Like most writers, I tend to collect books on writing. I love the advice, the inspiration, and the insights I gain from reading about writing from the experts. I have to admit though, some books on writing are more valuable than others, and very few end up being repeatedly re-read by me. So, recently I came across a book that’s now on my favorite list and I can’t wait to tell you about it. It’s called Now Write! Fiction Writing Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers.
About the Book
A collection of personal writing exercises and commentary from some of today’s best novelists, short story writers, and writing teachers, including Jill McCorkle, Amy Bloom, Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Virgil Suárez, Margot Livesay, and more.
What’s the secret behind the successful and prolific careers of critically acclaimed novelists and short story writers Amy Bloom, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Alison Lurie, and others? Divine assistance? Otherworldly talent? An unsettlingly close relationship with the Muse? While the rest of us are staring at blank sheets of paper, struggling to come up with a first sentence, these writers are busy polishing off story after story and novel after novel. Despite producing work that may seem effortless, all of them have a simple technique for fending off writer’s block: the writing exercise. In Now Write!, Sherry Ellis collects the personal writing exercises of today’s best writers and lays bare the secret to their success.
Complemented by brief commentary from the authors themselves, the exercises in Now Write! are practical and hands-on. By encouraging writers to shamelessly steal proven techniques that have yielded books which have won National Book Awards, Pulitzers, and Guggenheim grants, Now Write! inspires the aspiring writer to write now.
My Review
What makes this book one of my favorites is that you can grab it at any point, turn to a random page, and stumble across an exercise. I love books like that (and it’s one of the reasons I also like The Pocket Muse books by Monica Wood). Each exercise is relatively brief, with a short intro by the author, and then it goes right into the exercise.
What’s great about this book is that each exercise appeals to me in a new way. I like knowing that I can pick up the book today and gain something totally new from it than when I read it a month ago. I’ve already started tagging exercises and even started a few and it’s an endlessly inspiring book.
It also helps you along the way with each aspect of the writing process from just getting started, to character development, to even revision. In fact, I have been reading from the revision chapter recently and that has helped me tremendously. There was an exercise listed that encourages you to take a look at your story from the perspective of character, plot, etc. to see if there are any changes that need to happen. And that helped me a lot! I was inspired to then take a look at the character section of this book that listed some exercises I plan to do.
I can’t wait to see what more I will gain from this book and I highly recommend it to you writers out there!
About the Author, Sherry Ellis
Sherry Ellis, M.B.A., M.S., L.C.S.W., Now Write! Series Creator/Author/Editor (b. 1950 – d. 2011)
Sherry Ellis was a social worker who created a helpful legacy for writers with her insightful author interview book, Illuminating Fiction (Red Hen Press), and the critically-acclaimed Now Write! series of creative writing exercise anthologies, currently published by Penguin Random House under the Tarcher/Perigee imprint.
Sherry was author/editor of Now Write! Fiction, Now Write! Nonfiction, and co-author/editor of Now Write! Screenwriting with her niece, Laurie Lamson. Sherry was collecting exercises for Now Write! Mysteries when, sadly, she passed away. Laurie completed the book and continued the series Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
More info https://nowwrite.net
Best of all, I get to giveaway a copy of the book to one lucky winner! Enter via Rafflecopter below. US Only please. Giveaway ends 12/3.
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Good review!
I like that the exercises are from a group of writers not just one.
I like the fact you get help from real Authors .
Writing a book seems like an insurmountable task. Any easier way to process that is wonderful.