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The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises that Transform Your Fiction Paperback – August 5, 2005
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If you write, you know what it's like. Insight and creativity - the desire to push the boundaries of your writing - strike when you least expect it. And you're often in no position to act: in the shower, driving the kids to school...in the middle of the night.
The 3 A.M. Epiphany offers more than 200 intriguing writing exercises designed to help you think, write, and revise like never before - without having to wait for creative inspiration. Brian Kiteley, noted author and director of the University of Denver's creative writing program, has crafted and refined these exercises through 15 years of teaching experience.
You'll learn how to:
• Transform staid and stale writing patterns into exciting experiments in fiction
• Shed the anxieties that keep you from reaching your full potential as a writer
• Craft unique ideas by combining personal experience with unrestricted imagination
• Examine and overcome all of your fiction writing concerns, from getting started to writer's block
Open the book, select an exercise, and give it a try. It's just what you need to craft refreshing new fiction, discover bold new insights, and explore what it means to be a writer.
It's never too early to start--not even 3 A.M.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Publishing Group
- Publication dateAugust 5, 2005
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.68 x 8 inches
- ISBN-101582973512
- ISBN-13978-1582973517
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Review
For all of its abundant quirkiness, The 3 A.M. Epiphany tends to center more on traditional craft elements; things like character, point of view, and structure are at its core. It is a wonderful collection of exercises with innovative angles that breathe new life into these staples of fiction. The 4 A.M. Breakthrough, though, as a whole, pushes into deeper terrain. It is more philosophical, psychological, even more political than its predecessor.
Many of the exercises in The 4 A.M. Breakthrough are intensely OuLiPo-ian in the wonderful perversity of their restrictions. Take Exercise #5, "The Letter A," with its startling first line "Write a story about an ox or a cow," followed by its no-less-startling suggestion that the entire piece be centered around words beginning with the letter A. The logic behind this combination is that the Phoenicians began their alphabet with a symbol derived from the head of an ox—the main figure in their agricultural and economic system. But of course it is the more decidedly arbitrary element of this exercise in a contemporary context that opens up its creative possibilities.
And this exercise is by no means alone in its playful idiosyncrasy. Exercise #53, "Country Noises," asks you to write a story that makes use of visual representations of sound—such as ######### for the sound of a leaf blower. Another, #164, urges you to mine the "found poetry" in a press conference by Donald Rumsfield. I'll allow exercise #73, "Buzzing Blooming Confusion," and its first line "Try to capture the true confusion of reality in a very short space" to speak for itself.Yet alongside these seemingly cerebral exercises are ones that aim for the heart. Many of the exercises are based on books and artists Kiteley has a deep affection for—"Watch My Neighbor Totoro twice" Kiteley pleads in an eponymous exercise, "even if you've already seen it several times." And the description of exercise #194, "Lobster Bisque," is a moving little piece of creative non-fiction all in itself.
But then this separation between head and heart is always a false one. Georges Perec, who is probably the most famous writing-as-puzzle-making writer, saw his exercises in restriction as deeply personal, even Freudian explorations of his inner self. And while his fellow OuLiPo member, Italo Calvino, may be known for some of the most achingly beautiful works of the second half of the twentieth century, Calvino approached his craft from his first discipline, mathematics, and used restrictions that were no less arduous than those of Perec. Kiteley's exercises play the line between these two poles beautifully—in them the head is never far away from the heart, or the heart from the head.
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Publishing Group; First Edition (August 5, 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1582973512
- ISBN-13 : 978-1582973517
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.68 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #134,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #50 in Research Reference Books
- #201 in Writing Skill Reference (Books)
- #302 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Brian Kiteley is the author of three novels, The River Gods, Still Life With Insects, and I Know Many Songs, But I Cannot Sing, and two collections of fiction exercises, The 3 A.M. Epiphany and The 4 A.M. Breakthrough. He has recently finished two linked novels set in Crete in 1988, about a poet and a CIA case officer in love, with cameos by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and a low-level al Qaeda operative. Kiteley's home page is: https://www.briankiteley.com/
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Top reviews from the United States
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Even if I only do a small fraction of the exercises ( I normally hate writing exercises; actually, I hate almost any exercise in any form) I know that my writing will benefit and I will emerge a happier, better man.
BUT
The type size is so tiny that if it were any smaller I would need a magnifying glass.
Think of the tiniest type in the cheapest classifieds in a newspaper.
Whatever possessed the publisher to make the book almost impossible to read?
Nonetheless, if you are OK to go blind in your attempt to read this it will be a good use of the last of your sight.
If you like reading try some of my favorite fantasy and sci-fi authors: Richard Adams, Palo Bacigulupi, Suzanne Collins, Abe Evergreen, Diana Gabaldon, Hugh Howey, George Martin, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, and Andy Weir.
If you’re looking for good stuff to watch consider miniseries like The Astronauts Wives Club (2015), Band of Brothers (2001), Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000), Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (2003), Into the West (2005), Lonesome Dove (1989), Manhattan (2014-2015), Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Taken (2002), and The 10th Kingdom (2000), which are all terrific because they have clear beginnings that establish an objective, then strong middles and conclusive endings where the goal is achieved, like a good novel.
Other shows I’ve really enjoyed include Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Cowboy Bebop (1998), Downton Abbey (2010-2015), Firefly (2002), Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Granite Flats (2013-2015), The IT Crowd (2006-2013), Jericho (2006-2008), Lost (2004-2010), Merlin (2008-2012), The Prisoner (1967-1968), Rome (2005-2007), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011), Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010), Stargate: SG-1 (1997-2007), Stargate: Atlantis (2004-2009), Star Trek (1966-1969) and Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001). I didn’t list any contemporary series I’m following that don’t have an end date yet, not conducive to binge watching from beginning to finish.
Why then the meager star count? I teach an adult ed writing course, and had preliminarily decided to use this as a main text. When I got my copy, however, I found that the text is so small that the book will be useless for some students. It is baffling to me that someone who presumably values books and cares for his readers would allow to be published a book so irresponsibly designed. Hence the the three stars: five for the content; one for the physical book.
Top reviews from other countries
After receiving it, I found the back cover in bad shape. The packaging was not decent. Still, I kept it. This seemed like a very important book for writers. And I was correct.
The exercises are gems. I like the second one on page 21 so much at the end of which Brian teaches a great tool for writing.
The exercises were short -- one to two pages long. I took it one day at a time. Otherwise, it would have been overwhelming. Plus, learning for me happens slowly and over time. It made sense to learn a lesson and let the subconscious work on it at least for a day.
After writing six exercises, I found them helpful. Each exercise taught me a thing or two about the craft. I knew what I was going to do in the next 200 days. Finish all the exercises one day at a time.
This book gives the feeling of a classroom experience. Classwork is the exercise and perhaps the learning from the exercise is the homework which over time builds like a tall-storeyed office building with different employees for different roles for a project.
I skipped exercises 8 and 9 as I didn't feel like doing them. I was about to skip no. 10 as well. But after two days of going through it, I thought of a novel I was working on and wrote the Epilogue for it. The number 10 exercise helped me finish the ending of my novel way before I reached the end. It felt wonderful. Oh! I loved these exercises. I loved to do homework during my school days. These exercises reminded me of my childhood memories. No wonder I became comfortable with them.
After writing the initial 7 exercises, I stopped writing. I kept reading them each day like I used to but I didn't work on the instructions. Just didn't feel like it. It gave me food for thought about my writing, the projects I was working on. The insight into different ways of seeing things in life showed me a wider spectrum on which I can work on my fictional tales. Oh this and oh that...so many things are possible and these exercises opened my eyes to a world of immense possibilities.
While reading the exercises, I couldn't help thinking about the three novels I was working on. In one of the exercises, I even wrote an epilogue for one of my novels. This book is a treasure that I have cherished and I will reread it next year. And hope to write more this time.
This book reminded me how difficult writing is. Hard work!
I keep taking breaks from writing. I see no point in pressuring myself to make progress on paper in a project each day. I know that real writing happens in the subconscious. And I keep feeding the loop which eventually gives output in terms of words on paper.
5/5
Reviewed in India on October 27, 2022
After receiving it, I found the back cover in bad shape. The packaging was not decent. Still, I kept it. This seemed like a very important book for writers. And I was correct.
The exercises are gems. I like the second one on page 21 so much at the end of which Brian teaches a great tool for writing.
The exercises were short -- one to two pages long. I took it one day at a time. Otherwise, it would have been overwhelming. Plus, learning for me happens slowly and over time. It made sense to learn a lesson and let the subconscious work on it at least for a day.
After writing six exercises, I found them helpful. Each exercise taught me a thing or two about the craft. I knew what I was going to do in the next 200 days. Finish all the exercises one day at a time.
This book gives the feeling of a classroom experience. Classwork is the exercise and perhaps the learning from the exercise is the homework which over time builds like a tall-storeyed office building with different employees for different roles for a project.
I skipped exercises 8 and 9 as I didn't feel like doing them. I was about to skip no. 10 as well. But after two days of going through it, I thought of a novel I was working on and wrote the Epilogue for it. The number 10 exercise helped me finish the ending of my novel way before I reached the end. It felt wonderful. Oh! I loved these exercises. I loved to do homework during my school days. These exercises reminded me of my childhood memories. No wonder I became comfortable with them.
After writing the initial 7 exercises, I stopped writing. I kept reading them each day like I used to but I didn't work on the instructions. Just didn't feel like it. It gave me food for thought about my writing, the projects I was working on. The insight into different ways of seeing things in life showed me a wider spectrum on which I can work on my fictional tales. Oh this and oh that...so many things are possible and these exercises opened my eyes to a world of immense possibilities.
While reading the exercises, I couldn't help thinking about the three novels I was working on. In one of the exercises, I even wrote an epilogue for one of my novels. This book is a treasure that I have cherished and I will reread it next year. And hope to write more this time.
This book reminded me how difficult writing is. Hard work!
I keep taking breaks from writing. I see no point in pressuring myself to make progress on paper in a project each day. I know that real writing happens in the subconscious. And I keep feeding the loop which eventually gives output in terms of words on paper.
5/5
I wouldn't recommend this for new writers (a collection of writing prompts is a much better bet and I recommend The Writer's Book of days by Judy Reeves) but for anyone who has material already and wants to improve their craft, or needs shaking out of a rut, this has to be one of the best books on the market.
I would say though, that the print in the book is way too small to be enjoyable. It was for this reason that I bought the Kindle version.








