Creating the Story : Guides for Writers

by Susan Wheeler Rebecca Rule

Here, gathered in one book, are all the tips and tricks-of-the-trade that published writers have been passing along to new writers in classes and in individual conferences for years. Authors Rebecca Rule and Susan Wheeler have created a text that teaches students how to scrutinize published prose so they can teach themselves writing skills and techniques. "Creating the Story" is filled with short, no-nonsense, practical guides that writers of all ages can dip in and out of as they have need. The exercises that conclude each section not only help writers develop essential skills, but also yield ideas for stories. Readers will learn such practical skills writing scenes, summarizing and stretching time, using flashbacks, moving characters from one place in time to another, having characters think on the page, writing about love and violence, choosing the most effective tense to use, and much more.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

Paperback

First published January 6, 1993

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a creative writing course. I enjoyed reading it, and I felt some of the exercises at the end of each chapter were helpful. It was kind of funny, though, how the authors always focused on negative things happening by asking the reader to initially write down a negative experience and/or memory and then expand upon it to turn it into a 'short story.' The authors came from the standpoint that nobody cares about a story in which 'nothing happens' in that there is 'no conflict' [which is probably true], but I had never previously come across this specific viewpoint to take something 'bad' or 'negative' and expand upon it to write a story.

It was a helpful book, and I enjoyed reading it.