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nanaboo's review
5.0
Loved this! So many great tips while still being an interesting book to read for fun. Definitely a book that needed to be written and Ally Carter did a fabulous job.
hazelstaybookish's review against another edition
3.0
Actual rating: 3.5
This one had lots of great information for a young writer, but it just wasn't as specifically helpful to me, having completed several manuscripts/querying for years already. It's less a writing craft book and more just FAQ and advice to writing YA. There were definitely a lot of insightful tidbits though (especially seeing how different YA authors have different approaches/processes), which I really liked, but were ultimately too scattered to keep me engaged in reading. It's probably better as a reference book to come back to when you have something specific in mind and just flip to that chapter, at least in my opinion, instead of something to digest as a whole (or maybe I'm just bad at reading nonfiction lol).
This one had lots of great information for a young writer, but it just wasn't as specifically helpful to me, having completed several manuscripts/querying for years already. It's less a writing craft book and more just FAQ and advice to writing YA. There were definitely a lot of insightful tidbits though (especially seeing how different YA authors have different approaches/processes), which I really liked, but were ultimately too scattered to keep me engaged in reading. It's probably better as a reference book to come back to when you have something specific in mind and just flip to that chapter, at least in my opinion, instead of something to digest as a whole (or maybe I'm just bad at reading nonfiction lol).
panda_incognito's review against another edition
4.0
This book is written in Q&A format with real questions from teens, addressing different issues within categorical chapters. I found it easy to read, helpful, and interesting, and I enjoyed both the writing advice and the insight into Ally Carter's writing processes. I wasn't personally familiar with many of the other YA authors that she interviewed and collaborated with in this book, but I loved reading her fiction when I was younger, and I feel inspired to read the books again now that I've learned more about her experiences writing them. (Also. Also. In her former day job, she was an agricultural economist. I love that I live in a world where agricultural economists write teenage spy thrillers!)
Unlike most books about writing, this is directly targeted towards a teenage audience, and I know that I would have loved it when I was younger. Most of the juvenile and YA books that I read about writing were very vague about plot and structure, and I had to turn to adult books to better understand those topics. This book fills in an important gap by providing professional advice to teenagers while also understanding their lives, time constraints, and influences. I highly recommend this book to teenagers, YA writers, and any writer who wants more insight into every aspect of fiction-writing imaginable. This covers it all, and it does it so well!
Unlike most books about writing, this is directly targeted towards a teenage audience, and I know that I would have loved it when I was younger. Most of the juvenile and YA books that I read about writing were very vague about plot and structure, and I had to turn to adult books to better understand those topics. This book fills in an important gap by providing professional advice to teenagers while also understanding their lives, time constraints, and influences. I highly recommend this book to teenagers, YA writers, and any writer who wants more insight into every aspect of fiction-writing imaginable. This covers it all, and it does it so well!
thisgingerlovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the idea of this book, I liked that not only did ally draw upon her own experience as a writer, she also had other authors give an input, offering their favourite pieces of advice or giving their own. You can really tell that ally tried to avoid the whole information over load thing you often get with how to books. She tried to split the book into smaller sections etc. However for me I still felt a little overwhelmed reading this book, I also felt like I’d have to read each chapter about five or six times in order for things to sink in. However that’s quite normal for me, I have special educational needs and so taking in so much information at once is a bit... woah. I end up losing my focus, get distracted, and forget what I’ve just read, meaning I have to go back and read it again, and it can be quite frustrating. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to grips with this book BUT I think it could still be a great resource for other teens and young adults who are interested in writing. There are many different ways to write a book and they are all explained in this book, and I do think it’ll encourage aspiring authors to find their own process and run with it!
layanneee's review
5.0
this book will become my bible for writing, and anyone who is even REMOTELY interested in writing should check this out.
as someone who has started countless manuscripts (but finished none, lol) i know for a fact that i love to write. i love to write because i imagine the randomest things and the most intense worlds and putting them on paper has always been a dream of mine. i love it because i feel like i’m good at it, that it doesnt annoy me to work on it for hours and hours and hours.
but it would be a lie if i said i had a finished manuscript. it would also be a lie if i said i was confident in every last one of them.
i’m not, i’m absolutely not.
but you know the best advice she gave in this book? the advice that made me really think back at all those unfinished manuscripts?
that pages files are free.
the only thing i have to lose is my time. and yes, time is valuable, but its more worth it to pound away at Untitled Draft1 then to sit and rewatch Breath of the Wild and cry.
go ahead, laugh. i dont care.
five stars for Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book, and a HUGE thanks to Ally Carter for answering questions i didnt even know i had.
as someone who has started countless manuscripts (but finished none, lol) i know for a fact that i love to write. i love to write because i imagine the randomest things and the most intense worlds and putting them on paper has always been a dream of mine. i love it because i feel like i’m good at it, that it doesnt annoy me to work on it for hours and hours and hours.
but it would be a lie if i said i had a finished manuscript. it would also be a lie if i said i was confident in every last one of them.
i’m not, i’m absolutely not.
but you know the best advice she gave in this book? the advice that made me really think back at all those unfinished manuscripts?
that pages files are free.
the only thing i have to lose is my time. and yes, time is valuable, but its more worth it to pound away at Untitled Draft1 then to sit and rewatch Breath of the Wild and cry.
go ahead, laugh. i dont care.
five stars for Dear Ally, How Do You Write a Book, and a HUGE thanks to Ally Carter for answering questions i didnt even know i had.
magical_reader's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed reading Dear Ally, How Do You Writw A Book. It inspired me to sit down and finish writing my 1St draft.