Helpful Little Hints
It's been a week since I've posted... and not for any well thought out or imaginative excuse. I've just been tired.
Today's tid-bit is going to be short, and a peek into what I'm reading.
(A little background: I love writing self-help books. It doesn't matter so much what they help with; I love that there are those out there willing to help the lowbies with their work.)
My current read is "The Writer's Little Helper" by James V. Smith, Jr. This book features two page 'articles' focusing on what readers like. The exercises are fun, engaging, and have inspired me to cut back on my thinking so much.
As I've mentioned before, I'm one of those writers that loves to outline. This book gives some good advice for making outlining less... attractive. The author explains that he is a lot like me: he'll get wrapped up in the outlining and will never write if he allows himself.
A negative I've found is that because the 'articles' are two pages long (sometimes three!) they don't go into a lot of good strict detail. Some of the things he wrote about could have been expanded on. The book is also very colorful and distracting in it's design; the layout of the pages sometimes takes away from the important text.
Overall, I recommend this book to writers who are serious about wanting to get their books published. If you can ignore the pretty swirlies and just focus on the writing, this book gives great tips on how to take normal fiction and make it outstanding.
Today's tid-bit is going to be short, and a peek into what I'm reading.
(A little background: I love writing self-help books. It doesn't matter so much what they help with; I love that there are those out there willing to help the lowbies with their work.)
My current read is "The Writer's Little Helper" by James V. Smith, Jr. This book features two page 'articles' focusing on what readers like. The exercises are fun, engaging, and have inspired me to cut back on my thinking so much.
As I've mentioned before, I'm one of those writers that loves to outline. This book gives some good advice for making outlining less... attractive. The author explains that he is a lot like me: he'll get wrapped up in the outlining and will never write if he allows himself.
A negative I've found is that because the 'articles' are two pages long (sometimes three!) they don't go into a lot of good strict detail. Some of the things he wrote about could have been expanded on. The book is also very colorful and distracting in it's design; the layout of the pages sometimes takes away from the important text.
Overall, I recommend this book to writers who are serious about wanting to get their books published. If you can ignore the pretty swirlies and just focus on the writing, this book gives great tips on how to take normal fiction and make it outstanding.