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Dare to Be a Great Writer: 329 Keys to Powerful Fiction
Outlines techniques for aspiring novelists to improve writing skills through the development of scene, plot, character, conflict, relationships, perception, dialogue, and overall structure
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1988
15 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Leonard Bishop
18 books7 followersBishop was a novelist, writing teacher, and newspaper columnist. His novel "Against Heaven’s Hand" was made into the movie "Seven In Darkness" in 1969. He also wrote short stories.
He taught fiction at Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and other institutions, including Fort Riley Middle School, where he was filmed for a video series called "A Writer Teaches Writing." He spoke at writing conferences across the United States.
Bishop died in Manhattan, Kansas, in 2002. His writing and teaching career are documented in the "Leonard Bishop Collection" at Boston University.
He taught fiction at Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and other institutions, including Fort Riley Middle School, where he was filmed for a video series called "A Writer Teaches Writing." He spoke at writing conferences across the United States.
Bishop died in Manhattan, Kansas, in 2002. His writing and teaching career are documented in the "Leonard Bishop Collection" at Boston University.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 8, 2022
بالاخره فیلترشکنم وصل شد و میتونم کتابام رو آپدیت کنم😑
خدایی گودریدز رو چرا دیگه فیلتر کردین😑🚶🏻♀️
خدایی گودریدز رو چرا دیگه فیلتر کردین😑🚶🏻♀️
April 14, 2012
What makes this book so great is its structure: a huge index divided into categories to be dipped into as the need arises. Each entry, or chapter if you will, is a page or two. If you write fiction, I believe this book is indispensable. Search used book databases; it's out of print.
December 31, 2018
یه کتاب آموزشی خیلی خوب راجع به داستان نویسی. مولف با ذکر صدها نکته در مورد داستان نویسی، در مورد هر نکته هم مثالهای غلط میزند که غلط رایج برای مبتدیان محسوب میشود و هم مثالهای درست میزند که از آن نکته چگونه میشود استفاده کرد. یک کتاب خوب و کامل برای کسانی که دستی بر آتش در حوزه داستان نویسی دارند ولی در شروع راه هستند.
April 20, 2010
This book is an indispensable joy. Hilarious, at times, and easy to work with. Bite-sized lessons mean one can go anywhere with the material; work a little or a lot on each subject, most of which are less than a page.
Yes, they are snippets because they are apparently taken from his lesson plans.
Bishop is good. Real good.
:)
Yes, they are snippets because they are apparently taken from his lesson plans.
Bishop is good. Real good.
:)
November 5, 2016
Part of my ongoing project to read Wordsmithing books. This one had some helpful things, but the advice was uneven.
March 2, 2012
This truly is one of the great books for learning to be a writer. The author provides hundreds of tips that can be read in any order. It is a good book to have around, to reach over and taste. Maybe what you get will help you at that moment. Maybe it will help you later. If you keep going back and tasting from this book it will contribute to your growth and sustenance as a writer.
December 31, 2009
I think this book is excellent for a burgeoning writer. It helps encourage you to find the creativity within yourself and to keep going when the writing gets tough. His suggestions are very good at helping overcome writer's block. Especially on the return-to-the-basics of a fairytale when you are writing in a genre.
January 5, 2013
If you are a writer or want to be a writer, you need this! I met the author and his writing is a direct as he was as a man. Leonard Bishop writes short bursts of techniques to use to make your writing memorable.
April 18, 2016
Hopelessly outdated, but still of value.
August 20, 2021
شدیدا مفید. حداقل ۵۰ مورد از درسهایش را به خاطر سپردم تا پیاده کنم.
January 17, 2019
This book had a lot of information I've already heard but there were so many new ideas provided that I felt it was worth the read!
October 6, 2019
Short essays, easy to find topics with a useful index. Good examples. What to do. What not to do. What to watch for. Excellent for fiction writers, editors, publishers, students.
September 7, 2020
Instagram Review: http://www.instagram.com/p/CE0gfiige11/
I read Bishop's Dare to Be a Great Writer during my early writing endeavors, when every tiny facet of this creative beast caused me the greatest anxiety. It was at this stage, I think, that Bishop's book would have been the most insightful-seeming, and offered me the most direction. Because what's unique about this book is the layout -- Bishop offers 329 chunks of writing advice about varying, unrelated topics, without grouping any of them by subject or theme or any discernible categorization. You could read this book backward, and you would get exactly the same thing from it as if you were to read it forwards.
When I first started out, one of my greatest anxieties was wondering where I would get my ideas. I kept my ideas in notebooks, ideas for both for form and content, for short stories and novels. I learned as I went on that ideas come fast and often and keeping documents of them is largely unnecessary. (What we really need is a test for knowing which of them are worthy). But when I read Dare to Be a Great Writer, I still worried about future sources of inspiration.
If you, like me, collect ideas, you will love this book as much as I did. Bishop fills this book with different genres, forms, and styles for novels, different archetypal characters, rhetorical approaches, and things you'll never expect to inspire you to want to write a story or book. I filled an entire notebook with story ideas while reading Bishop's text.
At the same time, this book provides a great early look for writers at writing pitfalls. I say, "early look," because I think this kind of content is best delivered within a framework. Inspiration doesn't need organization to sink in, but correcting bad writing habits does!
Bishop's Dare to Be a Great Writer is a basic fiction text that stands out from its peers because of its form and organization. If you struggle with getting ideas or inspiration, you might try this book to give you some unusual ways to get back to the keyboard. Altogether, this is a useful text for beginning and intermediate fiction writers and any writer more successful gathering wool between their ears than inspiration or ideas.
Be safe out there fellow creatives, remember your masks and your hands. Stay bookish, stay resilient!
I read Bishop's Dare to Be a Great Writer during my early writing endeavors, when every tiny facet of this creative beast caused me the greatest anxiety. It was at this stage, I think, that Bishop's book would have been the most insightful-seeming, and offered me the most direction. Because what's unique about this book is the layout -- Bishop offers 329 chunks of writing advice about varying, unrelated topics, without grouping any of them by subject or theme or any discernible categorization. You could read this book backward, and you would get exactly the same thing from it as if you were to read it forwards.
When I first started out, one of my greatest anxieties was wondering where I would get my ideas. I kept my ideas in notebooks, ideas for both for form and content, for short stories and novels. I learned as I went on that ideas come fast and often and keeping documents of them is largely unnecessary. (What we really need is a test for knowing which of them are worthy). But when I read Dare to Be a Great Writer, I still worried about future sources of inspiration.
If you, like me, collect ideas, you will love this book as much as I did. Bishop fills this book with different genres, forms, and styles for novels, different archetypal characters, rhetorical approaches, and things you'll never expect to inspire you to want to write a story or book. I filled an entire notebook with story ideas while reading Bishop's text.
At the same time, this book provides a great early look for writers at writing pitfalls. I say, "early look," because I think this kind of content is best delivered within a framework. Inspiration doesn't need organization to sink in, but correcting bad writing habits does!
Bishop's Dare to Be a Great Writer is a basic fiction text that stands out from its peers because of its form and organization. If you struggle with getting ideas or inspiration, you might try this book to give you some unusual ways to get back to the keyboard. Altogether, this is a useful text for beginning and intermediate fiction writers and any writer more successful gathering wool between their ears than inspiration or ideas.
Be safe out there fellow creatives, remember your masks and your hands. Stay bookish, stay resilient!
November 21, 2011
A collection of short essays on writing drawn apparently from Bishop's writing classes. The discussions are brief and therefore shallow, there's no apparent organizational principal so it's hard to find what you're looking for. The book is pretty much useless to me. I'm going to put it back on Amazon where it came from. I may on the other hand look for one of Bishop's novels. His personal story, which may be the most relevant contribution of this book, appeals.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews