How To Write Good

by John Vorhaus

Starting with a wink at his own dumb title and a case for whimsy as a writer’s best friend, veteran writer and writing instructor John Vorhaus offers us this latest glimpse inside his writing mind. Drawing on a quarter-century of experience in writing scripts and novels, and teaching and training writers worldwide, Vorhaus delivers a quick, expressive overview of the writing process, how to engage it, and how to beat its common pitfalls. With abundant concrete writing strategies and an empowering generosity of spirit, HOW TO WRITE GOOD joins JV’s classic COMIC TOOLBOX in providing what every writer needs: rules, tools, and a good, swift kick in the motivation.

Genres: Writing

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2013

About the author

John Vorhaus is known to one and all as the man who brought Radar Hoverlander – con artist extraordinaire – to life in the “sunshine noir” mystery novel, The California Roll, and its acclaimed sequel, The Albuquerque Turkey.

John is also well known as the author of The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You're Not, and its acclaimed sequel, The Little Book of SITCOM, which continue to be definitive sources of information and inspiration for writers from Santa Monica to Scandinavia.

An international consultant in television and film script development, Vorhaus has worked for television networks, film schools, production companies and film funding bodies in 28 countries on four continents. He recently worked in Bulgaria, recruiting and training writers for that country’s adaptation of Married… with Children, and in Tel Aviv, consulting on the Israeli version of The Golden Girls. He also travels regularly to Nicaragua, where he co-created the social action drama Contracorriente to provide positive role modeling for the poor, young and disenfranchised of that embattled country.

And oh by the way, he has written more than three million words on poker, just in his spare time.

Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He has taught at such institutions as Northwestern University, the American Film Institute and the Writers Program of the UCLA Extension. He is the author of a dozen books, including Creativity Rules! A Writer's Workbook, the novel Under the Gun, the Killer Poker series and, with Annie Duke, the bestselling Decide to Play Great Poker.

He sells everything but his soul through his Amazon author page,
http://tinyurl.com/jvauthorpageamazon, tweets for no apparent reason @TrueFactBarFact, and secretly rules the world from www.johnvorhaus.com.

Reviews

[Don Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular!

Picked up Toolbox in used book store - probably the 50th or 60th book on how to write I've read. Loved it. This one is even better because of the strong emphasis on being true to yourself and not on all those P.C. rules. I intend to read most, if not all, JV's books.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to have a little lie on the couch and watch some tv before I wrote this book review, but then I remembered about procrastinating later, which was just one of the excellent slogans presented in this fantastic little guide to writers. And so here we are.

The content

How To Write Good is divided into eight sections, namely: the introduction, which is entitled 'how to write good', and introduces the subject matter. It is the larges section, and does an excellent job of easing the reader into the idea of writing. 'The wonderful world of pivots' provides the basic building blocks for a storyline, and suggests some ways to come up with 'pivots'. 'What to do about writer's block' is pretty much exactly what it describes, but Vorhaus gives some very specific advice on how to get combat the greatest fear of most writers. 'The practice of practice' talks about the most important part of the practice... practising!

'Have a theme' deals with how to find your themes and how to use them. 'Indy pub' is a crash course in the new world publishing order; because vanity publishing isn't all there is to self publishing any more! Then comes the section entitled 'Nun swipes $128,000, gambles it away', which sounds weird, but it'll be fine when you get there. Finally, section eight is 'space and time', and talks about practical bits and pieces to do with writing practice.

The style

It's a snazzy little hundred pager on the kindle, so it's quick while being informative. I guess the thing is, I'm not at the stage John Vorhaus describes as his target audience. I am not just starting out my writing practice, and requiring encouragement in my early twenties. But you know what? This book really resounded with me. Firstly, it gave me a sense of encouragement to keep writing, because it's all about practice. Practice, practice, and more practice! I am not the kind of person who sticks with stuff. I gave up five or so musical instruments, never bothered with sport, and have had my oil paints on top of the shelf for three months, unused. And when I was twenty I used to say to myself, no point trying to write anything now, I'm just not life-experienced enough. What a waste of time. But it WOULDN'T have been a waste of time, because as John Vorhaus explains, practice WILL make you better. Imagine how good I'd be if I'd been writing for ten years! So much better than I am now!

So after punching this fact home, John Vorhaus then makes practical suggestions about getting it done. And they're good, solid suggestions, and what I enjoy about them the most is the style in which they are written. The whole piece is a metalogue, and it's like John Vorhaus and I are friends now, because he just sat me down and talked to me in a stream of consciousness style way about my writing habits. I mean, I realise that actually, How To Write Good would have been edited and read over and re-written and all the other things that happen to books, but this just feels like a spontaneous, impromptu chat. And it's nice, and it's fun, and it's easy to read, and I'm going to write more often, now, because of it.

I admit also that I found the section on Indy Publishing very interesting, having had exactly the same feeling about vanity publishers as John Vorhaus, but he managed to present the new wave of e publishing in a way that felt accessible and not too scary. Which, for an information-age immigrant like myself, is a big deal.

Basically, I feel encouraged to write more. So excuse me, I'm just going to change documents and get creative.

Who is this book for?

Aspiring writers, people who currently consider themselves writers. People who think they might like to be writers but don't know where to start. I write a LOT, and I liked How To Write Good not only because I would have liked it BEFORE I wrote a lot, but also because I can nod sagely while I read it and think to myself righteously, “yes, that's what I do!” so I feel like I'm on the right track.

If you want to do something with words, read it!

If you like this book, you would also like...

I rarely read non fiction or self-helpish type books so I don't know, but a lot of my friends with the same interests as me swear by Steven King's stuff on writing. I'm open to suggestions.

Also, John Vorhaus has written other books, some of them also about writing! I can't vouch for them specifically, but hey, if he wrote this one they must be worth a squiz.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dedication of How to Write Good is “to everyone who has the itch,” and its aim seems as much motivational as instructional, to get those who are writing wannabes to start, and encourage those who have tried and struggled, to try, try again. If there is an overriding theme, it is that the key to figuring out what works, not for other writers, but what works for you, is not being afraid to give an idea a try. Be whimsical. Heck, you can even try a grammatically questionable title.

Vorhaus says “in writing, there are no wrong choices,” and he’s not afraid to make what seems like a wrong choice. For example, this snippet from early in the book:

Boy, here comes a convoluted sentence – get ready for it.) I figure you figure what I figure you figure because if I were you I would be figuring the exact same thing. (Told ya. Convoluted as hell.)

Confused? I can’t blame you, yet, this sentence worked for me. Vorhaus’ books are always spiked with humor, and as the above shows, he’s not afraid of poking fun at himself. In this section he’s talking about reading the mind of the reader, specifically how they’ll react, by evaluating how you react (this is also one of the keys to success in poker, one of Vorhaus’ other areas of expertise).

After reading How to Write Well, even the worst writer in the world should be encouraged to keep plugging away. As Vorhaus says, even that worst writer who is “spewing drivel onto the page every day,” will eventually reach the point where it “will cease being drivel, or at least evolve into drivel of a finer sort.” For some of us, drivel of a finer sort is a worthy goal, at least for now.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny, informative guide for people wanting to improve their writing skills. He offers tips in a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek style that's entertaining and informative. It's a quick to the point read. I enjoyed reading it and will put his good advice to use.