Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Creative Writing

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I enjoyed the simple, straightforward style of this book. It doesn't get weighed down with artistic issues but instead offers a practical guide to writing technique, with exercises, which can be applied by even the most novice of writers, a group of which I count myself a member.

This book is a good overview for people who are considering a writing career, but are not sure what direction they want to go in. Here is a sampling of the basic chapter outline: (1) Developing your talent, (2) How to write an article, (3) The radio talk, (4) Working arrangements, (5) Presentation of manuscripts, (6) the short story, (7) the radio story, (8) the art of revision, (9) characterisation, (10) Dialogue, (11) setting, (12) style, (13) poetry, (14) the non-fiction book, (15) How to conduct an interview, (16) the novel, (17) writing for children ..... has 22 chapters. Now all this is covered in 143 pages -- so you realize that there are only a couple pages covering each topic. Also, when the writer talked about typerwriter ribbons I looked and saw that this book was first released in 1983 and this copy was re-released in 1999. So the information is a little dated as well. For example, a reader probably shouldn't follow the manuscript layouts given based on the original date of publication -- they could be well outdated.

Though this book would likely be a waste of time for the seasoned writer, or even the unpublished writer who knows what direction they want to pursue, it would be a good basic resource for those who just want a basic idea of the multitude of writing options they have.

Though I enjoyed reading it, I turn to more specific writing books for my purposes. I'm glad I didn't buy this book, I got mine from the library. Perhaps the reader of this review should do the same before they decide to purchase this book.

I buy lots of books about Creativity. This was a gift. There is some good advice in the book about techniques and publishing but the CREATIVE part that sucks me in was just not there!

This books is more for the real serious writer wanting to know the ends and outs of what do with your writings once you have mastered your creativity.

Doubtfire certainly gets you to think outside the box when doing her prescribed exercises. The only problem - finding the time!