Fiction First Aid: Instant Remedies for Novels, Stories, and Scripts

by Raymond Obstfeld

Every writer struggles with spots that "just aren't working" in their manuscript. No other book on the market approaches works like Fiction First Aid does, which quickly shows how seemingly fatal errors can become both manageable and fixable. Novice and more experienced writers alike will appreciate the book's techniques for identifying and revising weaknesses in their work. Fiction First Aid shows how to repair those wounded manuscripts through easy-to-follow steps, patterned after those found in your typical first-aid 1) Diagnose the problem; 2) Suggest specific remedies; 3) Prescribe therapies to avoid the problem in the future; It couldn't be any easier!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

290 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

aka Laramie Dunaway, Jason Frost, Carl Stevens

Raymond Obstfeld is a writer of poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and screenplays as well as a professor of English at Orange Coast College. He lives in California.

Obstfeld has authored or co-authored nearly 50 books. Since 2007, he has been co-author to eight books with NBA basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Obstfeld has twice been nominated for the NAACP Image Award, having won once. He has also been nominated for an Edgar A. Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Dead Heat.Early in his writing career, Obstfeld wrote under several pseudonyms (Pike Bishop, Carl Stevens, Jason Frost) because he wrote different genres. After writing over a dozen thrillers, Westerns, and occult novels, he decided to return to mainstream literary fiction that he had written in graduate school. Because he’d already achieved some fame as a mystery writer, he decided to write his new novel under the name Laramie Dunaway. The novel, Hungry Women, was written from the points of view of four women friends. It was published by Warner Books without anyone at the publishing house knowing Obstfeld was a man. The novel went on to great success, being published internationally. Laramie Dunaway published two more novels before informing Warner of his gender. The publisher decided to publish Obstfeld’s next novel, Earth Angel, under his real name.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick review for a fantastic read. "Fiction First Aid" breaks down a lot of problems that can arise from writing narratives. I didn't always agree with some of the advice given, but I really liked how Raymond Obstfeld breaks down some of the common problems that can arise in writing narratives, why these problems arise, and how to address them to make the aspects of the work stronger. I ended up taking a lot of notes from this book to make me think about some of the common criticisms that I see from reflections about my own writing, and I think other writers will be able to say "Hey, that's why I keep getting this kind of feedback on this particular aspect! Now I can fix it." He addresses plot, theme, characterization, the writing life, among other useful tidbits. Definitely well worth adding to a writing library, if for just the direct address of a lot of pertinent details and problems that arise for a writer. I think this is the kind of work that would really help beginning writers, but any writer of any skill level can pick this up and be able to take something from it.

Overall score: 4/5 stars

[Seamus · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few tips in this book that are worth reading. The author clearly knows his stuff. Yet his inability to tell the difference between personal pet peeves and more general rules of good writer's craft is persistent. The beginning writer should be cautious with this book.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction First Aid is a how-to book on writing with lots of examples and some interesting suggestions for fixing the various problems that crop up when writing & revising.

While I don't necessarily agree with everything Obstfeld says, he does have a unique way of presenting his ideas: he organizes each chapter by categories like Plot, Theme, Setting, Style, Characterization, then gives "symptoms" of a certain ailment (like shallow characterization), a "diagnosis" for figuring out what's wrong, and offers "treatment" which is supposed to help you overcome that particular problem. It's an interesting approach, and he does have some pretty good advice.

Worth reading for aspiring writerly types.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable handbook for diagnosing common issues with writing. Ranging from the pragmatic to the more structural aspects of narrative creation, the author does a great job of describing "symptoms" as well as possible remedies.

As with virtually every other book on writing I've ever read I don't agree with all of it; just enough to make myself a better writer through practice of the craft.

I'd recommend this book to experienced writers, rather than those just starting out or "kicking the tires" as some of the concepts and topics may be difficult to truly grasp until you've run into the challenge yourself.

[T.M. Carper · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that helps point out common flaws in writing and how to fix them as well as how to keep a book going and entertaining. Easy to read and understand because of the format.