Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it, I promise., August 22, 2002
This review is from: Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Paperback)
I have been an ardent reader all my life, as far back as I can remember. I can remember tearing through my bookcase on some days as if I was physically hungry. Books were always a source of enjoyment for me, - better than dreaming, man - but they were also always a mystery to me. How could someone do something like this? Where do people find all this incredible material inside? Reading was my joy. Writing was never that. Instead, it was always difficult, and frustrating and humiliating. Oh, my writing was all right when it was done. But it took hours piled on hours of struggle to get there. I didn't understand how writers did it, how they could create entire novels - and not just one to each author! - when it took me a week to write one silly page for a book report. And not only did it take forever; it was never fun. It was hard and brutal, exacting and costly. I thought that when you wrote something it had to come out perfect, or nearly so, the first time it was copied down. Everything changed. This book did it for me. I read Elbow's advice on freewriting to create, how trying to edit and originate at the same time choked the spark off before it could get started. Writing freely without excruciating over what word to put where, then going back after you had some material to work with - it was revelatory. More; for the first time in my life, writing was fun. Really, really fun. It's stayed that way, in all the time since I read "Writing With Power." If I'm very lucky, it will become what I do with my life - but it is only for reading this book that I have any shot at all. If you have any ambition at all to write, if you have ever experienced the frustration of knowing you have something to say without knowing how to say it, read this book. And start writing, right now. Just make sure you don't stop. You can always go back later.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It worked for me!, January 31, 2006
This review is from: Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Paperback)
It seems as if writing books can roughly be divided in two categories. First, there are the books that tell you to plan your writing project in advance in meticulous detail. Second, there are books that tell you NOT to plan anything in advance, but urge you to start writing until you drop. Elbow's book is in the second category. Though it seems as if his method of "freewriting" leads you nowhere, the book helped me tremendously. Elbow describes several techniques, all of which can be of help (including the planned writing strategy) to those who have to write stuff. However, his own tack is what he calls the "loop writing" process. During this process, one blends freewriting techniques with more directed writing techniques. The emphasis, however, is on the creativity stimulated by freewriting. The reason why Elbow emphasizes freewriting is extremely simple, and by experience I know it to be true. Elbow writes that when we write we tend to be our own critic. We evaluate immediately what we write, we edit on the fly, and therefore get stuck rather quickly. Elbow urges us to leave the editing until a later time, and simply start writing whatever comes to mind. You can always throw out stuff later. That way, you'll create a work flow, that is beneficial to your creativity. Just read the book and Elbow's wonderful advice, and see if this works for you as it did for me. I took Elbow's advice seriously in my scholarly writing (I am a philosopher of religion and theologian at Leiden University, the Netherlands). Elbow's book was a real source of inspiration and made writing a lot of fun. At this stage, I have finished a 250-page book (which will be published in two months with one of the major Dutch publishing companies), and several articles. I don't claim it will work for everybody, but it certainly worked for me. Just read the book and try it - if it doesn't work for you, at least you've read a wonderful book!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An antidote to all those rules your English teacher taught!, December 25, 2001
This review is from: Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Paperback)
Before reading Elbow's book, I was quite skeptical concerning "freewriting" -- raw writing, writing without concern for the rules of grammar, writing for the sheer sake of getting words on paper. Elbow overcame my skepticism with powerful examples, reports from his own experience & that of his pupils, and clever exposition. Rather than ducking the complexities and contradictions of good writing, Elbow tackles them head-on. His strategy involves aggressively seeking counter-arguments to his suggestions, and he often admits that two opposing principles both contain elements of truth. He then gives thoughtful advice on how to cope with such complexity. Many of his guidelines involve dialectical or cyclical practices, e.g. paying attention to breathing life into your prose, but then revising for structure, and then returning once again to make sure you haven't choked the life out of what you've written. In combination with Robert Boice's book, First-Order Principles for College Teachers, Elbow's book would make a wonderful present for a beginning academic or other professional whose livelihood depends on good writing. Graduate students in all fields would also benefit. And, of course, people who TEACH writing could find much of value in this book. Elbow, however, seems to have a dim view of many of his colleagues' tactics!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
