Writing from Start to Finish: A Six-Step Guide

by Kate Grenville

Ideal for writing a short story, essay, review, or report, this guide provides beginning writers with the hands-on direction they need to improve their writing techniques and ability. Using a six-step approach to writing, this resource covers brainstorming ideas, choosing a topic, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing. The tone is casual, the advice is straightforward, and the whole approach makes writing a skill that anyone can learn. Illustrations reinforce the ideas visually and help to break up the text into bite-sized chunks. An example section with worked examples of two kinds of writing—a creative writing piece and an essay—takes readers through the six steps, so they can watch writing develop from a blank page to a finished piece. Ideal for high school students but also appropriate for writers of all ages, this book also includes tips on user-friendly grammar, a table of different types of text, and a quick night-before-the-exam summary.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published eight books of fiction and four books about the writing process. Her best-known works are the international best-seller The Secret River, The Idea of Perfection, The Lieutenant and Lilian's Story (details about all Kate Grenville's books are elsewhere on this site). Her novels have won many awards both in Australia and the UK, several have been made into major feature films, and all have been translated into European and Asian languages.

Reviews

[Gearóid O'Connor]

A good introduction to the writing craft.
Perhaps a bit basic for someone who wants to write full time. That said it does give a good initial guide for writing a novel and is full of useful tips for those starting out.

[Vonti Viorentika]

recommended

[T.A.]

A useful book, with some good ideas.

[Aditya Ahirwar]

For people who wants to know the complete ‘HOW’ to write. Note that this book is targeted for a complete beginner.

[Anne Marshall]

Didn't finish

[Briony]

Love the layout and style of this book. It is very easy to read and can be clearly understood.