or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Writer's Block: Ideas to Jump-start Your Imagination
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Writer's Block: Ideas to Jump-start Your Imagination [Paperback]

Jason Rekulak
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £4.81 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.18 (31%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Want guaranteed delivery by Thursday, June 7? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing £6.99

The Writer's Block: Ideas to Jump-start Your Imagination + The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing
Price For Both: £11.80

Show availability and delivery details



Product details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Running Press,U.S.; Reprint edition (27 Mar 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0762409487
  • ISBN-13: 978-0762409488
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 8.1 x 7.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 160,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Rekulak
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Jason Rekulak Page

Product Description

Product Description

Anxious to write that Great American Novel but don't know where to begin? Help is on the way with our "Writer's Block"! This guide to beating writer's block comes packaged in the shape of an actual block: 3" x 3" x 3," with 672 pages and more than 200 photographs throughout. Next time you're stuck, just flip open "The Writer's Block" to any page to find an idea or exercise that will jump-start your imagination. Many of these assignments come straight from the creative writing classes of celebrated novelists like Ethan Canin, Richard Price, Toni Morrison, and Kurt Vonnegut: Joyce Carol Oates explains how she uses running to destroy writer's block. Elmore Leonard describes how he often finds ideas just by reading the newspaper. E. Annie Proulx discusses finding inspiration at garage sales. Isabel Allende tells why she always begins a new novel on January 8th. John Irving explains why he prefers to write the last sentence first. Fresh, fun, and irreverent, "The Writer's Block" also features advice from contemporary editors and literary agents, lessons from the awful novels of Joan Collins and Robert James Waller, a filmography of movies concerning writer's block (e.g., "The Shining, Barton Fink"), and countless other surprises. With this chunky little book at your side, you may never experience writer's block again!

About the Author

Jason Rekulak has an MFA from the University of Miami, where he received a full scholarship from the novelist James Michener. His short stories have appeared in several literary magazines as well as PIECES, an upcoming anthology of fiction from MTV Books/Simon and Schuster.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Richard Price grew up in a Bronx housing project and channeled his adolescent experiences into a great literary debut. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Budge Burgess TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
An interesting concept, an enjoyable marketing ploy, and a useful toy to keep around your desk as long as you don't use it much: the joy of this little work is its major flaw. Rekulak offers a book in the form of a three inch cube - it's as broad as it is tall as it is deep! A neat idea, an attractive artifact for your bookshelf, but start opening it regularly, the spine begins to crack, and the charming ornament is on its way to becoming a set of flash cards.

Now, as a professional writer, I assure you that everyone has their off days, their off weeks, their off months. Writing is hard for everyone and, unless you have the single-minded discipline of Trollope, there will be times when you just can't. Most people write for pleasure, some write professionally: everyone dries up from time to time.

There are lots of reasons for becoming blocked - I'm a qualified social worker, I'd immediately counsel you to understand the problem before you treat the blockage because, to continue the plumbing analogy, sometimes it's only the fact that the pipe's frozen which stops your house from flooding. First, establish why you can't write.

If it's just through lack of stimulation or inspiration, then tools like "The Writer's Block" can be of use. Try to write every day. Find yourself somewhere comfortable, or somewhere challenging, and write regularly. And look for inspiration everywhere - Rekulak points out that inspiration is all around, in magazines and newspapers, on television and radio, in adverts, books, the people you meet, the sights you see, the objects you touch. Learn to note, to ask questions, to speculate ... to ramble.

If you can't find anything which inspires you, then use an exercise tool like this book. Rekulak offers three different triggers to inspiration: Writing Challenges - a quick couple of words and a photograph, make up a story; Spark Words - words to trigger ideas; and Topics - areas of writing about which to speculate and get you thinking about your craft. He suggests you open the book at random and go from there - force yourself to respond to the trigger at which you open the book.

There are 786 of these 'ideas to jump-start your imagination' - the number, I suppose, determined by the need to keep the cube to three inches (7.5cm). It's useful, it's stimulating, and it's a sweet little novelty. But it does break down through use. And there are many writing exercises on the Internet which you can access for free.

A neat little marketing ploy, but consider why you've stopped writing, why it's happened, and whether you need to do anything else before you decide it's your inspiration which has run dry.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great little book 12 Feb 2011
By Echoes
Format:Paperback
For anyone with an interest in writing this is a really nice book to use when a bit of inspiration is needed. It's really easy to use with a different task/idea on each page to be opened and attempted at random. Unlike trying to use the internet where you can get easily distracted it keeps you on task. The only problem is the shape makes it a little hard to read but if it was any bigger it wouldn't be so easy to carry around so it's a fair trade.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent 15 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got this book, along with Creative Block, a book of similar format, for Christmas. I've already made use of both! They're a creative push in the "write direction", with excercises in the form of "spark" words, phrases, questions and photos. It also includes short, informative articles about published works, reviews, writing habits and reminders. A great help for writers!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges