Rating: 
Summary: Helpful, Yet Sometimes Contradictory Advice
Review: Patricia Highsmith produced some really wonderful works of suspense. It helps to be familiar with at least one or two of them before jumping into this book; she refers to her work quite a bit...maybe a little too much. Yet, Highsmith's comments are mostly helpful in such areas as plotting, point of view, and revisions. From the very beginning, Highsmith advises writers to write in order to please one person: yourself. If you read good works and are satisfied with your own work, you're probably producing good writing. She also recommends focusing on characters and allowing them to take on a life of their own. There are times when Highsmith seems to throw out all kinds of advice, sometimes contradicting what she has said earlier. For example, she strongly advises outling each chapter and its events, yet she also advocates winging it free-write style, without knowing where you're going. Overall, a helpful book, but more valuable information should be packed into its 145 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful, Yet Sometimes Contradictory Advice
Review: Patricia Highsmith produced some really wonderful works of suspense. It helps to be familiar with at least one or two of them before jumping into this book; she refers to her work quite a bit...maybe a little too much. Yet, Highsmith's comments are mostly helpful in such areas as plotting, point of view, and revisions. From the very beginning, Highsmith advises writers to write in order to please one person: yourself. If you read good works and are satisfied with your own work, you're probably producing good writing. She also recommends focusing on characters and allowing them to take on a life of their own. There are times when Highsmith seems to throw out all kinds of advice, sometimes contradicting what she has said earlier. For example, she strongly advises outling each chapter and its events, yet she also advocates winging it free-write style, without knowing where you're going. Overall, a helpful book, but more valuable information should be packed into its 145 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Beyond Genre To Literature
Review: This book is an excellent essay on the craft of writing, far beyond any label or genre you might want it to focus on. Honest and intelligent, Patricia Highsmith writes without flamboyance of any kind about all the steps going along the creative process. And in doing this, she really helps the writer-reader take consciousness of his craft, giving him realistic advice and motivation. "Plotting and Writing..." is not a "how to" book. It doesn't give you any formula nor pretends to have found the golden way of creating a story. But it is a true infusion of shared experience from a very talented writer and a bright person. And most important: Mrs. Highsmith's book teaches there's not such a thing as "Suspense Literature" or whatever. As Duke Ellington said about music, there are only two kinds of literature: the good one and the bad one. Patricia Highsmith deals with the good one.
Rating: 
Summary: Mildly amusing, but useless.
Review: Very little useful information contained in this book. You can learn more about the craft from reading her fiction! Get Stephen King's On Writing instead. Much more practical advice.
| 
