Rate this book

Help! For Writers: 210 Solutions To The Problems Every Writer Faces (2011)

by Roy Peter Clark(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0316126713 (ISBN13: 9780316126717)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: This book was very helpful and surprisingly easy to read. The author, Roy Peter Clark, gave so many fun anecdotes about “the writing life” and all its foils, with humor and earnest insight. It’s not always as easy as it looks.The Table of Contents reads like a text book, which made me nervous that reading the book will be like school work, but it’s not. His style and tone are pure fun and not the least bit condescending. I almost forgot I was getting “help”! Help I did get. He offers exercises, advice and insight into a variety of issues, such as: finding ideas, research, organization (of everything, including your work space!), and focus, using language, writing drafts & the devil for me… revision!As I mentioned before, his examples really do help. A... morefter explaining a problem and/or its suggested fix, he reveals a published piece of text to drive the point home (there’s a fun section on clichés, as well). Examples from which he borrows include: the Bible, the Oxford Dictionary, The Washington Post, Star Wars, The Godfather, Jane Eyre, Dante’s Inferno, Catch 22, Law and Order, and the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare, just to name a few. The book does seem to focus on journalistic or nonfiction writing, but I think it can be applied to all writing. His message seems to be that to help yourself write better – you need to write. He certainly helps get the wheels turning.I will keep this book on my desk for reference and have also ordered his book on grammar.
review 2: I gravitate towards books on writing and grammar in the hope that I'll become a better writer and reduce the tension and procrastination that often characterize a major deadline. Unfortunately, while I tend to be optimistic about improving my writing, much as I tend to look for the latest fitness books in the hope that this will encourage me to "be more disciplined and healthier", my follow through often falls short.If you write and have reached the point where you feel ready to show your work to friends and critics, I know that you will benefit from the advice that Roy Clark offers above.If you are still "working on" your writing, Help! For Writers provides practical advice and a technical approach to writing and thinking about writing. When writing and editing, we try to pare our language down to the essentials, much the way that artists, creatives, and even lawyers reduce their ideas to the essential elements. Clark suggests specific ways to do this, to reduce the unnecessary parts. I'm a timid writer. I tend towards putting things away, disappointed by the first draft. But chapter 11 "My early drafts are littered with cliches" helped me put things in perspective. The advice encourages us to realize that even mistakes and weaknesses can be used to bring us closer to our writing goals. Clark encourages clear thinking and careful use of language directly and through his tips and exercises. While some books target a specific goal, such as writing a screenplay or a novel in several steps or using certain structures, Help! For Writers points out that "the writer does not have to get all Gothic to build cathedrals of words. On many occasions, the holy trinity of beginning, middle, and end will get the job done." Clark has gentle suggestions to help look at our problems and roadblocks and learn from them. Clark gives us examples from other writers which made the concepts concrete. Help! For Writers encourages us to write and gives specific and practical advice geared towards getting us to keep writing and to become better writers. ISBN-10: 0316126713 - Hardcover $22.99Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 21, 2011), 304 pages.Review copy provided by the publisher. less

Download links for: Help! For Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces

Advertising