Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.17 AVERAGE
3.17 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Individual essays anthologized. I loved Collaborators Anonymous by Robert Portune.
A very uneven collection of essays about writing, most focusing on the particulars of the short story.
I thought that about half of the content was quite pedestrian, only helpful to the most novice of writers. There are standouts among the essays, though: Eckert's "Checklist for Unsalable Stories" could prove useful, I found Cassill's essay on plot thought-provoking (and stocked with writing exercises), Rockwell's "Making the Scene" and "How not to Fizzle the Finale" pointed out problems I recently had with a story I'm working on (and possible solutions), and Joyce Carol Oates's preface provided a few memorable quotes.
Unlike some of the other readers, I did not think the book was sexist. Rather, because the book is from the 1960s, many of the stories selected for scrutiny hold more traditional values than the average "literary" story today. That doesn't really detract from the message of the essays.
However, some of the advice is a bit stale. I think that contemporary short stories do have somewhat different rules than those of the past, for example, the mash-up of genres has become quite commonplace.
I didn't feel like I wasted my time, but this is not my favorite Writing Book out there.
I thought that about half of the content was quite pedestrian, only helpful to the most novice of writers. There are standouts among the essays, though: Eckert's "Checklist for Unsalable Stories" could prove useful, I found Cassill's essay on plot thought-provoking (and stocked with writing exercises), Rockwell's "Making the Scene" and "How not to Fizzle the Finale" pointed out problems I recently had with a story I'm working on (and possible solutions), and Joyce Carol Oates's preface provided a few memorable quotes.
Unlike some of the other readers, I did not think the book was sexist. Rather, because the book is from the 1960s, many of the stories selected for scrutiny hold more traditional values than the average "literary" story today. That doesn't really detract from the message of the essays.
However, some of the advice is a bit stale. I think that contemporary short stories do have somewhat different rules than those of the past, for example, the mash-up of genres has become quite commonplace.
I didn't feel like I wasted my time, but this is not my favorite Writing Book out there.