About this title: With more than twenty-five years of experience teaching creative writing between them, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter offer more than seventy-five exercises for both beginners and more experienced writers. These exercises are designed to develop and refine two basic skills: writing like a writer and, just as important, thinking like a writer. They deal with such topics as: discovering where to start and end a story; learning when to use dialogue and when to use indirect discourse; transforming real events into fiction; and, finding language that both sings and communicates precisely. "What ...
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Description: Fine. 0062720066 Like new condition, minor wear. Nameplate on inside cover. No other major marks or damage. Paperback, 256 pages, Harper Paperbacks (November 20, 1991). 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Great customer service and a no problem, EZ return policy. Real people, real service, since 1981. An essential to any writer's library, What If? is comprised entirely of specific exercises intended to help the reader master the art of writing fiction. The exercises isolate the various elements of ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Date Published: 11/20/1991
ISBN-13:9780062720061ISBN:0062720066
Description: Fine. 0062720066 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780062700384ISBN:0062700383
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Modest shelf wear and yellowing. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 230 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Collins
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780062720061ISBN:0062720066
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Near Fine, light crease to back cover. Clean and unmarked. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 256 p. Audience: General/trade. Ships from US-NE. Support Independent Booksellers! Omahabooks offers same or next day shipping-satisfaction guaranteed. APO, International may require additional postage-contact seller. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Collins
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780062720061ISBN:0062720066
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harpercollins
Date Published: 1991-11-01
ISBN-13:9780062720061ISBN:0062720066
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780062720061. read more
Description: Fine. 0321107179 NEVER USED! . There are no highlights, No pen marks, No missing pages. The binding is sturdy. This book may have slight shelf wear. Upgraded shipping on orders over $49.99. Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780062700384ISBN:0062700383
Description: New. Slight shelf wear. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Very good. Excellent condition. Appears unread. No writings/underlines/highlights. Pages are very nice and clean. Visible shelfwear on dj. Whiteout mark inside front cover. Free deliver confirmation! Satisfaction guaranteed! read more
Description: Fine. Excellent condition. Appears unread. No writings/underlines/highlights. Pages are nice and clean. Minor shelfwear. Free deliver confirmation! Satisfaction guaranteed! read more
"I haven't tried any of the exercises in this book yet, but they look intriguing. Very practical oriented, not nuts and bolts technical, philosophical, or advice on how to live as a writer. Just a series of exercises (tons) to work on different fiction writing skills. Thorough. They've got some nice stories tossed in at the end, though they just kind of say "these are good stories" without providing any commentary as to why they were selected or what aspects are particularly well handled."
"This second edition of What if?, a tome of a book, is labeled "College Edition" and would appeal to anyone teaching fiction writing, or to anyone who writes fiction. This book would also appeal to readers: the final two sections - 200 pages of this over-500-page book - contain a dozen short-short stories; and a collection of contemporary short stories by stellar authors such as Margaret Atwood, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munro.
The book is organized around fourteen topics: Beginnings; Notebooks, Journals and Memory; Characterization; Perspective, Distance and Point of View; Dialogue; The Interior Landscape of Your Characters; Plot; The Elements of Style; A Writer's Tools; Invention and Transformation; Revision: Rewriting is Writing; Games; Learning from the Greats; and Sudden, Flash, and Microfiction: Writing the Short Short Story.
Although I am presently working on the second draft of a novel, I still do some of the exercises now and then, and have ended up with some surprising results. What If? is actually more like a textbook: Each exercise consists of an introductory paragraph, instructions for completing the exercise, a paragraph explaining its objectives, and finally, in some, but not all cases, an example executed by a student. By breaking down the exercises into their constitutional parts, we ensure that student and teacher understand both the rational behind the task and the method by which to complete it. ... Included, are many exercises by fiction writers who are also teachers.
In the introduction, the authors quote what Angus Wilson had to say in a Paris Review interview: "Plays and short stories are similar in that both start when all but the action is finished." This goes along with Horace's injunction to begin the story in medias res - in the middle of things. In The Exercise: "Consider how many of the opening lines below pull you into the center of the story. What do you know about the story - situation, characters, geography, setting, class, education, potential conflict, etc. - from reading the titles in the opening lines? What decisions has the author already made about point of view, distance, setting, tone, etc.? Notice how many of the titles are directly related to the first line of the story:
"The Lady with the Dog" by Anton Chekhov They were saying a new face had been seen on the esplanade: a lady with a pet dog.
"Medley" by Toni Cade Bambara I could tell the minute I got in the door and dropped my bag, I wasn't staying.
"Bigfoot Stole My Wife" by Ron Carlson The problem is credibility.
"Jump-up-Day" by Barbara Kingsolver Jericha believed herself already an orphan - her mother was in the ground by the time she could walk on it - so the loss of her father when it came was not an exceptional thing.
These are only a few of the examples given, and they are followed up by student examples. The Objective: "To cultivate the habit of beginning your stories in the middle of things. Because you are not obligated to finish these stories, this exercise lowers the emotional stakes and helps to shake up and surprise the imagination."
And, if you write reviews, you might find the following "exercise" especially helpful:
In Learning from the Greats - What Keeps You Reading?: "In The Eye of the Story, Eudora Welty writes, 'Learning to write may be part of learning to read. For all I know, writing comes out of a superior devotion to reading.' Part of the apprenticeship of being a successful writer is learning to read like a writer, discovering how a particular story catches your attention and keeps you involved straight through to the end. The Exercise: Half-way through a story, ask yourself several questions. What do I care about? What has set in motion that I want to see completed? Where is the writer taking me? Then finish reading the story and see how well the writer met the expectations that she raised for you. The Objective: To illustrate how the best stories and novels set up situations that are resolved by the time you finish the story or close the book. To learn how to arouse the reader's curiosity or create expectations in the first half of your story or novel, and then to decide to what degree you should feel obliged to meet those expectations."
This is a book for a writer at any level. If you use this book, your writing will definitely improve. And if you are "just" a reader, you may well find a new level of appreciation for the writing that you choose to read. There is something in it for everyone."
"This is a wonderful writing exercise book! There are several exercises that I already do in my writing, and I either skip them or tweak them a bit, but it is still helpful because now I know why those tips work or are necessary in writing. I try to do one exercise a day, but I find myself excited by the writing prompts and I end up doing two or three, or even stopping so I can work on a story the exercise has just inspired. I'm getting so much writing done these days! I will keep using this until all the tips are drilled into my head."
"This is one of the best collections of advice and exercises for fiction writers in existence today. While the other editions, which contain sample stories in the index, are better, this is a must-have for anyone looking to improve their fiction."
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