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A Working Writer's Daily Planner
Review by Sherry D. Ramsey |
I received this little gem in the mail the other day, and it was not long after that I decided I absolutely had to mention it here. I've never had a lot of success with planners, either physical ones or software-based; I use them for a while and then they fall by the wayside. This one, however, from Small Beer Press, I think I will use for the entire year.
What sets this planner apart is that it really does dual-duty; it offers a weekly planner/engagement calendar, but it's also chock-full of information about workshops, awards reading periods, and application deadlines, writing resources, conventions, markets--it will take a whole year to mine the trove of writerly treasures hiding in these pages. Throw in some writing prompts, business savvy, inspirational art, and a submission tracker (and let's not forget the paper dolls!) and you have an all-in-one writer's resource that should never be far from your desk.
As to details: the weekly pages offer ample room for noting appointments, deadlines, or whatever else you might want to track--maybe word counts or writing time logged? At the beginning of each month is a page for goal-setting, submission planning, and creating an overall map for your month of writing. The wire-bound style lies flat on your desk, so your week is always just a glance away. And scattered throughout are tips and tricks to keep your writing and your writing life running more smoothly.
Also reasonably priced at just $13.95, I can see this becoming my essential writer's tool for the year. I wonder if I can put in a standing annual order...
reviewed by Sherry
This month,something different: revisiting some past reviews for books that should be on your writing shelf.
Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction
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If you want to know about writing short fiction, do not miss this book. And don't make the mistake of thinking that because it is written by Damon Knight, founder of Science Fiction Writers of America and lifelong SF writer, its advice is genre-specific. It isn't. Knight's advice spans all the boundaries and deals with the practical matters that any writer of short fiction must confront and consider.
And unlike many books on writing, this one is actually fun to read. I felt, through much of the book, as if I were taking a stroll with Knight and just chatting about writing. His style is informative without being condescending, and very engaging. Some people are natural teachers, and this books testifies that Damon Knight is one of those people.
The text is peppered with diagrams and exercises, and includes one of Knight's own stories, annotated to illustrate many of the points the book covers. The book is divided into six main sections: "Developing Your Talent As A Writer"; "Idea Into Story"; "Beginning A Story"; "Controlling A Story"; "Finishing A Story"; and "Being A Writer". Each section is subdivided into many smaller parts, and the flow from each section to the next is superbly handled. Knight addresses each aspect of story construction in detail without ever losing sight of how each part relates to the story as a whole.
To illustrate his points, the author quotes from many and varied works, from Mark Twain to Somerset Maugham, from Dashiell Hammett to Edgar Allan Poe. Although his own writing experience has been in the field of science fiction, Knight is obviously well-read and a master at revealing how the basic structures of well-built stories work in any genre. This book is an excellent learning tool and a joy to read.
"A successful story, like a healthy organism, is all one thing, not just a collection of parts. Everything in it fits together, flows together, harmonizes. If every story were successful, there would be no reason other than academic curiosity to talk about the component parts of stories. It's when something goes wrong, or when you're trying to master a new skill, that you need to know what the components are and how they work...
Try to improve your writing one piece at a time--work on your characterization, for instance, or dialogue, or plotting, until you have made some progress; then turn to another aspect and work on that. If you try to learn everything at once, you will paralyze yourself (like the caterpillar who was asked in what order he moved his legs), by too much conscious attention to the rules."
-Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction
Nancy Kress, Beginnings, Middles & Ends
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If you're a reader of Writer's Digest magazine or of science fiction, you're probably familiar with author Nancy Kress. Her monthly "Fiction" column in Writer's Digest is invariably packed with solid, useable, practical advice on fiction-writing techniques, and she delivers the same help in Beginnings, Middles & Ends.
Another of the Writer's Digest Elements of Fiction Writing series, this book takes the reader along the path of a story or novel, from the opening scene to the last sentence, and through every bump and pothole along the way. Kress examines in detail the problems of making early revisions, staying on track through the middle of the story, and character development. She also devotes an entire chapter to "Help for Middles: Getting Unstuck", a difficulty that challenges a large percentage of authors, and offers another on the importance of delivering on your promises to provide a satisfying ending for your tale.
As she does in her monthly columns, Kress provides concrete examples from many published works, and follows a hypothetical plotline throughout the book to illustrate her points. She also provides interesting and thought-provoking exercises at chapter ends, to strengthen and reiterate the chapter's advice. As is usual in this series, chapters are broken down into small sections with bold subtitles, making it easy to locate help for specific problems.
One of Nancy Kress's great strengths in providing advice is her encouraging tone. The reader feels that Kress has been there, experienced the same problems and worked out the answers, and wants to help you do the same. The subject-matter of Beginnings, Middles & Ends seems a lot to cover in one book, but the author does so comprehensively, practically, and in a friendly and accessible style. A useful book for any fiction writer.
"Learning about writing won't help you write better unless you actually apply what you learn to a story in progress...There's no substitute for practice...
What is teachable, and what this book can help you with, is craft. Craft is the process of getting the story in your head onto the page in a form that readers can follow, remain interested in, and enjoy...Craft can help you narrow--if not completely eliminate--the gap between the story in your head and the story on the page."
-Nancy Kress, Beginnings, Middles & Ends
Renni Browne & Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
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No beginning fiction writer should be without a copy of this book. That's a strong endorsement, but one which this practical, informative, and entertaining book fully deserves.
Browne and King, both professional editors, guide the fiction writer through twelve chapters of specific, essential, example-packed advice. They deal with such practical matters as point of view and character and exposition, as well as the more subtle issues of sophistication and voice. Each chapter deals with a specific aspect of writing, so it is easy to quickly find help on the issue of greatest concern. Excerpts from many published works are used to illustrate the techniques and pitfalls described. Besides pointing out writing errors, the authors go the extra step to provide examples of how to fix those errors, invaluable to beginning writers.
Each chapter ends with two valuable additons: a checklist to be applied to the reader's own manuscript, with hints for finding errors and correcting them; and several exercises to reinforce the material covered in the chapter. Answers are provided, so the reader can assess his or her own ability to pick up on and correct particular errors.
The tone of the book is friendly and instructive, concise and practical. Even established authors could benefit from the advice of the authors, since all writers can use an editor. Why not be your own? With this book, you can.
The only way, really, to learn editing is to learn it from an editor.
Which is what you'll be doing with this book. We aren't going to tell you how to plot your novel or develop your characters. What we're going to do is teach you the craft of editing. The mechanics of dialogue, point of view, interior monologue, the tricks to striking the most effective balance between narrative summary and immediate scenes; the techniques whose adoption brands your manuscript as the work of a professional instead of an amateur.
...once that first draft is finished, you can use the principles in this book to increase--dramatically--the effectiveness of the story you've told and the way you've told it.
-Renni Browne & Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
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