Creative Writing For Dummies UK Edition

by Maggie Hamand

Unlock your creativity and choose the genre of writing that suits you bestDo you have an idea that you’re burning to get down on paper? Do you want to document your travels to far-flung places, or write a few stanzas of poetry? Whether you dream of being a novelist, a travel writer, a poet, a playwright or a columnist, Creative Writing For Dummies shows you how to unlock your creativity and choose the genre of writing that suits you best. Walking you through characterisation, setting, dialogue and plot, as well as giving expert insights into both fiction and non-fiction, it’s the ideal launching pad to the world of creative writing. Creative Writing For Dummies

Part Getting started        

Chapter 1: Can Everyone Write? Chapter 2:  Getting into the Write Mind Chapter 3: Finding the Material to work with    Part The Elements of Creative Writing     

Chapter 4: Creating Characters Chapter 5: Discovering Dialogue Chapter 6: Who is telling the story? Chapter 7: Creating your own world Chapter 8: Plotting your way Chapter 9: Creating a Structure Chapter 10: Rewriting and editing               Part   Different Kinds of Fiction Writing

Chapter 11: Short stories Chapter 12: Novels Chapter 13: Writing for children Chapter 14: Plays Chapter 15: Screenplays Chapter 16: Poetry Part Different kinds of Non-fiction writing                                             

Chapter 17:  Breaking into journalism - Writing articles/ magazine writing Chapter 18: Writing from life and autobiography Chapter 19: Embroidering the Narrative non-fiction Chapter 20: Exploring the world from your armchair - Travel writing Chapter 21: Blogging – the new big thing Part Finding an audience                                             

Chapter 22: Finding editors/ publishers/ agents             Chapter 23: Becoming a professional Part Part of Tens                          

Chapter 24: Ten top tips for writers       Chapter 25: Ten ways to get noticed

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, Crafts, How To, Creative

521 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2010

Reviews

[Hamad]

This review and other non-spoilery reviews can be found @The Book Prescription

🌟 This book and as the name implies is to teach you how to write! *Surprise Surprise*
This is divided into 6 parts:

1-Getting Started
2-Introducing the elements of creative writing
3-Writing Fiction
4- Exploring Non-Fiction
5-Finding an Audience
6-The Part of Tens

🌟 I don’t expect to be the next best seller after reading this book but it was definitely a good starting point and I did highlight many paragraphs and tips within the book. There are many things that I knew by my experience as a reader when you start to notice these things.

🌟 The books almost answers all questions you have from Where to sit, how to start, what to write, talks about common mistakes and even tells you if you should write using a pen or using a keyboard.

🌟 I would have preferred if the author used more recent examples in the book because most of her examples were from classics and books published in the 1900 and 1800s. Although some examples were goods and I got a few new ideas but they were not so relatable. And beware of the spoilers if you like classics and you’re reading this!

🌟🌟🌟 My WIP 🌟🌟🌟

🌟 Most of you already know that I am trying to write a short story for a start and then I have a few ideas for full novels. My current WIP is a Cinderella retelling! I wanted to read 2 books about writing before writing it but I changed my mind. I am going to start it and since writing is all about re-writing, I am going to write the first draft and then read another book to see any mistakes I did while writing it.

🌟 I have the full outline of my story and I have some of the dialogue in my mind, I will probably write it in 3rd Person POV. I will try to finish it before the end of the year since it is a short one.

🌟 I don’t have much to say about it so I will leave another update later when I have more progression!

P.S: not gonna rate this as I don't know how helpful it was till I start writing!

[Angela Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a MUST READ for any writer of fiction in any genre. I've read many books about writing and attended several courses (including an MA) but this book, because it's in this series I suppose, starts at the very beginning and misses nothing out (the things it's taken for granted that we'll know which we, I, often don't). So, for instance, it's the only book about writing in which I've found a definition of what literary fiction is (a book that delves deeply, psychologically, into its characters; a book that addresses subjects that affect the human race; a book that experiments with language) and the only book about writing that makes sensible suggestions about how to conduct the writing life, for instance, read a poem aloud to yourself each day ... which has had the effect of making me so very much more aware of how to create atmosphere, how many meanings the same words can have, the rhythm of language, the delight in what words can create ... need I go on?

