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Rating: 
Summary: Worth every penny
Review: I graduated recently with a degree in writing and picked this book up initally to see what it could offer in way of "education." I was very surprised by all it taught and was became disallusioned with the writing program at the university I attended. Very little of what Nancy Kress teaches was taught to my classmates and me. I intend to buy a copy for each of my soon-to-be graduated friends as a graduation gift because I know for a fact they will also benefit from this book.
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Summary: Burn the other handbooks: this is all you need!
Review: If writing a story is like driving down a dark and windy road, and you are a bit unsure of yourself and your territory, this book is your flashlight and roadmap. What a relief! There are signs to show whether you are on the right path! There are bumpers to help guide you back on course when you veer off! Nancy Kress' book demystifies what it takes to write an effective story as well as the ways in which you can go about doing so. Effective use of examples and exercises, and keeps to the essentials. I have read the others, and they might be interesting, but they are not this! This book is your training wheels to writing good fiction. Thank you Nancy! I also highly recommend Idea Book by Jack Heffron for the abundant and rich prompts.
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Summary: Too 'literary' in orientation
Review: My first impression of this book was that I was reading an English professor's view on writing. If Nancy Kress isn't an English professor she certainly should be but, unfortunately, that particular profession is more of a hindrance than help to a writer of good popular fiction. On finishing the book, this suspicion was sustained by her constant reference to works of classical literature in examples. 'Classics' are, by my definition, works others think you SHOULD read, rather than those you would actually be likely to enjoy reading. Here are the other impressions I got from Beginnings, Middles, & Ends: * There are several helpful hints and gems of writing wisdom in this book... but you'll have to wade a lot of slush to get to them.
* There is something inherently vague about her instructions for story writing. Apparently, this is because she is a 'go-with-the-flow' writer rather than someone who plans carefully beforehand. Would you buy a house from a contractor who planned to 'wing it' and then yank out all the plumbing and wiring if it didn't fit properly? Would you want to waste time and effort writing that way? * I learned much more about the author from reading this than I did about writing fiction. Even though I am an avid fan of science fiction (30+ years of reading it) and that is apparently her genre of choice, after reading this book I feel quite certain I would not enjoy her style of writing... without ever having read a word of her SF. In short, if you are looking for a real road map through the forest of fiction writing try 'The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing' (Evan Marshall) and 'Characters & Viewpoint' (Orson Scott Card) instead. If you are a sensitive connoisseur of literary art 'Beginnings, Middles & Ends' is definitely your book. But don't expect me to read your efforts.
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Summary: Nancy Kress Rocks
Review: Nancy Kress is an excellent teacher. I was one of her students at Clarion. But for writers who can't benefit from her teaching in person, they can read this book. I've been using it in my writing classes for two semesters and I love it. Not only does she explain concepts clearly and concisely, but she has an excellent feel for presenting this information to the beginning writer without confusing or talking down to them. Reading this book will probably put any beginning writer ahead of the game (as long as they incorporate what they learn into their own writing). She gets into the mechanics of why stories and novels work (and don't) and how to make your own do the same. Buy this book, it's really worth it.
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Summary: The Best
Review: The 'how to write' shelves at bookstores groan beneath the weight of all the tomes written on the subject. How to choose, how to choose? Easy: choose this one. I'm primarily a nonfiction writer with a published memoir (BABY CATCHER: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife, Scribner 2002), but I itch to write fiction. Like many writers of occasional fiction, I often have trouble with one aspect of the craft. For me, the middle of the stories comes easily, but I often have difficulty knowing how to begin - or, once begun, I can't figure out how to wrap it up with a believable ending.
This book, Beginnings, Middles & Ends, is a HUGE help at every step along the way.
Five stars and then some.
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Summary: How to keep the tension going in your story
Review: This book is all about the structure and flow of a story. Nancy will show you how to hook the reader, how to dance through the crazy twists and turns that the reader will devour page after page, and how to leave them wanting to hand your book or story to a friend saying "you must read this!
Mandatory for any author's bookshelf.
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Summary: Invaluable!
Review: This book, along with "Plot" by Ansen Dibbell and "Description" by Monica Wood are my favorites of the "Elements of Fiction" series by Writer's Digest Books. Nancy Kress gives a clear and concise guide to keeping your momentum going when beginning a novel or short story. She offers practical advice on most, if not all, areas of fiction writing (e.g. characterization, plots, style). Best of all, she does all of this in an encouraging manner that makes you believe you *can* get through and eventually write the story you've envisioned in your mind. I find her approach extremely helpful and as a result, I ended up buying her book on "Dynamic Characters" as well. I only wish she could write more fiction technique books!
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Summary: A great book on writing with clear and concise instructions
Review: This is a great book due to the fact that it allows a novice (or experienced) writer an insight into the mechanics of storytelling. There are exercises at the end of each chapter to enhance your novel or short story - which is very helpful in allowing a writer to look objectively at what he or she has written, to make the story well-written.
Recommendation: Buy it...
Rating:
Summary: A great book on writing with clear and concise instructions
Review: This is a great book due to the fact that it allows a novice (or experienced) writer an insight into the mechanics of storytelling. There are exercises at the end of each chapter to enhance your novel or short story - which is very helpful in allowing a writer to look objectively at what he or she has written, to make the story well-written.
Recommendation: Buy it...
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good book
Review: This is a very useful guide on how short stories and novels should be structured from beginning to end. When you read fiction only for entertainment, it's easy to forget that there's as much craft involved in writing as there is creativity. It's hard to teach creativity, but a book like this can be really helpful in recognizing the conventions that most well written books follow. Some of these conventions seem fairly obvious when you read about them, such as providing sufficient motivation to show why a character changes during a story and delivering at the end of the story the implied promises made at the beginning, yet I've read a lot of published fiction that could have benefitted from the advice in this book.
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