`I am sure this slim volume will constitute an invaluable aide to anyone seeking to set out on our stony path' - Frederick Forsyth CBE, author of 'The Day of the Jackal' and many other international bestsellers.
`Writing Fiction is a little pot of gold... Screenplay by Syd Field for film, Writing Fiction by James Essinger for fiction. It's that simple.' William Osborne, novelist and screenwriter
'Writing Fiction - a user-friendly guide' is a must-read if you want to write stories to a professional standard. It draws on the author's more than thirty years of experience as a professional writer, and on the work and ideas of writers including: * Anthony Burgess * Joseph Conrad * George Eliot * Ken Follett * Frederick Forsyth * Dan Harmon * Ernest Hemingway * David Lodge * Norman Mailer * John Milton * Ben Parker * J.K. Rowling * William Shakespeare * Martin Cruz Smith * J.R.R. Tolkien The twenty-four chapters cover every important matter you need to know about, including: devising a compelling story, creating and developing characters, plotting, `plants', backstory, suspense, dialogue, `show' and `tell', and how to make your novel more real than reality. Also featuring special guest advice from legendary screenwriter Bob Gale, who wrote the three immortal `Back to the Future' movies (1985, 1989 and 1990), and novelist and screenwriter William Osborne, whose many screen credits include the co-writing of the blockbuster `Twins' (1988), this highly entertaining book gives you all the advice and practical guidance you need to make your dream of becoming a published fiction writer come true.
Hi! My name is James Essinger and I'm a writer of fiction and non-fiction.
In my fiction I have a particular interest in personal relationships, travel, history, information technology and chess.
In my non-fiction I have a particular interest in the history of computing, and in language.
I was born in Leicester in the English Midlands in 1957 and I attended Overdale Junior School in Leicester and also Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys. After a year between school and university, I studied English Language and Literature at Lincoln College, which is part of the University of Oxford.
After leaving university I taught English in Finland for three nine-month sessions. I learnt Finnish, and I still speak Finnish fairly fluently. I also speak German and French.
My interests, aside from writing, include: my friends, movies, travel, chess and history.
Check Out The full Review On My Blog : https://bibliomedico.wordpress.com/20... ******************************* Thanks To Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources For Allowing Me To Be Part Of This Book Blitz and read this book . ******************************** When I read the blurb , I was really intrigued , As a person who love writing , I’m always looking to improve myself , learn new techniques and know more about the writing process of different authors .
James Essinger gives us valuable Information and Advice in this book , explain different and important topics in the writing field , guide aspiring authors and show writers how to make their words more gripping and Interesting .
I have some reservations regarding the writing style , as It took me long time to read this book and I usually finish my books in one or maximum two days .I just couldn’t focus on the words , easily got distracted .
But All in all , This is a really Simple yet valuable Book To read , If you want to improve yourself and have excellent writing advice from a professional Author .
There’s a lot of very useful information for the aspiring novelist in this guide. A literary agent and experienced author of both fiction and non-fiction, Essinger knows his craft and presents some excellent advice here, breaking down and explaining terms often presented to aspiring authors, such as ‘show don’t tell’, how to make your story into a page-turner and how to make your characters both realistic and sympathetic.
There were spots where I thought Essinger dumbed down the explanation a little too much, such as when talking about ‘plants’, he doesn’t mention Chekov’s Gun, the dramatic principle that every element in a story must contribute to the whole. There were one or two oddities as well, such as using a specific book he admitted he hadn’t actually read to illustrate a concept, which I thought strange. And the fact that he doesn’t mention self-publishing as an option AT ALL struck me as deeply biased and frankly, snobbish. There are thousands of writers self-publishing books which mainstream publishers turned their noses up and doing a great job of it.
As a romance author, there were things Essinger says which directly contravene ‘conventional wisdom’ in my genre, such as never using first-person alternating to tell a story, something which is very common in romance as the reader likes to know the emotions of both main protagonists wherever possible. The examples Essinger uses are mainly from the literary fiction, suspense, and crime genres, though he also uses popular films such as Back to the Future and Titanic to illustrate his explanations. Much of the content here can be applied to any genre, particularly the appendices where he covers some really obvious mistakes novice writers often make. I think if you’re an aspiring romance author I’d point you to Writing the Romance Novel: Crafting a Love Story that Sells by Leigh Michaels rather than this, because romance has some very specific rules that aren’t covered here.
For anyone aspiring to write any other genre of fiction, there’s a lot of very sensible, professional advice here, even if the author is heavily biased towards the trad publishing model. Overall, I’ll give this four stars.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book via Rachel’s Random Resources.
