The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Writer [Paperback]

Janet E. Grant (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

This comprehensive, practical, inspiring guide to starting and maintaining a writing career was created especially for writers ages and up. Newly revised and updated, the book encourages young readers to uncover their own writing ability, discover their writing styles, explore new types of writing, experiment with different genres, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8?Certainly nothing as poorly written as this book should ever come near an impressionable young person who might assume that getting published validates the author as an expert on writing. One of the cardinal rules of good writing, honed to cliche (a forte of this author) in generations of workshops, is "Don't tell it. Show It." What is shown here is that it is possible to string together page after page of unedited, ungrammatical, poorly structured meandering on some vague ideas about writing, throw in some uninteresting examples of student work, frame it in a brisk-looking layout with a few mediocre graphics, and somebody will publish it for you. What is told here is that aspiring writers should keep a notebook and use it to follow the author's ill-conceived exercises. The author kind of comes to life in the disproportionate space alloted to tips on getting a contract and budgeting the profits from your book, or, until the big bucks start rolling in, entering contests. These end products, not the painstaking task of learning the skills, seem to be what Becoming a Writer refers to here. Marion Dane Bauer's What's Your Story (Clarion, 1992) contains solid advice and examples that could be a genuine spur to a struggling novice.?Sally Margolis, formerly at Deerfield Public Library, IL
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Free Spirit Pub (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915793903
• ISBN-13: 978-0915793907
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,355,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In the Inspiration Direction, December 5, 2000

By 

"orangegal" (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Writer (Paperback)

This book is truly a must read book. Between the covers, it is packed with the guidelines for teenagers like me to understand why they write and what they write. It's not another creative writing book, this is for aspiring writers who really want o ahve a career in the literary world. Step by step plans are detailed and yet you still do have the freedom to manuver around and explore. But personally, there were some parts where re-reading had to be done as the statements were not exactly clear.

It has inspired me and helped me along with writing exercises known as "Writer's Notebook" and encourage me to develop my writing passion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was a great book that delivered more than expected!, March 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Writer (Paperback)

When I first started to read this book, I thought it was going to be another boring book on how to write a story. The stuff about "what is a paragraph" scared me a bit, too. But as I got farther and farther into the book, I realized what great content this book had! I didn't expect the author to go into such detail on how to submit your story, as a manuscript, to a publisher! I would defintely reccomend this book to all the potential writers out there!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great book if you still need to know what a paragraph is, May 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Writer (Paperback)

This is a well-written, thorough, and completely boring book. Obviously, if I am interested in writing and am a young adult, then I have no use for a fourth grade language arts review. There are no resources or any helpful hints that I can find. I do not reccomend this book to any young adult, but any nine-year-old in need of tutoring is in luck. Put your twelve bucks toward a Kathy Henderson book instead.