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Telling Lies for Fun & Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers
 
 

Telling Lies for Fun & Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A COUPLE of months ago I returned to Antioch College to teach an intensive week-long seminar on fictional technique..." (more)
Key Phrases: creative plagiarism, creative procrastination, voluntary suspension, New York, Writer's Digest, Bernie Rhodenbarr (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

List Price: $13.00
Price: $11.11 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Frequently Bought Together

Telling Lies for Fun & Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers + Spider, Spin Me a Web: A Handbook for Fiction Writers + Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)
Price For All Three: $35.82

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's a good thing Lawrence Block is so friendly and generous with his writing advice. Otherwise, you'd just have to hate the guy. After all, it took him a mere two weeks to write his first novel. He was still a teenager at the time, and he promptly sold it to Fawcett, the first publisher to see it. What can a guy like that tell the rest of us about fiction writing that could possibly apply to our lives? Lots, actually. Telling Lies for Fun & Profit comprises four years' worth of Block's monthly fiction-writing column from Writer's Digest magazine. In it, Block turns his witty, welcoming prose to many aspects of the writing life, including collaboration, which Block maintains he does "largely as a means of avoiding work"; speed writing (surprise: "Sometimes a book or story will be better for having been written more rapidly"); the benefits of using strong verbs; and the importance of good character names.

As one might expect from a man who seems to have such a facile way with the typewriter, Block can make writing seem a lot easier than it does in real life. "If you write one page a day," he says, "you will produce a substantial novel in a year.... Don't you figure you could produce one measly little page, even on a bad day? Even on a rotten day?"

Still, just because he's published about, oh, 50 books, don't think Block considers novel writing to be all fun and profit. "Those of us who are driven to produce great quantities of manuscript don't necessarily get any real pleasure out of the act," he says. "It's just that we feel worse when we don't write." --Jane Steinberg



Product Description

"I would urge other writers, at whatever point in their careers, to take the time to read this indispensable handbook....Telling Lies for Fun & Profit should be a permanent part of every writer's library."-- From the Introduction by Sue Grafton

Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block takes an inside look at writing as a craft and as a career.

From studying the market, to mastering self-discipline and "creative procrastination," through coping with rejections, Telling Lies for Fun & Profit is an invaluable sourcebook of information. It is a must read for anyone serious about writing or understanding how the process works.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (February 25, 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0688132286
  • ISBN-13: 978-0688132286
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,079 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Block
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Lawrence Block Page

Inside This Book (learn more)





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20 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very inspiring collection of essays, February 20, 2002
By Craig Clarke (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
There are two books on writing that I always keep on hand: this one and Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. I can always depend on them to inspire me to write more when my momentum has flagged for whatever reason, usually insecurity.

I really like Block's conversational style. I know this is cliche, but I often feel as if he could be speaking directly to me and addressing my own problems. I find this, among other things, to be very comforting, thus allowing me to let go and just write.

He presents simple solutions to common problems, also inspiring me to go try them out, having never approached the problem in that way before.

I find this book to be very useful in my quest to be a writer, as he seems to have had the same problems I do. This sends the positive message that these problems are universal, and all you have to do is work your way through them, because ALL writers have the same issues to deal with. Also very comforting.

I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with the need to write but not finding the nerve to just settle down and do it; and also for anyone else just needing a little boost.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Writer's Block You Can Use..., November 28, 2001
Very simply, anyone who wishes to write professionally should read --and preferably, commit to memory-- every page of this collection of both practical how-to advice and sage philosophizing on the art of storytelling.  Sue Grafton
says she re-reads this book before commencing work on her next novel; better advice would be hard to come by for anyone who dares to commit fiction-writing.

I stumbled on the Block's book as I was writing my first two novels, FLU SEASON and LIKE DISTANT CITIES BURNING

(...)It's no stretch to say he probably deserves a co-byline on both my books, though I'll deny everything if he takes me to court. Still, Block provides any writer with advice and insight one can actually USE.

To quote from the jacket: "Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from, anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block takes an inside look at
writing as a craft and as a career.

"From studying the market to mastering self-discipline and 'creative procrastination' through copying with rejections, Telling Lies For Fun & Profit is an invaluable sourcebook of information..."

The book itself is a collection of the fiction columns Block did for Writer's Digest in between penning more than 30 books, many of them bestsellers.

I learned something new on almost every page, and something valuable even more often.

(...)

--Earl Merkel

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great book even if you don't aspire to be a writer, January 21, 2003
This book is a collection of monthly columns that Block had written for a writing magazine. They fit perfectly together to make a book that is easy to recommend to anyone who treasures books, especially fiction.

I loved this book, even though I am more of a reader than a writer. You will learn techniques that an actual writer uses when devising plots, character names, and even titles. Don't expect a cookie-cutter approach to producing a story. Block instead gives you many chapters that are filled with actual examples of work written not only by himself but by other writers. The discussions that accompany these examples are both educational, easily read, and highly entertaining.

I believe the book has made me a much better reader. I can now often sit back and understand just why I didn't like a particular book.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writing Class You Can Afford Taught By a Master
Lawrence Block is one of my favorite writers. Who knew he was also an excellent teacher?

This book will be helpful for novices as well as more experienced writers... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Booklover

5.0 out of 5 stars He's done it again.
If you have read any of the other reviews here you will already know that Lawrence Block is a great writer who has produced many successful books. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Harold Goodman

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, with lots of good advice for writers
This book is really a collection of essays offering advice to novice writers. Topics include discipline, the craft of writing, revising, marketing, and more. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Diane Gallant

1.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful title, but impossible to read
This is probably a very good text (the title is really funny and inviting), but a very bad book. I couldn't read it. Read more
Published on November 16, 2007 by Jesus Ortiz

4.0 out of 5 stars Behold the Grand Master!
Lawrence Block is an absolute master of the mystery genre, so much so that he was voted Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America back in 1993. Read more
Published on May 21, 2007 by ESP

2.0 out of 5 stars Content OK, Reprint Edition Horrid !
Don't waste your money on this reprint edition. It is printed on poor paper, the type has been reduced in size, the typesetting thus compacts and makes it difficult to read, and... Read more
Published on April 2, 2007 by Raymond Perkins

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Writer's" Block!
I bought this book at least 10 years ago (maybe 12), and have found it wonderfully useful for advice and information whenever I'm foolish enough to try & live out my dream of... Read more
Published on March 21, 2007 by Amy

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what I've been waiting for
I have a lot of how-to-write books, and find new tips in each, but if I could only keep one, it would be this. Read more
Published on September 24, 2006 by book junkie

5.0 out of 5 stars How I Read Lawrence Block and Got My Groove Back
Well now, I can see from all the raised hands that there's lots of questions. (OK, I know, that's LB's tactic, and a very amusing one. Read more
Published on July 18, 2006 by Magnolia Zulu

5.0 out of 5 stars Block's cure for writer's block, novice or professional.
I suspect that every writer, whether a neophyte or published, experiences in various degrees the same difficulty: how to find "your voice," the style in which you can be... Read more
Published on February 27, 2006 by Tom Bruce

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