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Now Write!: Fiction Writing Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers
(Now Write!)
by
A collection of personal writing exercises and commentary from some of today's best novelists, short story writers, and writing teachers, including Jill McCorkle, Amy Bloom, Robert Olen Butler, Steve Almond, Jayne Anne Phillips, Virgil Suárez, Margot Livesay, and more.
What's the secret behind the successful and prolific careers of critically acclaimed novelists and short
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Paperback, 269 pages
Published
September 7th 2006
by TarcherPerigee
(first published 2006)
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Start your review of Now Write!: Fiction Writing Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers
Now Write! is a useful addition to the bookshelf for writers, especially those who also teach creative writing. I immediately started using some of the exercises in my fiction class.
I had a moment where I laughed out loud. Amidst the usual exercises on character and point of view there was this advice from Kathleen Spivak in her "The Writing Exercise: A Recipe."
Ingredients and Preparation
Before bedtime, pick up the alarm clock. Set it to ring two hours earlier than your usual wake-up time.
Sleep. ...more
I had a moment where I laughed out loud. Amidst the usual exercises on character and point of view there was this advice from Kathleen Spivak in her "The Writing Exercise: A Recipe."
Ingredients and Preparation
Before bedtime, pick up the alarm clock. Set it to ring two hours earlier than your usual wake-up time.
Sleep. ...more
There are some magnificent writing exercises in this book. I found numerous helpful prompts that I will definitely be using in the near future. I highly recommend this book to other aspiring writers.
Sherry Ellis (ed.), Now Write!: Fiction Exercises from Today's Best Teachers and Writers (Tarcher, 2006)
Exactly what it says it is: a compendium of writing exercises from various folks. Ellis herself is entirely transparent aside from a brief introduction; from there, it's the writers and nothing but.
Needless to say, in a book like this, especially with so many different contributors (there are eighty-two different sections), you're bound to have some inconsistency. As well, it sometimes seems ...more
Exactly what it says it is: a compendium of writing exercises from various folks. Ellis herself is entirely transparent aside from a brief introduction; from there, it's the writers and nothing but.
Needless to say, in a book like this, especially with so many different contributors (there are eighty-two different sections), you're bound to have some inconsistency. As well, it sometimes seems ...more
Excellent fiction writing exercises.
Many great exercises in Now Write! If you have a minute, please take a look at mine: “More Is More: An Exercise in Revising Your Story.”
I’d love to hear what you think. This exercise is the outgrowth of two decades of teaching creative writing to visual artists @rhodeislandschoolofdesign. Thanks to all my students! I miss you!
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I’d love to hear what you think. This exercise is the outgrowth of two decades of teaching creative writing to visual artists @rhodeislandschoolofdesign. Thanks to all my students! I miss you!
...more
I specifically purchased this book to brainstorm writing exercises for my local writing group. I was surprised by how many useful, out-of-the-box exercises were covered in Sherry Ellis’s book.
Now Write! provides exercises for POV, character development, dialogue, plot and pacing, setting and description, craft, and revision.
I recommend bringing along some sticky labels to bookmark your favorite writing exercises. Definitely a book you’ll keep coming back to again and again.
Now Write! provides exercises for POV, character development, dialogue, plot and pacing, setting and description, craft, and revision.
I recommend bringing along some sticky labels to bookmark your favorite writing exercises. Definitely a book you’ll keep coming back to again and again.
I'm thinking of using this book for my next Writing Group session. I've only looked through the first few exercises, but I like what I've seen so far. The first exercise is from Jayne Anne Phillips, the author of Black Tickets among others... anyone who has taken Marc's classes would recognize her as the author with the wedding photo on the front cover of her book. I think doing something with wedding photos would be fun, especially given the demographic of my group.
Update:
I used some of these ...more
Update:
I used some of these ...more
This book got me thinking about my writing. Its full of exercises that have ultimately created many story ideas for me to work with. But a lot of the writing exercises were too complicated/time consuming for me to get into. I may have to re-read this at some point when I have more time to devote to lengthy exercises. However, there are a lot of helpful tips in here to get you to take a closer look at your writing and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to "delve deep" and take a good look at
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I was turned off by this book at the first few exercises. But after a while I did find some brilliant exercises that really helped clarify my writing. Some of the authors just like to hear the sound of their voice. But others really do know what they are talking about. So it is worth a read for those that are interested in writing effectively.
This is an interesting collection of writing prompts and musings from some serious teachers. Unfortunately, it's all at too high a level for my high school students. I'd recommend it to advanced writers. It's a taste of a writing workshop at home.
Some of these exercises were great (The Collage is one I like to use now), and some, well, you can tell they're written by new agers with their whole "guided imagery" thing. In general, this is one of the best books on prompts and exercises that I've read.
Even though I teach middle school, many of these exercises can be tweaked/ reworded for adolescent creative writers. Even if the exercises don't work the way you envisioned, they still work.
I liked this book for the advice given by Ramsey Campbell and Jack Ketchum alone. Two of my favorite authors. Very good advice and exercises from current authors. I suggest picking this up and reading it cover to cover, twice.
Another of those "reading this for no particular reason" books. I'm not a writer, and don't particularly intend to become one, but I'm still interested in the process and the tools. You never know what knowledge might come in handy someday.
Includes exercises from Wolverines Laura Kasischke and Eileen Pollack as well as former-Wolverines Nancy Resiman and Rick Hillis. Wolverines sounds more impressive than Michiganders or ‘people affiliated with the University of Michigan MFA program’, no?
I'm teaching a fiction writing class and using this book. It's chockful of great exercises to get you started writing--and to get you moving more deeply into--fiction. There is also some excellent craft discussion on Point of View, Character Development, Dialogue, Plot and Pacing, Setting, etc.
Writing exercises geared towards developing projects, and jump starting your brain.
Great book for prompts to start writing.
This book has good tips for aspiring novelists.
i read maybe 1/4 of the book this morning -- there's really excellent breadth in the exercises. great for working on various elements of a story, depending on your mood or current worry. :)
Terrific collection of writing exercises. I use this book almost every day in my fiction writing practice.
A good book, except I never wanted to do any of the exercises in it.
Good series of exercises and challenges on writing techniques
Read but on my reference shelf.
Read but on my reference shelf.
This has some very useful exercises to get your creative juices flowing.
Trying to generate some new materials, so I returned to flipping through this book I picked up a writer's conference in '07.
Loved the range of ideas, pulled out a few exercises that would work for my middle school kids. This book would work well with a high school AP or Honors class :)
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Sherry Ellis was a writer, social worker, writing coach, and the originator of the Now Write! series of writing exercise books. She edited Now Write!, Now Write! Nonfiction, and coedited Now Write! Screenwriting with her niece, Laurie Lamson. Her author interviews were published in literary magazines and are anthologized in Illuminating Fiction. She passed away during the process of putting
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