The Playful Way to Serious Writing: An Anything-Can-Happen Workbook to Inspire and Delight

by Roberta Allen

Drawing on extensive experience in teaching creative writing and a lifetime of free artistic expression, Roberta Allen, novelist, short story writer, and author of "Fast Fiction, " has created a unique book of writing exercises packed with hundreds of verbal directives and visual cues.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

209 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2002

Reviews

[Fawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book with very large print, in cursive writing, and not than many words per page. I found it enjoyable to read and loved the he authors lecture on “energy.” This would be a great one to read for anyone starting to get their head on the game for writing.

[Emmaline MacBeath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a writing exercise book for right brained people. There are no formulas. Instead there are photographs, questions, list ideas, and story starters. There are no lengthy explanations. Each page has a different writing exercise. For those of us who write well in response to random ideas, this is a great book. It is simple. It is a place to start. If you have been writing for a long time, I would not necessarily recommend this book unless you are looking for a jump start for new ideas.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These prompt books by self-styled whimsical artistic types are starting to run together. Already. I haven't actually read that many. Also, this one just reads as screaming WHITE PRIVILEDGE to me in a weird way - I think because there are so many photos and all of them are of white people doing white things.

I do like the timed approach, that works for my planning process, and there are a few intriguing exercises in here.

Overall it's pretty blah, however. I'm not really excited about this book.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another library read that I picked up at random looking for writing books in December 2010. Probably a solid three stars if I'm rating it because it's composed of short prompts and it's the size of a coffee table book. You could easily flip through it and read the prompts as well as see the pictures within. It's not so much a "how-to" writing book as it is more of a creative musings book. Some of the exercises are fun and worth coming back to if you're freewriting.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it, great writing exercises to get creativity flowing.

[Amy]

This book has great writing exercises!