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ngreads's review against another edition
5.0
Great anthology. Not only are the stories themselves entertaining and interesting, but the reveals of how the stories were made was fascinating and an excellent learning experience. It's really encouraging to see how much work even bestselling authors have to go through to get a story to the point where they are happy with it. Definitely recommended, and overall an awesome collaboration from the Writing Excuses team.
buckeyeordie's review against another edition
4.0
Mary and Brandon's stories were great. Dan's was unique while Howard's was kind of goofy. I would love to have a full book written by Mary in the world she created. The value here is the momentary amongst the authors when they brainstorm and workshop. I'm glad I was able to see the writing process.
ida_hagen03's review against another edition
1.0
"A Fire in the Heavens” The moon thing when they were in a foreign country. ⭐️ (wanted to dnf)
Kap 2 or the other version: They have never sen the moon before. But now they is on the other side of the sea were the moon is everyting. Little more intresting. Are they recreating kap one, but in a different place and setting? Little more action filled and I liked that. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“An Honest Death” Cure from old age and attak from an intrder/alien. This one was really interesting. Wanted it to continue. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I.E.Demon” Afganistan demon. That don't like salt.⭐️⭐️
“Sixth of the Dusk,” On an iland that wants to kill them. He can se his corpes when his ner his death.
Very adventures and thriling. And a little bitt longer of a story compared to the rest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wasn't interested in the writing process... ⭐️
=2,5⭐️ over all fore the story. But I whanted to dnf and I hadd to skip a lot att the end because it was boring.
I went in to this book thing it was a book. It wasn't! It was a bunch of short stories and the writing process behind them. Not what I was looking for. If I known I would not have picked it up. It's probably good for the person that is interested in the writing process and knew that that was what it was.
Kap 2 or the other version: They have never sen the moon before. But now they is on the other side of the sea were the moon is everyting. Little more intresting. Are they recreating kap one, but in a different place and setting? Little more action filled and I liked that. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“An Honest Death” Cure from old age and attak from an intrder/alien. This one was really interesting. Wanted it to continue. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I.E.Demon” Afganistan demon. That don't like salt.⭐️⭐️
“Sixth of the Dusk,” On an iland that wants to kill them. He can se his corpes when his ner his death.
Very adventures and thriling. And a little bitt longer of a story compared to the rest. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wasn't interested in the writing process... ⭐️
=2,5⭐️ over all fore the story. But I whanted to dnf and I hadd to skip a lot att the end because it was boring.
I went in to this book thing it was a book. It wasn't! It was a bunch of short stories and the writing process behind them. Not what I was looking for. If I known I would not have picked it up. It's probably good for the person that is interested in the writing process and knew that that was what it was.
flajol's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a fan of Brandon Sanderson, but I picked this up because I am currently reading everything I can get my hands on by Dan Wells. I hadn't read anything by Mary Robinette Kowal or Howard Tayler before but I plan to remedy that soon.
Four short stories/novellas, followed by an analysis of how each author used brainstorming, workshops and peer feedback to develop and craft their story. Originally, I'd planned to read the stories and skip the rest, but I got sucked in to the analysis of "A Fire in the Heavens" and I couldn't put it down. It's fascinating to see the processes each writer uses, and how they use reader feedback to polish their work. Whether you're a writer or not, I'd recommend reading this for an insight into what is often perceived as a solitary craft.
Also, I *really* want to read more about Kitan's world.
Four short stories/novellas, followed by an analysis of how each author used brainstorming, workshops and peer feedback to develop and craft their story. Originally, I'd planned to read the stories and skip the rest, but I got sucked in to the analysis of "A Fire in the Heavens" and I couldn't put it down. It's fascinating to see the processes each writer uses, and how they use reader feedback to polish their work. Whether you're a writer or not, I'd recommend reading this for an insight into what is often perceived as a solitary craft.
Also, I *really* want to read more about Kitan's world.
aix83's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this is a brilliant writers' resource.
So what these guys (Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler) did was put together a multimedia anthology where they showed their writing processes. There are 4 "short" stories (some shorter and some in the 15k range) that went through an initial brainstorming, first draft, critique session with suggestions, and editing into a final draft.
All of this is available in this book, including the edited manuscripts with tracked changes!
The brainstorming and critique sessions are all available as 20-min podcasts on Writing Excuses, and they're also put in the book as transcripts.
On top of that all, the final stories are really nice. This is must read for any fantasy author looking to improve their craft by taking a professional model.
So what these guys (Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler) did was put together a multimedia anthology where they showed their writing processes. There are 4 "short" stories (some shorter and some in the 15k range) that went through an initial brainstorming, first draft, critique session with suggestions, and editing into a final draft.
