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Brian Kiteley

The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises that Transform Your Fiction Paperback – August 5, 2005

by Brian Kiteley (Author)

4.5 228 ratings

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Discover Just How Good Your Writing Can Be

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 length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date

August 5, 2005
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.68 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1582973512
ISBN-13

978-1582973517
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Editorial Reviews

Review

T. J. Gerlach in Puerto del Sol:

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

Brian Kiteley is the director of the creative writing programme at a leading US university. A frequent award winner, he is the author of many successful novels.

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)

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4.5 228 ratings

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Brian Kiteley

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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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4.5 out of 5

228 global ratings

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Harold Goodman

Great and disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

I love this book.

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.

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Oh My Gosh!

I found it boring and sometimes stupid

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought this for a class. I found it boring and sometimes stupid. The fine print is hard to read. I'd rather be reading some good fiction or nonfiction about something I'm interested in with normal size print.

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.

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B. Lyon

Way more than just a book of prompts!

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2017

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I have never been a fan of prompts, but this book has changed my mind. The Exercises are far more than prompts. They each tackle a particular writing challenge, and there are several exercises for each challenge. For example there are 13 exercises dealing with point of view, 10 on conversation, 9 on time, 5 on internal structure etc. In addition to giving you practice dealing with a particular challenge, the constraints imposed in each exercise focus your attention on one particular issue, while your creativity runs rampant under the radar. i have produced some of my most surprising writing working with this book. Highly recommended.

11 people found this helpful

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Bryan

I love it! I am part of a creative writing ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

I randomly stumbled upon this book and ordered it a few weeks ago. I love it! I am part of a creative writing group and we choose one or two prompts to use and then discuss what we wrote. I give it 4 out of 5 stars because in some prompts the author explains too much, and the idea becomes convoluted. Although with that said, I highly recommend it!

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book is full of really excellent, clever, intelligently conceived writing exercises.

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.

8 people found this helpful

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Maria

Excellent Prompts

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2008

Verified Purchase

The prompts in this book are great for writers of all skill levels, making this book excellent for use in classes or writing groups, as well as for personal use. The prompts are great jumping-off points, whether you choose to follow them exactly or to just use them as inspiration. They're different from the run-of-the-mill prompts you can find in any so-so inspiration book, the type of prompts which may have made you hate writing when you were younger. These create specific, interesting situations which you can expand upon and make your own. All-in-all, this is an awesome book, and I look forward to getting ahold of the next book, which comes out in January.

2 people found this helpful

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Layla webster

Clever and useful

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

I bought this as a textbook for a writing class and I love it so I kept it. Some of the prompts are a little specific and odd, but if you’re just using it to spark creativity you can just change them a little. Writing from prompts like his has helped me launch several new storylines and make new characters and I’m really enjoying it.

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is probably the best writing prompt book or workbook I have ever purchased. Most of the books of this nature that I get a hold of simply give you a starting/ending phrase or a list of words to put somewhere in the writing, which is a relativly easy challenge; but the challenges in this book don't just give you a new topic to write about they make you think about the way you are writing. Any one can come up with a story idea, the real challenge is getting that idea in writing in a way that is interesting to other people. This book helps you with that.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

hitesh

The exercises are gems

Reviewed in India on October 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

The title of the book excited me such that I knew I had to get my hands on it. Being a writer, it only made sense. But I didn't, not immediately. I waited for about two years while I kept checking the price of this expensive book on Amazon in my wishlist from time to time. When I found it drop to 520 INR, I added it to my shopping cart.
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

Gus

A casket of wonders.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2023

Verified Purchase

A casket of wonders.

Reika

Very inspiring writing exercises!

Reviewed in Germany on February 18, 2020

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I enjoy doing these writing exercises very much because they make you think outside of the box. So far, one of the writing exercises has inspired me to turn it into a short story and I'm not even half-way through with the book. Highly recommended!

Sharon

Challenging Writing Exercises

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

I'm slowly working my way through the exercises - and they are challenging. But some very nice material has emerged from them and I'm able to use them to give me new perspectives on work in progress.

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.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Kunde

Bad copy

Reviewed in Germany on August 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

dissapointed because i was sent a fake copy, its the same book, but the original which I purchased before at a lower price feels so nice in the hand, it makes you wanto to write. This one broke my heart.

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