|
Teach Yourself Creative Writing (TY Creative Writing)
|
| Price: |
29 new or used available from £0.01
Average customer review:
Product Description
Teach Yourself Creative Writing opens a window wide onto an exciting creative landscape - your own imagination. It covers a variety of different areas, using exercises to help the reader explore and develop their own ideas.
This book makes the subject easy and therefore accessible to all. A great deal has happened in the creative writing world over the last five years and this new edition includes new chapters on 'Writing from Experience', 'Magazine Short Stories', 'Creative Writing Competitions', Research and the Internet' and 'The Writer and Technology'. It also restructures existing material to make it easier for the reader to navigate around the book: starting with short experimental forms of writing to get the reader started, moving on to bigger projects and further to specific writing techniques. (20040401)
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #306027 in Books
- Published on: 2003-01-01
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 192 pages
Editorial Reviews
Zing Review
"the ideal practical handbook for any aspiring author"
Review
"A how-to book for beginners that does not talk down to its audience" "plenty of excellent advice" "equips the beginner to tackel a wide range of markets" (Writing Magazine - Jun/Jul 2003 issue )
"An ideal handbook for anyone new to the diverse world of creative writing...an essential read for the apprentice" (The New Writer - May/June 2003 )
"the ideal practical handbook for any aspiring author" (Zing Review )
About the Author
Dianne died earlier this year. Ian Burton has been assigned Dianne's copyright for this title. Ian Burton was born in Birmingham in 1949. Although he had been writing since his teens it wasn’t until 1975 when he joined Dianne Doubtfire’s Creative Writing class on the Isle of Wight that he began to take it seriously. Ian is currently living in Dorset. He has been teaching Writing for Profit and Pleasure in adult education since 1988 and also works as Deputy Manager at Kinson Community Centre. He is currently working on his eighth novel.
Customer Reviews
Basic book for those thinking about writing .....
This book is a good overview for people who are considering a writing career, but are not sure what direction they want to go in. Here is a sampling of the basic chapter outline: (1) Developing your talent, (2) How to write an article, (3) The radio talk, (4) Working arrangements, (5) Presentation of manuscripts, (6) the short story, (7) the radio story, (8) the art of revision, (9) characterisation, (10) Dialogue, (11) setting, (12) style, (13) poetry, (14) the non-fiction book, (15) How to conduct an interview, (16) the novel, (17) writing for children ..... has 22 chapters. Now all this is covered in 143 pages -- so you realize that there are only a couple pages covering each topic. Also, when the writer talked about typerwriter ribbons I looked and saw that this book was first released in 1983 and this copy was re-released in 1999. So the information is a little dated as well. For example, a reader probably shouldn't follow the manuscript layouts given based on the original date of publication -- they could be well outdated.
Though this book would likely be a waste of time for the seasoned writer, or even the unpublished writer who knows what direction they want to pursue, it would be a good basic resource for those who just want a basic idea of the multitude of writing options they have.
Though I enjoyed reading it, I turn to more specific writing books for my purposes. I'm glad I didn't buy this book, I got mine from the library. Perhaps the reader of this review should do the same before they decide to purchase this book.
The practical use of this book.
As an avid writer myself I have found this particular guide as a quick an easy reference to consult when I first started writing. Although used as a focus for people wanting to embark on short stories and other works in writing, it is also an invaluable resource for the more seasoned writer.
If you're interested in writing radio plays, articles to be published, short stories or even a novel then this book has everything that you need to get started. Along with the practical advice that it has for writers it also covers presenting your work to publishers and editors alike.
I recommend to anybody looking for there first guide book for writing to look no further. Diane Doubtfire will cover everything that you need to know and more. A very informative and entertaining guide to the world of writing. I return over and over again to make reference from here and i'm sure that many others have and will do so in the future.
Most definetly worth buying for the new writer!
OK but a bit outdated
There's lots of good stuff in here, but it first came out fifteen years ago and seems outdated now. There's a new edition which is actually terrific and contains lots of examples and tips from top contemporary writers. This version, while helpful, feels a little like being stuck in the classroom with a teacher approaching retirement. It's cheaper than the brand new edition but in this, as in so many things, you get what you pay for...
