angelayoung 's review for:

Creative Writing for Dummies by Maggie Hamand

4.0

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This is a MUST READ for any writer of fiction in any genre. I've read many books about writing and attended several courses (including an MA) but this book, because it's in this series I suppose, starts at the very beginning and misses nothing out (the things it's taken for granted that we'll know which we, I, often don't). So, for instance, it's the only book about writing in which I've found a definition of what literary fiction is (a book that delves deeply, psychologically, into its characters; a book that addresses subjects that affect the human race; a book that experiments with language) and the only book about writing that makes sensible suggestions about how to conduct the writing life, for instance, read a poem aloud to yourself each day ... which has had the effect of making me so very much more aware of how to create atmosphere, how many meanings the same words can have, the rhythm of language, the delight in what words can create ... need I go on?