All of this is available in this book, including the edited manuscripts with tracked changes!
The brainstorming and critique sessions are all available as 20-min podcasts on Writing Excuses, and they're also put in the book as transcripts.
On top of that all, the final stories are really nice. This is must read for any fantasy author looking to improve their craft by taking a professional model.
lissajean7's review against another edition
5.0
The four final stories were great, and it was fascinating to see some of the process.
pamwinkler's review against another edition
4.0
I got this because I wanted to read the various stories that everyone wrote as part of the Writing Excuses podcast. I'd read "Sixth of the Dusk" recently, so I skipped it. I liked that story, though. I did end up re-reading the very end, just for fun.
A Fire in the Heavens by Mary Robinette Kowal was good. I skimmed a little when it got close to the end, it was good but it was a bit slow.
I.E. Demon by Dan Wells was short and funny, I liked it. It's not a complicated story.
An Honest Death by Howard Taylor was really good and it gave me some food for thought. It was honest and clever. It avoided a lot of the usual tropes and in very clever ways. I would strongly recommend reading it.
A Fire in the Heavens by Mary Robinette Kowal was good. I skimmed a little when it got close to the end, it was good but it was a bit slow.
I.E. Demon by Dan Wells was short and funny, I liked it. It's not a complicated story.
An Honest Death by Howard Taylor was really good and it gave me some food for thought. It was honest and clever. It avoided a lot of the usual tropes and in very clever ways. I would strongly recommend reading it.
rayofhope's review against another edition
4.0
I read this a little oddly - part ebook part audio book, jumping between both - so my experience is maybe tinged by that.
I enjoyed it though, I thought each story was fun and interesting, and it was cool to see the process. I was surprised they only included First draft and last draft, as it usually takes more than 2 drafts to finish a story, but I guess they didn't want to bore us with all the in-betweens.
I think my favorite story was the first one, with the moon. I thought it asked a lot of interesting questions about identity and belonging. I would love to read more about that world.
I enjoyed it though, I thought each story was fun and interesting, and it was cool to see the process. I was surprised they only included First draft and last draft, as it usually takes more than 2 drafts to finish a story, but I guess they didn't want to bore us with all the in-betweens.
I think my favorite story was the first one, with the moon. I thought it asked a lot of interesting questions about identity and belonging. I would love to read more about that world.
gmvader's review against another edition
4.0
The goals this book is trying to accomplish are ambitious and I think from that perspective it is a raging success. As a work of fiction I think the stories themselves are only of mediocre quality compared to what each of these authors has produced before.
Each story comes with at least one early draft, the transcript of their podcast where they workshopped the idea and the draft and then author’s notes as well as the finished product.
For research and education purposes this is invaluable. I feel like college writing classes should be using this as a text book. It can be studied and compared. The rough draft version of each story shows which parts were cut out and what was added to make the final draft so that an outside vision of the each author’s writing process can take shape.
As far as the stories I found them to be entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying. I liked Kowal’s story the best but found the ending a little too neat and quick. Dan Wells never named any of his characters and kept them at a distance that made it hard to get into — the idea was fun but the execution felt like a cliff-notes version. Howard Tayler wrote a great character and a fascinating idea but had a story that needed a slightly longer format and so sounded full of exposition that came across as awkward. Sanderson’s Sixth of the Dusk, besides being hard to say out loud, kind of dragged and was hard to follow. Normally I like the slow build of Sanderson’s work but this one just seemed to be going nowhere.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is curious about the writing process or who needs a tool to study how authors edit their own work or how they think about their ideas and develop them. For entertainment purposes it’s very definitely middle ground.
Each story comes with at least one early draft, the transcript of their podcast where they workshopped the idea and the draft and then author’s notes as well as the finished product.
For research and education purposes this is invaluable. I feel like college writing classes should be using this as a text book. It can be studied and compared. The rough draft version of each story shows which parts were cut out and what was added to make the final draft so that an outside vision of the each author’s writing process can take shape.
As far as the stories I found them to be entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying. I liked Kowal’s story the best but found the ending a little too neat and quick. Dan Wells never named any of his characters and kept them at a distance that made it hard to get into — the idea was fun but the execution felt like a cliff-notes version. Howard Tayler wrote a great character and a fascinating idea but had a story that needed a slightly longer format and so sounded full of exposition that came across as awkward. Sanderson’s Sixth of the Dusk, besides being hard to say out loud, kind of dragged and was hard to follow. Normally I like the slow build of Sanderson’s work but this one just seemed to be going nowhere.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is curious about the writing process or who needs a tool to study how authors edit their own work or how they think about their ideas and develop them. For entertainment purposes it’s very definitely middle ground.