Erin’s Reviews > Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True > Status Update

Sometimes, in a bad book, there is one line or one paragraph or one page that is useful enough to have made it all worth your time. one good bit you can carry around for a day or a lifetime, that can get you one step or one leap closer to where you want to be. So I always try to finish the bad books. Sometimes they redeem themselves in a single page.

“When you are writing, your characters will do anything you tell them to.” Ok, I already didn’t like this book, and now I also think she isn’t a very good writer, because this is the exact opposite of what most great writers say in THEIR books about writing, which are better than this one. Good characters do what is true to their character, not what is convenient for the plot.

I’m never going to get through this book because the goofy writing exercises go on forever and I feel obligated to read each stupid prompt, and after reading five pages of them, I’m irritated and exhausted.

The writing exercises are things like “Use these three words in a sentence or brief paragraph: dream, heart, gold.” and “a roadtrip on a motorcycle.” This isn’t useful, and it reminds me of why I was always annoyed with writing classes and so determined to do things my own way. I just didn’t want to mess around with bullshit.