Member Review
Review by
Reviewer 1499710
A solid 7-day (+) workshop, especially for beginning novelists
I need to preface this by saying that I am already somewhat experienced as a writer, so the contents of this book were not new to me. That means that for advanced writers, I would recommend to only pick this up if you are looking for writing exercises and fresh approaches to your resting projects, not if you genuinely want to learn how to write a book - you already know that.
That being said, for novice writers of people coming back to writing after a hiatus, this book is fantastic.
Karin Adams leads you (gently but firmly) through a seven-day writing workshop, in which you can choose your own exercise regime out of the options she provides. The workshop delves into the usual topics of inspiration, character, setting, plot and drafting, as well as touching on revision. While Adams doesn't claim to give a proper how-to-write-a-novel course, this book will provide you with enough basic information to pick up the rest where you recognise deficits along the way.
The book is heavy on the pre-writing things, such as gathering ideas, drafting characters and starting outlines, explaining most of the elements briefly. There is a lot of note-taking and object-gathering involved, but from experience I can say that this helps illuminate the craft elements and gets the brain going on the things you will need to keep in mind as you draft and go through revisions.
Personally, I appreciated her flexible approach, being able to pick and choose my writing exercises. The best piece was her advice to not consider writing the talent or gift to aspire to but instead to appreciate the desire to write as a driving motivator for aspiring and accomplished novelists.
I need to preface this by saying that I am already somewhat experienced as a writer, so the contents of this book were not new to me. That means that for advanced writers, I would recommend to only pick this up if you are looking for writing exercises and fresh approaches to your resting projects, not if you genuinely want to learn how to write a book - you already know that.
That being said, for novice writers of people coming back to writing after a hiatus, this book is fantastic.
Karin Adams leads you (gently but firmly) through a seven-day writing workshop, in which you can choose your own exercise regime out of the options she provides. The workshop delves into the usual topics of inspiration, character, setting, plot and drafting, as well as touching on revision. While Adams doesn't claim to give a proper how-to-write-a-novel course, this book will provide you with enough basic information to pick up the rest where you recognise deficits along the way.
The book is heavy on the pre-writing things, such as gathering ideas, drafting characters and starting outlines, explaining most of the elements briefly. There is a lot of note-taking and object-gathering involved, but from experience I can say that this helps illuminate the craft elements and gets the brain going on the things you will need to keep in mind as you draft and go through revisions.
Personally, I appreciated her flexible approach, being able to pick and choose my writing exercises. The best piece was her advice to not consider writing the talent or gift to aspire to but instead to appreciate the desire to write as a driving motivator for aspiring and accomplished novelists.
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