[Dannii Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having done a degree in writing and then proceeding to do no writing for an entire year, I felt as rusty as an old knife in the gutter. Hence, this read! I found it motivated me without exactly offering me anything new. But it did make me write again, so kudos to you book!

[Sladjana Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISES FOR DUMMIES-MAGGIE HAMAND
✒️"no ‘typical’ writer exists. Whatever your background, age or current situation, if you have the enthusiasm and discipline, you can become a writer."
✒️"You can discover an enormous amount about writing from reading books, novels and stories of all kinds. When you read, think consciously about the way the book is written"
✒️"You write best when you write the kind of fiction you like to read. Many novelists say that they write the books they want to read – the books didn’t exist before, and so they had to create them!"
📓Sve o pisanju romana(ili pripovetke), od naslova,razvoja likova,opisa,strukture dela,preko uređivanja i izbacivanja nepotrebnih scena,pa do toga zašto treba da držite termos s kafom na radnom stolu.
📓Lekcije su pojašnjene mnoštvom primera iz klasične i savremene literature.
📓Svako poglavlje je praćeno zadacima za samostalno vežbanje.
📓Knjiga ne nudi instant rešenja,naravno da inspiracija i talenat samo od vas zavise. Što se tehničkih stvari vezanih za sam proces izgradnje romana tiče-veoma korisno delo.

#7sensesofabook #bookstagram #readingaddict #literature #knjige

[Amber Jones]

I went
through all the books on my bookshelf
and I pulled out my favorite creative
writing books so some of these are more
like memoir some of these are kind of
visuals you know more like visual
artistic creative writing books some of
them have character exercises and are
more like craft based so I have about
like eight books I think that I'm going
to show you today and let's go ahead and
just dive right in alright the first
book I want to show you today is called
still writing and it's by Danny Shapiro
so still writing is part memoir part
look into the creative process so still
a writing is a book that I like to kind
of keep on my bedside table and after a
long day of either being successful at
being creative and writing and editing
or after a particularly difficult day
when I'm not feeling like much of a
creator or a creative minded individual
I like to sit down and read this before
bed because Danny Shapiro's like outlook
on creators in general and kind of
living a creative lifestyle I find to be
extremely not only down-to-earth but
inspiring as well so this is not a book
that I would sit down and just devour in
one sitting this is a book that I have
enjoyed it taking my time with slowly
reading through it does have some advice
on craft but I'd say this is more of a
kind of look into the life of a creative
minded individual so I absolutely love
still writing alright the second
Creative Writing book I'm showing you
today is similar to the first and that
is bird by bird by Anne Lamott
now this was a book that I was
introduced to when I enter
bird college now my first year of
college I was not even an English major
I was an equine science major so my
sophomore year of college when I
switched from equine science into an
English major field I heard about this
book bird by bird and I absolutely fell
in love with it so I'd have to say that
the most memorable aspect of this book
and what it taught me was to see the
beauty in what Anne Lamott calls shitty
first drafts so when you are a new
writer or even if you're an experienced
writer and you are working on a first
draft it can be extremely frustrating
you can feel self-conscious you know
when you see the words on the page and
they're not flowing in the way that you
had hoped they would you know the words
and the story doesn't come to you quite
as easily as you thought it was going to
I know the frustration at looking back
on work that you thought was amazing and
then realizing how terrible it actually
is and the fear of writing badly used to
really hold me back I would not write in
order to avoid writing badly but then by
doing that I was never learning anything
I was never growing as a writer or as a
creative individual so after reading
this and learning that there is magic
and beauty in a shitty first draft like
that is the first step to getting
anywhere is writing that really bad
first draft this book taught me that so
if you're somebody that is struggling
with you know confidence and you need a
boost of creative confidence I would
definitely recommend bird by bird by
Anne Lamott okay now these next three
books I'm going to lump all together
because they're within the same I don't
know brand branding I guess I could say
and that is the writing and publishing
for dummies books so I have writing
fiction for dummies which was the first
writing for dummies book that I got and
then I had
of self-publishing for dummies which I
have used so many times that this book
is starting to get like smushed and
wrinkled because I have referred back to
it on so many occasions and then the
third and final book that I have by this
branding is writing young adult fiction
for dummies now all of these have been
extremely helpful not only are these
books pretty big so you get a lot in
them but they have really good advice so
they have advice from people that are in
these fields people that have experience
let me jump into let's just jump right
into writing fiction and I will kind of
read out a few of these chapters so it
has getting ready to write fiction is
part one you know questions what makes a
good story what are some basics when it
comes to telling a story how do you find
your audience how do you write a great
novel how do you manage your time
there's an entire chapter on building
your story world on creating compelling
characters so you can see that there is
just like so much really good amazing
information how to analyze characters
scrutinize your story structure how to
edit your scenes there are two chapters
on editing here so for structure and for
content and then you can go on to
getting published and that's when I
would jump into the self-publishing for
dummies now this one is awesome
it covers budgeting copywriting
marketing so many really really valuable
points and advice not only in this book
but in all of these writing for dummies
books I would highly recommend these if
you are looking for more of like a
how-to manual with a lot of good advice
and tips and tricks when it comes to
actually crafting a book versus the kind
of more personal stories and the
confidence-building side of writing I
highly recommend these I absolutely love
them okay this next book is one of my
favorites and I believe I have talked
about it before on my channel and that
is
wonderbook the illustrated guide to
creating imaginative fiction by Jeff
Vandermeer and this book is gorgeous it
has a very like fantastical steampunk
kind of vibe to it which I really enjoy
and you can absolutely use this book for
whatever genre that you might be writing
you know you don't have to be writing
steampunk or fantasy you can be writing
a horror a thriller a contemporary a
romance whatever it is that you're
writing this book can really come in
handy and I want to say that one of my
favorite things about this book is that
it has so many visuals I am a very
visual learner it's difficult for me to
just like open a craft book and just
read blocks of text I like visuals I
like illustrations I like things to be
broken up so that there's a lot of
variety and it's exciting to continue
looking at it and reading it and this
book definitely has that the way that
this book works is it gives you fun
Illustrated examples of craft and advice
for something that's a little bit out of
the box and out of the ordinary I'd say
pick up the wonder book I absolutely
love it I have to say it's probably one
of my very favorite creative writing
books okay next up going along the same
lines of like color and illustration and
bright happy fun pages is juicy pens
thirsty paper by sark and I mentioned
