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The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry
 
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The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry (Paperback)

by Julia Bell (Author), Andrew Motion (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
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The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry + Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times + Critical Theory and Practice: A Coursebook
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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan Reference (10 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0333782259
  • ISBN-13: 978-0333782255
  • Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.6 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 4,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #3 in  Books > Reference > Directories > Art
    #3 in  Books > Reference > Publishing & Books > Authorship
    #27 in  Books > Reference > Writing
  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Product Description

Product Description

The success of the writing courses at UEA belies the myth that writing can't be taught. This coursebook takes aspiring writers through three stages of practice: Gathering - getting started, learning how to keep notes, making observations and using memory; Shaping - looking at structure, point of view, character and setting; and Finishing - being your own critic, joining workshops, finding publishers.

Throughout exercises and activities encourage writers to develop their skills. Contributions from forty authors provide a unique and generous pool of information, experience and advice.This is the perfect book for people who are just starting to write as well as for those who want some help honing work already completed. It will suit people writing for publication or just for their own pleasure, those writing on their own or writing groups.



About the Author

Julia Bell and Paul Magrs are both novelists and teachers of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
356 of 362 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely useful guide to creative writing, 17 Aug 2001
By A Customer
This book is a welcome breath of fresh air to anyone interested in creative writing. As someone who has bought every book under the sun on the subject, I can safely say this is the best book on creative writing that I've read. It doesn't offer formulas or guarantee success, as some books do. Instead it dissects the craft of writing in a thorough and clear way, highlighting pitfalls and offering great advice on how to improve your writing. The exercises are useful and demanding, and the references to novels to illustrate various points are extremely helpful, citing very recent popular novels and not just highbrow literature. I very much liked the way chapters - such as characterisation, point of view etc - are broken down into sections written by different writers. It helps to illustrate that everyone works differently,that there is no set correct way to go about things. What they all have in common though is the belief that the craft of writing is one that needs to be worked at and worked at, no matter which way you go about it. It was money very well spent.
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80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable addition to the writer's toolkit, 3 Oct 2003
I have little faith in books of the "how to write a novel" type. What they generally do is tell you the glaringly obvious in a fairly superficial way, and do little to stretch the would-be writer. This one is quite different, however, a real revelation. It's the first book of its type I've seen that appears to be written for grown-ups. It is full of hints and ideas, and exercises that are entertaining and yet challenging and eye-opening. I can feel the benefits I have drawn from it in my own writing. Apart from all that it's a good read in itself.
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52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reading With Activities To Keep You Busy..., 20 Feb 2006
This book is an excellent resource for writers.

Firstly it covers everything that you have to tackle as a writer: getting started, characterisation, setting, plotting and shaping your writing, stepping back to examine your work and revising your work.

It is written by a large number of contributors which provides a great insight into how different authors write (and rewrite) their work. The authors all have different levels of experience also which provides the reader with a wide range of advice and styles.

From the start this book provides lots of tips and hints (such as diary keeping) but it also provides a wealth of activities to help in every aspect of your writing. The activities are great, for example you are asked to rewrite an instruction manual from a different point of view (such as a character who expects a negative outcome). You are also asked to write about an eclectic mix of things such as Marilyn Monroe and garden furniture – such activities not only stimulate your mind and push you into areas which maybe you would never normally write about, but they can also inspire stories and get your creative juices flowing – as well as possibly highlighting areas of your writing which could be improved.

This is a really interesting book for writers – and if you go through the activities then you should also be able to comply with the advice in this book and write something every singe day.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Does not have everything, but has a lot.
40 writers share advice, and they share very good advice at that.

The book offers some of the following:

How to start writing and keep writing... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sean Gainford

5.0 out of 5 stars Tree Score Years and Ten
As a (very)mature university student 'The Creative Writing Coursebook' was an invaluable companion to my course. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Annie Oakley

4.0 out of 5 stars The true craft - and graft - of writing
This book won't write your novel for you. It won't tell you how to get it published. But what it will do is guide new (and not so new) writers through the essentials... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jim Ashton

2.0 out of 5 stars Beside the point
I think some reviews of this book are beside the point - it's more of a course-book for people who go to "Creative Writing" courses at uiversity, or ideas for teachers of same... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lulubeth

4.0 out of 5 stars two thirds of this book is really useful
I bought this book quite a while ago and still dip into it now and again for inspiration. Different writers give their advice, and i have earmarked those chapters written by the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by P. L. Barrett

2.0 out of 5 stars Not helpful at all
This book implies that is is a guide to creative writing. I found it irritating. It's more like a group of people discussing elements of writing from their own particular... Read more
Published 22 months ago by E. Flanagan

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad book, but...
I bought this book on the strength of the reviews given here, and as such I have to offer an alternative view of this book than that which has been portrayed so far... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2007 by D. Devine-harper

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and full of detailed advice
"The Creative Writing Coursebook" contains a wealth of information for the aspiring writer. At 400 pages it is both substantial and comprehensive. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2007 by J. Aitcheson

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, thought-provoking and inspiring
Quite simply the best book I've read on the subject. I recommend this unreservedly for any aspiring authors.
Published on 5 Feb 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars This book will help you
As a journalist i am used to writing but as an author i am still learning and this book is definitely helping. Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2002

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