Your Creative Writing Masterclass: featuring Austen, Chekhov, Dickens, Hemingway, Nabokov, Vonnegut, and more than 100 Contemporary and Classic Authors

by Jürgen Wolff

If you dream of being a writer, why not learn from the best? In Your Creative Writing Masterclass you'll find ideas, techniques and encouragement from the most admired and respected contemporary and classic authors, including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Anton Chekhov. Jurgen Wolff, bestselling author of Your Writing Coach, helps you translate these insights into action to master your craft and write what only you can write. From Robert Louis Stevenson to Mary Shelley, Alice Munro to Stephen King, Your Creative Writing Masterclass guide you through: finding your style, constructing powerful plots, generating story ideas, overcoming writer's block, creating vivid characters and crafting your ideal writer's life. Brimming with support and suggested activities to develop your writing skills, the book also features unique bonus advice, exercises, resources and sharing capabilities via the website www.YourCreativeWritingMasterclass.com.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Books About Books

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jurgen Wolff is a writer and creativity and writing coach who divides his time between London and Southern California. He has taught at the University of Southern California, the Academy for Chief Executives, the University of Barcelona, the Pilots Project, and workshops around the world.
He has written nine books including “Your Creative Writing Masterclass” (Nicholas Brealey Publishing), “Creativity Now!” (Pearson), “Marketing for Entrepreneurs” (Pearson), “Focus: the power of targeted thinking” (Pearson), “Your Writing Coach” (Nicholas Brealey), “Do Something Different” (Virgin – foreword by Sir Richard Branson).
He has written more than 100 episodes of television, the feature film “The Real Howard Spitz” starring Kelsey Grammer, the miniseries “Midnight Man” starring Rob Lowe, two TV movies starring the Olsen Twins, been a script doctor on feature films starring Eddie Murphy, Walter Matthau, Michael Caine and others. He created the animated series, “Norman Normal” (56 episodes) and co-created the series “Lukas” (39 episodes). He teaches screenwriting at the Raindance Film Festivals and in workshops around the world.
He is a NeuroLinguistic Programming practitioner, a certified hypnotherapist, and has studied improvisation with The Groundlings in Los Angeles and Keith Johnstone in London.
He is currently writing “Reptile Nations,” a novel for Young Adults.
His other sites include:
www.yourwritingcoach.com (which includes bonuses to the book);
www.creativitynowonline.com (which includes bonus materials for the “Creativity Now” book);
www.focusquick.com (with bonus material for the “Focus” book);
www.timetowrite.com;
His writing blog is at www.timetowrite.blogs.com, where he posts most days with writing news and tips.
- See more at: http://jurgenwolff.com/about/#sthash....

Reviews

[Dmitry Berkut · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friendly and practical guide for beginners — and really, for any writer at any stage. Wolff gathers advice from great authors, from Chekhov to Orwell, compiles it, and neatly adapts it to modern writing challenges. The book is more about motivation and inspiration than a thorough technical manual: it's about believing in yourself, overcoming fears, and building a consistent writing practice. Light in tone, full of vivid examples, and refreshingly free of tediousness — good for reading once through and occasionally flipping through when you're bored.

[Anastasiia Mozghova]

для тех, кто пишет и хочет писать дальше всерьёз и надолго. понравилась! без восторга и трепета, но с большим количеством историй, примеров и советов.

[Rachel May May · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thought-provoking quotes from many great writers and useful, practical advice from the author, Your Creative Writing Masterclass will help writers decide whether they really want to write and why.

[Fredegar Bolger · Rating 5 out of 5]

High Value

What I was looking for was some good writing advice, what I got was some GREAT writing advice. Who better to get advice from than writers’ who know how to write, and here Jürgen Wolff has compiled quotes from many exceptional writers, together with his own anecdotes and advice.

I shower this book with praise and recommend it wholeheartedly to all fellow writers out there.

Obvious 5 stars. A great investment of my time.

Following as some of my favourite quotes:

Jürgen on Show, don’t tell:

I attached quite a few parentheticals, like (angrily), to the dialogue so that he could easily imagine what I had in mind. On the first day of the cast’s read-through, Kim Cattrall used a big black marker to strike all of these out. Someone asked what she was doing. Glaring at me, she said, “Crossing out all the places where the writer told me how to act!”

And Umberto Eco’s prose rule 34:

Do not indulge in archaic forms, apax legomena and other unused lexemes, nor in deep rizomatic structures which, however appealing to you as epiphanies of the grammatological differance (sic), inviting to a deconstructive tangent—but, even worse it would be if they appeared to be debatable under the scrutiny of anyone who would read them with ecdotic acridity—would go beyond the recipient’s cognitive competencies.

And this, which thrust Name of the Wind into the mind:

Some writers forget that the purpose of style is to enhance the experience for the reader, not to call attention to the cleverness of the author.

And Chekhov’s distaste for critics (including the inner-critic):

Critics are like horse-flies which hinder the horses in their plowing of the soil. The muscles of the horse are as taut as fiddle-strings, and suddenly a horse-fly alights on its croup, buzzing and stinging. The horse’s skin quivers, it waves its tail. What is the fly buzzing about? It probably doesn’t know itself. It simply has a restless nature and wants to make itself felt—“I’m alive, too, you know!” it seems to say. “Look, I know how to buzz, there’s nothing I can’t buzz about!”

[Avel Deleon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summary says it all.

If you dream of being a writer, why not learn from the best? In Your Creative Writing Masterclass, you'll find ideas, techniques and encouragement from the most admired and respected contemporary and classic authors, including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Anton Chekhov. Jurgen Wolff, the bestselling author of Your Writing Coach, helps you translate these insights into action to master your craft and write what only you can write. From Robert Louis Stevenson to Mary Shelley, Alice Munro to Stephen King, Your Creative Writing Masterclass guide you through finding your style, constructing powerful plots, generating story ideas, overcoming writer's block, creating vivid characters and crafting your ideal writer's life. Brimming with support and suggested activities to develop your writing skills, Your Creative Writing Masterclass could be just what you need.

I intend to write short stories, screenplays, and fiction novels.
I have an inherent love for philosophy, logic and broadly speaking the hard sciences, so maybe included a few books how these relate to each other.

[Egor Mikhaylov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Не мастер-класс, конечно, а подборка — местами весьма остроумная — из высказываний авторов разной степени величины о различных аспектах писательского мастерства, от построения структуры текста до взаимоотношений с критиками. Увлекательность высокая, полезность неопределённая. Воды не слишком много, присутствуют ленивые попытки анализа великих текстов; текст приправлен ненужными, но милыми краткими характеристиками обсуждаемых авторов в до отвратительности притягательном жанре "А знаете ли вы, что..."

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of great inspirational nuggets and practical advice with quotes and examples from the masters.

[二六 侯 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Trollope利用每天到郵局上班前的時間寫作。
內容實際；對於進退維谷的作者而言，本書不啻為治療方式。

[Rabbitinthehole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say this is an inspiring book rather than a guide book. Whenever I feel disappointed about my writings I go to this book and find a passage or two about how great writers suffer from writing blocks, I am cured by their life experience. I don't feel lonely anymore. Writing is a very lonely journey and you can hardly walk alone. This is a good companion. There are sections about writing elements and writing exercises but I these are not my favorite parts of the book.

[Xueyi Zhou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like an album of the top literature hits mixed with some exercises and then you can call it a guide

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Хороший источник вдохновения для человека, который хочет связать жизнь с рассказом историй)
Лёгкая, интересная и реалистичная.

[Shanna Daniella Tiffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book to read when you start your writing journey. You get to learn about previous and current well known writers, their methods, thought process and how the achieved what they did.

[Khadijah Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for beginners or those coming back after a break. I particularly enjoyed reading about the different habits and perspectives of writers I look up to and respect. Not a lot of advice from the actual author, but it had more than enough quotes and advice from other writers.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into this book, but I'm glad I read it because there's plenty of things in here that will be useful for years to come.
The great thing about this book is that it deals with pretty much every aspect of writing. Not just the writing itself, but also how to deal with criticism, tips that might improve your daily routine, and even more. The book consists mostly of quotes from famous authors, and Wolff isn't exactly picky - he has done a surprisingly good job of getting quotes from writers on all sides of the spectrum, from Mark Twain to J.K. Rowling to W.H. Auden.
When it's about writing and characters, the book doesn't bring much new things to the table and sometimes, due to the nature of all the quotes, can even be a bit indecisive, hence the four stars instead of five. But when it's not about the writing itself, there are plenty of good things in there and plenty that made me think.
I was in a writing slump when I started reading this book, and now I'm out of it. Probably because my story moved on and got to a juicy bit, namely the ending, but I think this book also got me to get my act together and stop judging my writing for now. So it's definitely succeeded its purpose.
This was a very informative and mildly entertaining book and I will certainly open it a few more times over the years.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Your Creative Writing Masterclass, Wolff successfully combines quotes, flash biographies, his own insight and advice together to create an enjoyable and informative piece on writing. What stands out is the huge variation in opinion and technique across 'classic' authors. Wolff appears to effortlessly summarise these differences and direct accordingly.

Wolff bridges the gap between step-by-step writing guides and more general 'on writing' pieces. The lessons learned from this book are quite subtle and while I don't think anyone would walk about from reading it with a bag of techniques, but will feel a surge of confidence from listening to the masters.

My only criticism is the 'action' sections at the end of each chapter - I tended to skip over these and found them mostly pointless, luckily they came a paragraph a piece and were so easy to ignore they did not detract from the book.

[Dmytro Shyian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Замечательное пособие как для пишущего, так и раздумывающего о том, чтобы только написать первую строчку. Множество взглядов, советов и мнений от признанных мастеров слова, которые помогут вам обрести уверенность в своих силах и облегчат вступление в дебри литературного процесса.
В целом, это достаточно честный разговор о писательском ремесле, позволяющий каждому решить для себя: стоит ли входить в эту реку. И пусть отчаянных это всё равно не остановит, но каждого сомневающегося вразумит.
В конечном счете, вы ничего не теряете, как справедливо отмечает Юрген Вольф:
"Пора писать собственную книгу, сценарий, пьесу, рассказы.
Возможно, в будущем эта книга прославит вас как мастера литературы. Или же ее прочитает только ваша мама.
Ясно одно: если вы ее вообще не напишете, вы так и не узнаете, что случится."

[Carina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brings together everything all shorter books on Writing focuses on, with its quotes from impressive authors of success in the past and present and tips and ideas on how to create your character and narrative, the book is the crème de la crème of books on writing! It takes some time to finish which I think is a plus from a book on writing, in my opinion I want something that delves into the advice extensively rather than skim them over. Recommended!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jurgen Wolff delivers excellent advice for writers of short stories, fiction, and screenplays.

As a creative writing teacher, I would use Your Creative Writing Masterclass along with Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing.

You won't find a better pairing.

I'm going to buy the Jurgen Wolff book because it's the most useful I've read in a long time on the art and craft of writing.

Buy The Art of Dramatic Writing too while you're at it.

[Nazire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for someone who has been writing for a while and needs a highlight of common issues regarding writing. It's also great to hear what the masters have said concerning many aspects of writing. It is however not for beginners. This would make a horrible first "how to write" first book. Definitely not a masterclass. There isn't much substance, context, and instruction. It's a good addition to any aspiring writer's library. Not a good start though.

[Shaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book very insightful, and the many ways to go about writing a novel listed by the author quite helpful. I really enjoyed the advice from many authors, such as Dickens and Poe, that was scattered throughout the book.

[Blue Caeruleus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find that reading this has provided me with some sound advice and much needed ecouragement. I was iffy about it at first but now I'm quite glad that I bought it.

[Daniel Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of writing advice, quotes, exercises and tips doesn't get much better. A textbook that I enjoyed reading. This does everything right by me.

[Brett Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book full of ye-olde wisdom.

[Headley Mist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing for dummies, however ambguous might it sound.

[Anthony Renteria · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

[Anthony Stephenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great collection of the thoughts of many great names in literature, regarding common topics relating to writing from, how to plan a story to how to handle life as a writer. It is a relaxing read offering many opposing view points from many established authors without delving into conceptual theory. The book is perfect for those new to writing wishing to discover the basics or more seasoned writers looking for inspiration.