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101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters: Conventional Writing Wisdom, and Then Some
The writing world is full of tips and wisdom. Some are worth repeating, while others remain obscure yet illuminating. Sometimes these are clarified through applying a fresh lens to the core meaning. All of these contexts have been applied to the 101 slightly unpredictable tips offered here. More than a few of them, when fully absorbed and integrated, might just become an Epiphany that will alter the course of your writing career.Larry Brooks is the USA Today author of six critically-acclaimed novels, as well as two bestselling writing craft books - Story Engineering, and Story Physics. He is the creator of the popular fiction writing craft site, www.storyfix.com. In addition to these endeavors, he teaches at writing workshops and offer story coaching services to writers seeking to take their work to the next level.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
134 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
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41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 11, 2018
Unsure what to rate this - the content is very good. Most of the ideas aren't completely revolutionary, but they ARE useful and realistic to actually writing books that sell. The tips cover a wide range of topics, from what writing "rules" are ok to break and what ones aren't, to the importance of agents, to how to break out of writers' block (and what causes it). I found the ones about what to experiment with if you feel blocked especially helpful.
The text itself, though...the typos and half-completed sentences are so common that I almost wonder if somehow the ebook I got on Amazon was a rough working draft that was accidentally published as a final product! I'm talking really bad typos, words that mean the opposite thing (saying "should" when he clearly meant "shouldn't", etc), and explanations that just...drop, mid-sentence. (Example: "If what they remember causes them to act, then you have a shot at making the memory a viable plot point. The best course is to" That's it. It ends right there. What's the best course? We'll never know!) In fact, in the 70s, there are several tip headlines in a row and then another one a few after that that are ONLY headlines, and never expanded upon. I thought this was weird but on-purpose at first, but then the rest of the book long (and all the book before that), all tip headlines had at least a short paragraph expanding on or explaining them, which almost makes me wonder if they're genuinely just unfinished!
My advice: Unfinished and rough, but still useful, and a pretty fast read. Don't buy it, borrow it through KU if you have a KU subscription and it's still enrolled when you're reading this. That way the author still gets money, but you aren't out money on an unfinished product.
The text itself, though...the typos and half-completed sentences are so common that I almost wonder if somehow the ebook I got on Amazon was a rough working draft that was accidentally published as a final product! I'm talking really bad typos, words that mean the opposite thing (saying "should" when he clearly meant "shouldn't", etc), and explanations that just...drop, mid-sentence. (Example: "If what they remember causes them to act, then you have a shot at making the memory a viable plot point. The best course is to" That's it. It ends right there. What's the best course? We'll never know!) In fact, in the 70s, there are several tip headlines in a row and then another one a few after that that are ONLY headlines, and never expanded upon. I thought this was weird but on-purpose at first, but then the rest of the book long (and all the book before that), all tip headlines had at least a short paragraph expanding on or explaining them, which almost makes me wonder if they're genuinely just unfinished!
My advice: Unfinished and rough, but still useful, and a pretty fast read. Don't buy it, borrow it through KU if you have a KU subscription and it's still enrolled when you're reading this. That way the author still gets money, but you aren't out money on an unfinished product.
June 26, 2016
This was a really interesting book that unfortunately was party ruined for me because of poor proofreading, which resulted in lots and Lots of unfinished sentences and typos that looked like autocorrects. Honestly I expected a little more from a book by an expert in writing. It still earns a 4 for the content, it's educative and inspiring and I feel sure the author knows what he's talking about.
February 14, 2017
There's some decent tips, but the eBook has dozens of typos. Virtually every page has at least one error on it.
February 25, 2013
I subscribed to Larry Brooks’ website feed (www.storyfix.com) and he sent me this ebook as a reward. Marketing 101, people. I will admit that I had forgotten I had it until I was looking around goodreads and saw a lot of other ebooks are on there too.
I like Larry’s voice; I can understand him easily. He uses movies as frequent examples and that really works for me. I have often done the same to explain story arcs and character development to others.
Larry is big on story planning. I used to write more organically but it took me some time to get that I had more of a plan than I realized. Even if it was something as simple as they all lived happily ever after and who that couple was. That was a plan. And if you write towards that ending, you may finish your story more quickly because you can see where it is going.
He has some great advice in here. A lot of it sounds like common sense, but sometimes you need to see that written out for you, too.
I like Larry’s voice; I can understand him easily. He uses movies as frequent examples and that really works for me. I have often done the same to explain story arcs and character development to others.
Larry is big on story planning. I used to write more organically but it took me some time to get that I had more of a plan than I realized. Even if it was something as simple as they all lived happily ever after and who that couple was. That was a plan. And if you write towards that ending, you may finish your story more quickly because you can see where it is going.
He has some great advice in here. A lot of it sounds like common sense, but sometimes you need to see that written out for you, too.
January 14, 2012
Usually I'm not too impressed with these "best-of" tip e-books authors put out, because usually they're generic rehashes of stuff most of us already know. But, in this fast read, Larry offers 101 genuinely useful and, often, very original tips. The tips are short, easy to digest, and often just plain fun. Definitely recommend it as a side dish to your standard writing-book fare.
May 4, 2018
Excellent Start To Writing!
I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and appreciation for the skill of writing. It is the application of what is described here that brings balance between reading good works and actually writing them.
I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and appreciation for the skill of writing. It is the application of what is described here that brings balance between reading good works and actually writing them.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews