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flaweddimension's review against another edition
Pretentious as hell. Made sneering references to genre fiction and commercial success.
jonathanwlodarski's review against another edition
4.0
Insights about writers' choices (conscious and subconscious) abound, though often obscured by examples of tiresome depth that, from time to time, suppose familiarity where contemporary readers will have none.
briand138's review against another edition
1.0
I’ve read this book twice and each time I felt that Gardner was a pretentious asshole. Obviously I would rather read a book by a writer with some literary success and didn’t dwell in the land of academia. And frankly when is the last time people have been carried to the land of adventure by a college professor? I find Stephen King’s On Writing a more honest and helpful book for the writer. Mr King is clear in his intentions and does not blow the proverbial smoke up anyone’s ass. Good fiction for most of us is an escape and feeling we are going someplace exciting and not about feeling you’re sitting in a lecture hall being told what you should like and that you’re wrong if you don’t agree. If you’re not passionate about it or feel like you’re having fun then why do it and frankly Gardner’s book felt like a scientific examination of writing and not why writing is fun. For other books on writing I recommend Brenda Ueland’s if you want to write, Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones and Chuck Palahniuk’s Consider This.
danwallace's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
lavenderluvsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Read chapter 1-4 for class and completed a few of the exercises. Gardner has a very traditional outlook on writing but the book is also very old. I would love to see a woman and man person of color write an updated modern take on this book especially with the references and examples. As a woc I have virtually no idea about a lot of the examples he used and the importance besides when he told me. I didn't like shakespeare or none of the old white male writers of classics. I find it boring and unrelatable and sometime plain horrid. I did agree with some things he stated but otherwise a god textbook or reference for writing.
sheldonleecompton's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not just trying to be different by giving this a lower rating than most others. I wanted to get more from this book. What was valuable took me some effort to sift around and get to through all the "up on high" bull shit that Gardner is now hailed as a genius for outlining. Thing is, if you give any writer worth his salt enough room and a big enough audience willing to listen and buy in, any one of us could build ourselves up to this place where what he thought was fiction that worked became fiction that worked. It's kind of just, well, bull shitty. But the parts of this book that do have honest power and isn't just masturbatory posturing are essential and were first said in these pages. For that, two stars. I'd go two and half if it was an option.
jenlouden's review against another edition
5.0
Rereading this classic. He points to writing truthfully like no one else.
upnorth's review against another edition
4.0
This is my absolute favorite book on writing. I have read a lot of books on writing fiction and this one has been by far the most helpful to me, since I bought my copy in 1987. His approach assumes that the writer wants to create great lasting art, of sound literate historically aware moral and aesthetic value. His comparison of traditional and experimental approaches is the best I've read anywhere. He taught for years, and wrote many good novels of his own, and though I don't agree with his taste on all points, it is a very respectful disagreement. His advice and insights are priceless.
verycarefully's review against another edition
2.0
Some interesting and even useful ideas and suggestions, but they're almost submerged in Gardner's smug elitism (and some worrying language that suggests at least some degree of ambient racism). Sometimes when Gardner is being eloquently rude about something he doesn't like he's very funny, but most of the time he just reminds me of that pithy remark about the failure mode of clever being asshole.