Items15The creator’s order
  1. 1Steering the Craft (1998)Steering the Craft (1998) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1998In Le Guin’s opening exercise, the rhythm of a sentence has to carry some of the movement or feeling it describes. Write a short action twice, once with a halting rhythm and once with a smooth one, then read both aloud. The revised edition pairs each chapter with an exercise you can use alone or in…0
  2. 2Bird by Bird (1994)Bird by Bird (1994) 7.5/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1994Lamott keeps a tiny picture frame on her desk to remind herself how little she needs to write at a time. If the thought of drafting a whole chapter stops you cold, use the frame to pick one thing you could see now, like a thumb worrying the edge of a ticket. This is a book to turn to when getting…0
  3. 3Several short sentences about writing (2012)Several short sentences about writing (2012) 10.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2012Klinkenborg makes you look at what one sentence does before you carry its work into the next. Take a paragraph you’ve revised too many times and put each sentence on its own line. Anything that merely announces the next idea will stand out. The short sections suit a writer who wants to work slowly…0
  4. 4Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition (2010)Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition (2010)Published Jan 1, 2010Bring a scene you’ve already written. Browne and King’s chapters on dialogue and beats help you see what the gestures between speeches are doing. Try taking out the ones that break up the conversation without changing its meaning, then see which pauses you miss. This is especially handy when a…0
  5. 5Making Comics (2019)Making Comics (2019)Published Jan 1, 2019Barry’s students draw themselves as monsters and superheroes and keep daily journals by hand. Try making a rough comics page about a day you remember from an exaggerated version of yourself. It’s an approachable place to start if you already collect scraps of dialogue and want to think about what a…0
  6. 6Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process (2017)Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process (2017)Published Jan 1, 2017McPhee sketches a structure in letters before he knows which people will fill it in Encounters with the Archdruid. If you have a heap of interview notes and no clear beginning, try laying out the relationships among the people first. This is a close look at how reported work gets shaped, with…0
  7. 7Craft in the Real World (2021)Craft in the Real World (2021) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 2021When a reader says a choice in your story is unbelievable, Salesses asks whose experience they’re using as the test. Read his examples from No-No Boy and One Thousand and One Nights, then mark the places where you’ve added explanations for an imagined audience. This is especially useful when…0
  8. 8The situation and the story (2001)The situation and the story (2001)Published Jan 1, 2001A family visit gives you a situation. Figuring out what you wanted from it might give you the story. Gornick’s essays on memoir and personal writing help you hear the difference in the narrator’s voice. Try describing the same visit as the person you were then and as the person writing it now.0
  9. 9Writing Down the Bones (1986)Writing Down the Bones (1986) 8.3/10 on Open LibraryPublished Jan 1, 1986Set a short timer and keep writing until it goes off, leaving every false start on the page. Goldberg’s approach gets you through the stretch when you want to cross out each line as soon as you’ve written it. It’s useful for generating raw material to sort through later, even if you usually revise…0
  10. 10The making of a poem (2000)The making of a poem (2000)Published Jan 1, 2000The entries on poetic forms put examples beside explanations of how the forms work. A villanelle is a good one to try. See whether repeating a line in a new place changes its meaning, even when you’ve kept every word. Choose this anthology when you want to learn a form by reading several writers’…0