This book poses some of the familiar questions that storytellers will have no doubt pondered since the first stories were told around campfires - what is fiction? What makes a hero? The book also deals with writing in first person, third person or omniscient narrator and discusses the pros and cons of each. What it doesn't do is set exercises for the writer to practise, so if that's what you're looking for then this isn't the handbook for you. It would, however, be a useful tool for anyone wanting to analyse the art of writing fiction, whether a new writer or someone more established trying to hone their art.
When I first began writing novels, I was determined that I was not going to ‘follow the rules’. How boring it was always to have a ‘five-part structure’, always to follow the stages in ‘the hero’s journey’. However, now that I’ve grown up, I realise that there are rules. Readers expect them, and if your novel doesn’t follow them, the reader feels disappointed. We want a big climax in the middle and some kind of resolution at the end. We can’t empathise with a protagonist who’s fighting for a goal we don’t understand, and we lose interest in a hero who wins too easily. It begins with the basics—write an outline, show don’t tell, character and voice. A novel needs a hero who is grappling with stakes the reader considers significant. Two of the most important basics Essinger calls ‘golden rules’. 1. Stick to your story. Everything in your novel must be ‘pursued’; it must have something to do with the story. Any detail that’s out of the ordinary needs to be there for a reason. 2. Make your hero be an active participant in the story. Avoid authorial intrusion. Essinger explodes some old canards. For example, if you ‘only write what you know’, your novel is probably going to be as boring as real life usually is. No, you should use your imagination, but only write what you know, emotionally. ‘Tell’ is not an inferior cousin of ‘Show’; it is simply a different way of telling a story, useful in particular circumstances, for instance, to summarise events in order to move the plot along quickly. In a useful Appendix, Essinger includes specific advice on common mistakes he’s seen as a publisher. He concludes, ‘So let’s get to work.’ This how-to book is a good exposition of the basics of fiction writing, featuring illustrative examples from literature and films. It would be a useful handbook for someone who is just starting out. This book adds to a growing shelf in my office of how-to-write books, as, now I know, I need all the help I can get. I was given an ARC by the author.
The author succeeds at what he aims to do; that is write a pithy piece on succeeding at writing fiction. I appreciated many of the small tips on point of view, entering scenes late and leaving them early, and learning to submerge your own voice from narration.
Still, what I found most insightful the advice that aspiring authors need to acknowledge that fiction, like other art forms, has advanced substantially since the 19th century. Many elements of 19th century novels including the dramatic shifting of point of view in "Bleak House" or narrative that serves no meaningful purpose, such as the paragraph on the caul in the opening of "David Copperfield" simply are not tolerated by publishers or readers today. The takeaway here is in choosing writers to model off, we would be prudent to select modern authors, whose prose reaps the benefits of progress, instead of literary giants of the past.
A refreshingly straight forward handbook for anyone interested in writing, analysing fiction or puzzling over how to put the elements of any good book together in a coherent and engaging form.
The sub-title 'a user-friendly guide' is accurate and the short, pithy chapters take the reader through the building blocks of story writing including outline, length, character, dialogue, villains, suspense, show and tell, plants, editing etc: twenty-four easy to read chapters packed with helpful advice as well as three appendices covering rookie errors to avoid when submitting a manuscript, poetry and a short story penned by the author.
With examples and quotes from other writers of both novels and screenplays, this is a reference book any aspiring fiction writer may want to return to as both a thought-provoker and a helpful plumb line.
A very useful book, one I wish I'd read about fifteen years ago. That said, it has been useful reading, and I will be using a number of the procedures and development ideas in future.
This is a book with many useful points for writers. It well earns its subtitle of a User - friendly guide, as it is a readable book in its own right. It also features an index, which is a very helpful addition to a book which is likely to be well bookmarked with post it notes. Having been a member of a creative writing group for several years, I recognise the style and content of a friendly and honest teacher. Essinger is obviously a person of great experience and insight into the writing and publishing process, and honestly suggests the common mistakes that new writers often make. This is a fairly basic book, which refers to everything from grammar howlers which apparently let down otherwise interesting submissions, through to some fascinating details about sense data and other ways of conveying the characters’ activities in a novel.
Essinger makes frequent reference to a book called “How Not to Write a Novel” by Newman and Mittlemark which apparently gives many details of the mistakes to avoid in writing and submitting novels. This book is more positive; it advises what to do and why with examples from novels, stories and even screen plays. It mentions how most successful authors do not pass on how to do it, but provides the details of a few who do. He refers to several writers of screenplays who have shared hints and secrets from some famous films, as he discusses the overlap between screenplays and novels. I recommend this as a super book for anyone who has an interest in writing novels, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to read and review it.