this on Instagram when I read it down at
the bottom it says gifting the world
with your words and stories and creating
the time and energy to actually do it so
this is a really fun book because she
actually hand writes everything and
colors everything and then they like
scan the pages and turn it into a book
so you'll see that she actually hand
writes all of this and she illustrates
it so there are so many colors when
you're flipping through here like look
at how much fun this is see and it also
has exercises for you so it'll ask you
questions and help you set goals for
yourself
what are some titles that describe you
and it's just so bright and colorful and
cheery and I absolutely adore this book
and you can absolutely sit down and read
through this in an hour or two I
actually did that and I want to say a
month ago I just sat down one night with
a cup of tea and I cuddled up in bed and
I read this whole book just because it's
such a feel-good feel-good kind of that
boost of creative freedom and creative
confidence type book and that's what I
really enjoy about it but also if you
want to take your time you can you know
fill out all of the exercises that are
included in this book like right here it
says fast list of reasons you don't feel
like writing and I and what I wrote
years ago and I got this book was I
could do something else instead my
writing isn't good enough which is
something I talked about with bird by
bird by animal a lot I wouldn't write
because I thought it wouldn't be good
and then I don't know what to say next
so this is a book that I've had for many
years I remember picking it up at Barnes
& Noble when I was there with my dad I
was like scanning through the writing
books and I saw this on the shelf it's
hard to see in this light and it was so
colorful on the Shelf I just knew that
this was a book that I wanted to pick up
so again if you are more of a visual
person like look at how beautiful that
is I absolutely love this book if you
like visuals if you're looking for
something that has a little bit of you
know advice and crafts but is also based
and rooted very deeply in boosting your
creative confidence and helping you you
know achieve creative freedom and
releasing that creator that's inside of
you I highly recommend picking up this
book you will not be disappointed by it
okay the eighth and final book I'm going
to show you today is the emotion
thesaurus a writer's guide to character
expressions and it's funny because my
sister and her fiance gave this book to
me for Christmas 2016 so two Christmases
ago and their pup their dog got into the
package and kind of chewed on it before
I was able to get ahold of it so you can
see look at all those like tooth marks
all over this book it's like scratched
up everywhere you can see that but the
emotion of the source is awesome and
this is one of those like manual craft
type books that is really helpful when
you're actually in the midst of drafting
so many of these other books might be
helpful when you're between projects or
when you need more confidence to launch
into a new writing project this is one
that I use and that you can use while
you're actually working on something so
the emotion thesaurus let's go through
it it has a whole list of emotions that
your characters can feel and then it
goes through the definition of them the
physical signs the internal sensations
that somebody might experience like
feeling these things and it's really
helpful if you're someone that has not
felt these emotions yourself but you're
trying to truthfully and realistically
write a character that is experiencing
these emotions all right so one of them
in here is guilt and personally and
unfortunately I'm somebody that has
experienced a lot of this in my life but
if you are not somebody that personally
feels guilty about a lot of things you
know you don't guilt yourself all the
time like some of us do then you might
not be extremely experienced with how
guilt affects you and how it makes you
interact with the world around me
physical signs of hurting are lowering
your gaze shifting about blushing
reacting defensively keeping it a
distance talking too much or too fast so
those are the physical signals that your
character could be exhibiting if they're
feeling guilt some of the internal
sensations upset stomach tight chest
pain in the back of the throat this is
all from guilt mental responses cues of
acute or long-term guilt so this is
something that really comes in handy
when you are in the middle of drafting
and you need you know a quick reference
to okay my character is feeling really
pressed I don't have a lot of experience
with these feelings how do I write this
character and a realistic and believable
way so then you turn to the page here
that covers you know the feelings of
depression you read about it you know
you'd be able to do your research and
then write that character with more
believability you know it would feel
like that character is actually
experiencing the true feelings of
depression rather than a surface level
because you don't truly understand it so
again the emotion thesaurus is one that
I would absolutely recommend to those of
you that are in the midst of writing
your first draft or maybe you're about
to go back through and do a second draft
and you want to bring your characters to
life this would be a great one for you
to pick up okay everybody those are my
eight favorite creative writing books at
this point I know that I will pick up
more here and there and then I'm sure
that I will share you know round 2 part
2 of my favorite creative writing books
at a later day when he add more of those
to my shelf I truly hope that you
enjoyed this video again I do have to
say that my favorites like if I had to
pick just a few out of the 8 I showed
you today I would say wonder book is
absolutely one of my favorites probably
juicy pens thirsty paper and then also
one of the like writing fiction or
writing young adult fiction for dummies
those would probably be my very
favorites because I like a mixture of
you know memoir style that gives you
more creative confidence mixed in with
something that is like tried and true
facts and tips and tricks when it
actually comes to the craft of writing a
novel and being a creative individual so
please let me know down below if you
have tried out any of these books and
let me know which one is your favorite
and if your favorite is not on this list
again please let me know in the comments
below so that I can check it out and
hopefully add it to my bookshelf thank you guys.

[Anna]

We

[Benita Sulaiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good for beginners! The book covers wide range of topics related to creative writing such as poetry, novella, novel, screenplay, biography, non-fiction, journal, etc. but because of being general, it doesn't explain each topic in depth. It contains tons of references which would be helpful to improve your writing.

My most favorite part of this book is that it keeps encouraging writers who are insecure and completely clueless in facing writing problems. The writer shares practical tips she formulated from her and her fellow writers' experiences. This encouraged me a lot to start my writing!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt extremely repetitive and maybe a little outdated, but I did find some useful tips as I perused it. I am not a regular writer, but the mood occasionally strikes, and I think I will likely find myself employing a few of the things I learned while I was trying to kill slow time at work.

[Jay Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction into the world of creative writing.

[Roman Santistevan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was helpful.

[Laura L Caulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative.

[Madalina Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that gives you tips about the fundamentals of creative writing! 💖
I highly recommend it for any aspiring writer! 👍

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review coming soon

[DominaExArcana]

What is the difference between the first edition and the second?

[Jas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful book with concise information. Offers beneficial advice.

[Mary Foxe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed for information I was interested in. Solid book.

[Robert Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very comprehensive and relevant book with both width and depth. Subjects include: how to get started with your writing, the elements of Creative Writing (character, plot, narrators, structure, editing etc.), different types of fiction and non-fiction and how to find a publisher as well as alternative routes to getting your work into the public's eye.
Every subject is covered and each is covered in useful depth such that I am left with the feeling that I need to own a copy of this book and refer to it again and again.
For all the hundreds of reviews I have written on Goodreads, this is the first (well actually, the second) time I have tried to structure a review according to advice on how it should be done - and ironically, the advice came from this book.
..if course then I have to spoil it all by musing whether that was really irony or whether it was merely an example of bootstrapping.
Hey-ho.

[محمد عبادة · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging aspect of this book is the question that arises when you finish reading it: On which bookshelf should you put it?!
I decided to shelf it on Pedagogy & References! On the one hand, it's like a quick (How to do) guide, in relation to the different writing genres. It was enjoyable, informative and fun to read. On the other hand, it's like a good start point if you consider giving a writing workshop after trying your hand at several genres. Ain't this (pedagogy) in a sense?!
On the whole, I loved it and I confess that I deeply respect what may seem to some readers the simplistic approach to everything, maintained in (for Dummies) series and the like books. I believe it helps open a lot of doors and sheds light on many dim-lit corridors of human experience.
I recommend it to every Homo sapiens sapiens aspiring to be a writer.

[Elise Edmonds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a little information about a lot of topics. It's good for browsing through and for giving a few pointers, but if you want anything in detail you'll need another book.

It has good links, recommendations and references.

It was written 6 years ago and could do with a bit of updating to put more emphasis on e-books, social media and use of computers and software to help with the writing process. But much of the information already included was relevant, and concessions are made to the more modern side of writing with a chapter on blogging etc.

I think this is a book it's best to get from the library or in kindle unlimited and then just make a note of the relevant information.

Worth a flick through, especially for new writers.

[Nazire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a great book if you're thinking about writing a novel, short story or an article, but just doing preliminary research. Everything writing related is nicely packaged into one book. It's not very detailed, and you get a gist of things, but it's a great starter to make you think about writing and what things you might need to do. Things other than writing you might need to think about and how to go about publishing is all in here, which is useful. The recommended books are helpful and can be part of your starter kit.

But if you want a great book on writing I live and recommend "The lie that tells a truth" by John Dufresne.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book as an ebook download from my local library and thought I'd give it a go and see if it has any useful information in it that could be helpful to me. I'm so pleased that I borrowed it and I wouldn't hesitate in buying it if I was new to creative writing. It is worth the read. It gives some nice, simple and very useful information in all forms of creative writing, from novel writing and short stories, to play writing, non-fiction and even biographies.

[Alice Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books about writing that has it all. Maggie Hamand discusses not only novel writing but poetry, screenplays, autobiography, and non-fiction. Each chapter covers a different topic and goes in-depth with helpful hints, websites to visit and exercises to try. One of the most detailed books on writing I have read so far. One star taken off, though, because it ruined the ending of Anna Karenina, which I haven't read yet!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good and encouraging, not like other "how to write" books which makes you feel like you have to right certain things and not others, it encourages you to write for the sake of loving to right, it encourages you to be yourself.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was okay

[D. Wayne Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was very helpful in explaining the writing process to the beginning writer. I often refer back to it whenever I get stuck on some technical points.

[Heavenlypeachgarden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and imformative

[Skye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checked this out in a bid to improve my teaching classes for writing, but I think this helped me more than my kids. On my way to kickstart story writing again :)

[Margret · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very informative and a good book. It gives you the tools on "How to Write" and encourage you to use it. I loved it.

[Seawood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and basic; nice to see a UK version.

[Mohamed Adel]

it will be very nice