimes funny look at the life of a writer. Writers at every level will be able to identify with many if not all of the essays here, which make for excellent reading. If you are a beginning writer, this is a great book for giving you a glimpse of what may be in store for you. For seasoned veterans, the book will be a work you can identify and sympathize with.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
What a thrill to find a wise, consoling voice in the solitude that is the writer's life! This book helped me recognize my fears and desires that had been keeping me from my work, and helped me rededicate to the real voice instead of the chatter of all the false.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
i don't usually use the word "gorgeous" but it certainly applies to this work. there is such a generous spirit behind this book. it's a love offering to all writers and anyone connected to writers ...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I was at the end of my belief in myself as a writer; almost threw in the pencil. And then I read "Writing Past Dark", which gave me permission to admit that yes, it's hard, that yes, occasionally I was silenced and pinced by envy -- and best of all, the book helped me find my way back to my voice. I published a bestseller last year, thanks to B. Friedman's beneficent words.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was attracted to this book because of its unique title, "Writing Past Dark" and then dove into it because it seemed to approach the average writer's challenges from a unique perspective... not lamenting block, discouragement, envy... instead just laying it out there so that you will not feel so alone.
This book is like a vaccination against quitting.....
There were several segments of the book which worked especially well. In the section on "Anorexia of language, why we can't write" which personifies silence in this way. "I have been staring into silence's blank face all month and I want to rattle it, to shake it, to force it to confess what's at its obsessive, fanatical core."
There is also a lot of ripeness in the chapter on Envy: the Writer's vocational hazard. I wanted to applaude as I read, "The antidote to envy is one's own work. Always doing ones own work. Not thinking about it, not the assessing of it. But the doing of it. The answers you want can only come from the work itself. It drives the spooks away.
Excellent lessons beautifully and satisfyingly crafted.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
success and the milking of it.
The first chapter of the book, which was re-printed from her published article in The New York Times, was excellent. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Phil Ology
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not helpful
I wanted to like this book. The ideas it explores are interesting, but in the end it disappoints. It is presented at least implicitly as self-help, but it offers no real help. Read more
Published on May 22, 2011 by Kathleen A. Flynn
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wise and Compassionate...
Writing Past Dark Envy,Fear,Distraction and Other Dilemmas in the Writers Life
Who would imagine a book ABOUT writing being such a wise and compassionate "gift" to... Read more
Who would imagine a book ABOUT writing being such a wise and compassionate "gift" to... Read more
Published on January 15, 2011 by glasshopper
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dissappointing
When I bought this book, I was hoping for something that would inspire me and help me take action against the writers' block I had been experiencing. Read more
Published on September 18, 2007 by Fhorn1
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful insights
This book unlike many others isn't a real workbook, if you want that I would recommend Keith Hjortshoj's Writing Blocks, but it is very helpful, and I actually got this one from... Read more
Published on August 28, 2006 by Remy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Highly personal and well-written book on writing--and the problems of...
Anyone who announces he's a writer is likely to be approached by someone. "I've got an idea for a story," they'll say. Read more
Published on January 25, 2006 by booksforabuck
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspired by just her language
Friedman's writing made me drool. I was feeling writer's envy just reading her analogies and metaphors, then of course, she talks about writer's envy. Read more
Published on August 28, 2005 by Devrie K. Paradowski
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Thoughtful Meditation on Writing
Through meticulous observations and analysis, Writing Past Dark illuminates issues on creativity that have generally been deemed murky and beyond explanation: envy,... Read more
Published on December 17, 2004 by Dingbats
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