This book covers many basic points, such as the best length for a novel and the importance of having a hero, with some sort of quest. He acknowledges that there are always exceptions to the rules such as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, but that nonetheless the principles hold good. He points out that even she had rejections both in her own name and an assumed pen name. He urges, for example, that every novel needs a professional edit before submission. Being a book published in 2019, he is writing about exactly the situation today, which is worth knowing for anyone who is trying to write today. The tricky question of dialogue is discussed, as well as the need for some suspense.
This book is quite slim, and would not replace a creative writing course. It is a reference book for anyone who wishes to write for publication, and gives many positive hints as well as the obvious pitfalls. It also helps those of us who write about books to spot the elements of good writing and good finished manuscripts, so is a worthwhile practical book to own for many people. I found it very readable, and I suspect I will return to it if only to justify my thoughts on a book. It would make a very useful book for anyone who has ever thought of writing for others, or even privately. I would have liked to see a bibliography of other writing books and resources. It manages to cover a wide range of subjects within the field of writing fiction, and is a very worthwhile book.
The title says it all; a user-friendly guide. It's concise yet the author conveys plenty of useful information for those with aspirations to write fiction.
Presented in a light, fun way, this manual is far from dry and starchy. The author's advice is littered with facts and literary examples to put across his point. Additionally, he includes his own writing experiences in a well thought out way, backing up his thoughts in a clear, relatable way.
From a personal perspective and someone who writes, I don't have any trouble writing a first draft manuscript, however, I really struggle with the editing process and how to keep everything together in an orderly manner. I'm grateful, the author offers some useful advice and points out common errors to avoid. That makes this a worthwhile tool for an amateur writer like myself.
My only criticism is the guide could be longer and more detailed in some sections to elaborate some points more for the reader. Overall, as a go-to, quick reference, this is a worthy inclusion to a writers reference library.
***review copy received courtesy of the publisher The Conrad Press via Rachel's Random Resources***
What I like about this non-fiction guide, to writing fiction is that is presented in a logical easy to use way. Beginning, with what the author considers fiction to be. Moving through a chapter by chapter guide to the fundamentals of fiction writing, with examples of why they are important, with input from industry professionals.
It covers a wide spectrum of fiction and includes interesting analogies with screenwriting. This isn’t a workbook. There are examples, but no specific exercises for new writers to judge their content by. However, as an overall guide, and a useful reference book, for fiction writers, learning, or perfecting their craft it works.
The tone of the book is motivational, and the author’s experience and knowledge of the publishing industry are evident.
I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.
While there are plenty of books about writing fiction, there was something about this book that appealed. The chapters are (mostly) very short and sweet, allowing you to dive in and out of sections should you wish to.
The advice is clear and easy-to-follow, and the text is peppered with examples from books and films, facilitating the reader’s understanding of the concepts discussed. Yes, there was a tendency to use slightly older films and books to demonstrate points, but the examples used weren’t always classics, making the analysis more intriguing.
Overall, this was a very quick and easy read, with a fluid and entertaining writing style that kept me reading. It was definitely a user-friendly guide, but I do think that it is selling itself short as a fiction writing book as both readers and other types of writers could also benefit from some of its well-made points. Recommended
This is a shorter book at just under 130 pages and I did feel inspired after I had read it!
I have wanted to be able to have a proper go at writing for quite a while, I dabble here and there and tend to mainly write stories that my young daughter will enjoy so this has really given me inspiration.
It is laid out well and I understood where the author was coming from and liked the hints and tips and as I said above it is one that has inspired me and it is one I would recommend to others too that are thinking about turning their hand to writing books instead of reading them.
This book is an invaluable resource for a writer. It incorporates the author’s advice as he reflects on his own experiences within the writing community.
The book contains 24 chapters that cover a whole host of problems and mistakes that aspiring authors make, and offers methods to rectify them.
The author references well known works of fiction and authors, as he covers many topics such as editing, devising well defined characters, plot development and how to really hone your craft as a writer. Highly recommended.
The author is obviously a very intelligent and well read person. He has a passion for words and crafting stories and a genuine talent for being able to identify what works in a book and what weighs a tale down. He shares what he knows with a multitude of classic examples, from Charles Dickens and George Eliot to 1980s popular television and movie fiction including Back To The Future. He explains about the changing acceptance of techniques in creating fiction and those details that remain constant. This book also offers am abundance of additional resources for an aspiring author.