Scan barcode
authoraugust's review
5.0
I’ve read this countless times now. Best book for writers I’ve ever picked up.
the_badger's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book and find it helpful.
The advertised science is not present, you really must suspend your disbelief and I tried.
There are some bold statements in the book, like plotting and pantsing are both wrong.
Cron presents her way as the right way to write. But I don't think there is such a thing.
What she offers here is more of a rephrasing of what you probably already know.
What good points are there, they are buried under bloated writing in meandering chapters with little structure and could have been stated clearly in a fraction of the pages.
There are whole realms of great novels that do not fit the scheme she presents.
Last point that should have been a bit of a red flag to me: She's not a fiction writer, but writing about it.
The advertised science is not present, you really must suspend your disbelief and I tried.
There are some bold statements in the book, like plotting and pantsing are both wrong.
Cron presents her way as the right way to write. But I don't think there is such a thing.
What she offers here is more of a rephrasing of what you probably already know.
What good points are there, they are buried under bloated writing in meandering chapters with little structure and could have been stated clearly in a fraction of the pages.
There are whole realms of great novels that do not fit the scheme she presents.
Last point that should have been a bit of a red flag to me: She's not a fiction writer, but writing about it.
witzelsucht's review
2.0
The content about developing a character-driven story is good and interesting. The "brain science" is a barely-there gimmick. The author's quippy writing and lengthy case study of her friend's inane dognapping novel get old very quickly. A mixed bag to be taken with a pinch of salt, like all writing books.
henrismum's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.25
Take away: I thought this book was about creativity and writing, but it wasn't. The author references some studies about brain science and what readers enjoy, but beyond that, this is a "how to write" book in the vein of Save the Cat. It wasn't bad; just not what I expected. The exercises were good and would be useful if I took the time to do them.
Narration: Brittany Pressley - I enjoy her due to her work with the Jaine Austen mystery series.
Normal Speed - Accelerated Speed (1.1 to 1.25)
New - Second - Third - Committed
Series - Non Series - Non-Fiction - Author
Listening to this book was a chore.
I'm glad I listened to this book.
I didn't want this book to end.
I could not wait to be done with this book.
Average, but better than anything I've written.
Narration: Brittany Pressley - I enjoy her due to her work with the Jaine Austen mystery series.
Listening to this book was a chore.
I'm glad I listened to this book.
I could not wait to be done with this book.
nicovreeland's review
5.0
One of the best writing books I’ve read in the past year, and one of the most practical I’ve ever read. It has an extremely clear and concrete philosophy and examples that are actually good and helpful. Of course, I didn’t agree with everything in this book, but I found it especially helpful in the areas of constructing character arcs and increasing/improving causal links between scenes. I also liked the concrete methods used; I think the more concrete writing advice is, the easier it is to accept, reject or adapt.
wafflefonfabre's review
4.0
3.5 Stars.
This book is hard to review because while I liked some of the writing help. I also found this author obnoxious. This should really be called: useful writing advice from a know it all "I'm not like those other author's" person. This author spends 3 chapters debunking other peoples writing styles or advice. Debunking Pantser's and plotters even existing while also saying a messy first draft is a myth. The problem is she doesn't have strong points its more like she's dragging or discrediting other methods to make hers seem better. Which is especially funny when you realize toward the end she's a plotter, she likes planning a lot of her story before writing and having every scene writing on cards. But that's enough focus on this author.
The exercises or questions themselves are the most part good starts. I don't like some of them but by using her staring question it did get me thinking and starting to really flesh out my Main character and her arc. I think she spends a little too much time making you think about the backstory and how it relates to protagonist current situation since not every story has a situation caused by the protagonist's lie or flaws. Sometimes its a hurricane and trying to get a flawed person to survive that.
But I find her very specific questions to be good. Depending on your writing method, scene cards may not useful but I think going through and deeply considering your main character is very helpful even if your a pantster or tweener. There useful things to think about even if they don't always work with your story.
I would recommenced this book to writers with caveat of you should skim through or just skip the first three chapters and really focus on the end of each chapter where the exercise is explained or given examples of. Everything else is the author dropping there strange opinions or spending way to long explaining simple concepts. Due to how long she spends waxing and wasting I can't give it more stars but the exercises are good so 3.5 it is.
This book is hard to review because while I liked some of the writing help. I also found this author obnoxious. This should really be called: useful writing advice from a know it all "I'm not like those other author's" person. This author spends 3 chapters debunking other peoples writing styles or advice. Debunking Pantser's and plotters even existing while also saying a messy first draft is a myth. The problem is she doesn't have strong points its more like she's dragging or discrediting other methods to make hers seem better. Which is especially funny when you realize toward the end she's a plotter, she likes planning a lot of her story before writing and having every scene writing on cards. But that's enough focus on this author.
The exercises or questions themselves are the most part good starts. I don't like some of them but by using her staring question it did get me thinking and starting to really flesh out my Main character and her arc. I think she spends a little too much time making you think about the backstory and how it relates to protagonist current situation since not every story has a situation caused by the protagonist's lie or flaws. Sometimes its a hurricane and trying to get a flawed person to survive that.
But I find her very specific questions to be good. Depending on your writing method, scene cards may not useful but I think going through and deeply considering your main character is very helpful even if your a pantster or tweener. There useful things to think about even if they don't always work with your story.
I would recommenced this book to writers with caveat of you should skim through or just skip the first three chapters and really focus on the end of each chapter where the exercise is explained or given examples of. Everything else is the author dropping there strange opinions or spending way to long explaining simple concepts. Due to how long she spends waxing and wasting I can't give it more stars but the exercises are good so 3.5 it is.