The Writer's Source Book

by Chris Sykes

A technical manual ideal for any writer who needs to build, fix, polish, or perfect their storyline, whether they write novels, scripts, poetry, or short stories

 

Dozens of practical exercises are gathered here to help writers create storylines, craft characters, and generate ideas, with support and creative insight for every stage. It offers support in identifying the right genre and crafting work around it, and helps writers to understand the complexities of plot and character before beginning to create their own. Dozens of inspiring exercises help writers master the structure of their book, story, or play, while focused and innovative advice helps those who have run into trouble.

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2011

Reviews

[James Rhodes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good tips for beginners but the acrostic excercises that it is filled with are pointless. A lot of the examples he picks to illustrate his points are from screenplays and there are large sections in which he asks the reader to turn screenplays into novels which is supposed to help you see how diaglogue portrays character through nuance. However, he never actually breaks this down for the reader and leaves them to get on with it on their own (which they could have done on their own). There are some quite reasonable points made about using location to portray character but the section is underdeveloped and amounts to, "read this long passage of sub-par prose, did you see how he did that?"

Having read up on Chris Sykes I am unsurprised to discover that he is not a novelist. I would consider reading something he has written on screenplays or poetry but I would not recommend this to anyone.

[Stefana Rarau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was very useful, giving some insight on writing techniques, characters, plot and so on. I didn't do the exercises in it because I lack the time (...and motivation), but I really look forward to doing them one day; they seemed interesting.
I recommend this book to all aspiring writers. :)