Writing Life Stories
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays and Life into Literature for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Turning the engaging, untold stories of one's life into vivid personal essays and riveting memoirs is both an art and a learned skill. Bill Roorbach's friendly instruction and stimulating exercises teach writers how to: open up memory, access emotion and discover compelling material; shape scenes from experience, as life events become plot lines; and, populate stories with the fascinating, silly, and maddening "characters" that surround them.This book is full of innovative techniques that prove that real stories are often the best ones.
About the Author
Bill Roorbach has published six books, (both award-winning fiction and nonfiction) and makes appearances at colleges and conferences across the USA.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book gave a beginner (me) in the art of life writing a deep insight into what it is all about, how to go about it, and what seperates self-indulgent drivel from quality creative non-fiction. Bill Roorbach has a humourous, light, engaging tone that made this more of a pleasure to read than most 'text' type books I've looked at. Great stuff and a highly recommended read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bill Roorbach's Writing Life Stories provides an insightful guide into writing creative non-fiction. Unlike Lynne Hackles Writing from Life: How to turn your personal experience into profitable prose, which is excellent in a different way, this book is not going to tell you how to turn your memories into short stories or popular magazine articles. It is much more concerned with literary writing - writing memoir not memoirs.
Written in an informal, chatty style it covers everything from 'getting started', creating scenes, dialogue, characters and getting published. There are many examples given to illustrate the lessons Roorbach is teaching and plenty of exercises, clearly explained, to complete.
Creative non-fiction is becoming increasingly popular and this book provides valuable assistance to anyone wanting to take up this form of writing. Reviewed by Mary Smith No More Mulberries
Written in an informal, chatty style it covers everything from 'getting started', creating scenes, dialogue, characters and getting published. There are many examples given to illustrate the lessons Roorbach is teaching and plenty of exercises, clearly explained, to complete.
Creative non-fiction is becoming increasingly popular and this book provides valuable assistance to anyone wanting to take up this form of writing. Reviewed by Mary Smith No More Mulberries
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Much better than I expected.
17 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
When I found this book, I was in search of the perfect genre for two stories swirling through my head. The stories that I wanted to write did not seem to fit any particular genre until I read this book on memoir and personal essay. Like many people, I believed that memoirs where restricted to the lives of the famous. This book opened up a whole new world to me by defining memoir and showing how it is developed.
At times the author seemed unorganized and the book lacked the structure I normally preferred in an instructional book. As I continued to read, I discovered that he was in control and teaching me the skills needed for this unique style of writing.
At times the author seemed unorganized and the book lacked the structure I normally preferred in an instructional book. As I continued to read, I discovered that he was in control and teaching me the skills needed for this unique style of writing.
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Jump-start to Writing
3 Nov 2009
Format:Paperback
I'm reviewing this book even though I'm only a third of the way through it. First, this book isn't one to just read through. Bill has included writing exercises in each chapter that are designed to allow you "access to memory, access to material, access to ideas, access to the unconscious, and finally, access to meaning" in your writing (Roorbach, p. 7).
I'm trying to do the exercises in order, but I'm not being too strict with myself about adhering to a schedule. I've found one exercise (chapter 4, "On...") that I like so much that I've done it three times, and I think it really is prodding me to examine some personal thoughts through writing. I have no doubt that this book is helping me to get at the core issues that I really want to write about.
Bill's writing voice makes for easy, enjoyable reading, and sometimes I find it a bit hard to stop reading and do the exercises. But, I do think they're worthwhile. There are 11 chapters: 1 Getting Started; 2 Memory; 3 Scenemaking; 4 Big Ideas; 5 Characters and Character; 6 Stage Presence; 7 Finding the Facts; 8 Metaphor and Meaning; 9 Saying it Right; 10 Building a Building; and 11 Getting Published.
This book has earned a permanent slot on my bookshelf and I think it's going to be one of those books that get revisited on a regular basis.
I'm trying to do the exercises in order, but I'm not being too strict with myself about adhering to a schedule. I've found one exercise (chapter 4, "On...") that I like so much that I've done it three times, and I think it really is prodding me to examine some personal thoughts through writing. I have no doubt that this book is helping me to get at the core issues that I really want to write about.
Bill's writing voice makes for easy, enjoyable reading, and sometimes I find it a bit hard to stop reading and do the exercises. But, I do think they're worthwhile. There are 11 chapters: 1 Getting Started; 2 Memory; 3 Scenemaking; 4 Big Ideas; 5 Characters and Character; 6 Stage Presence; 7 Finding the Facts; 8 Metaphor and Meaning; 9 Saying it Right; 10 Building a Building; and 11 Getting Published.
This book has earned a permanent slot on my bookshelf and I think it's going to be one of those books that get revisited on a regular basis.
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Wow Writing Life Stories
5 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the book that I have been searching for for a long time. As a busy mom of three, I needed a "teaching book" that would give me concrete activities that I could work into my writing time. Reading this book and working on the subsequent "assignments" gives purpose to my very short writing time that I can squeeze into a day. If you are interested in writing memoir, but don't know where or how to start...this is the book for you.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
