Fiction Writer's Workshop

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Summary: About the Book-------
Review:
Fiction Writer's Workshop

FROM THE PUBLISHER
In a clear and lively style, with rich literary references from classic and contemporary fiction, Novakovich teaches you how to: uncover ideas worth writing about; evoke a vivid sense of place and time; invent believable characters for your fiction; support your story with strong organization and structure; tell your story from the best viewpoint; direct your dramatic action; open and close with power and grace; choose expressive details; write with a commanding narrative voice; and transform your first draft into finished, polished fiction. At the end of each chapter, a dozen or more unique writing exercises (each with a clear "objective statement" to focus your efforts) will help you put what you learn into action, while exploring new ideas, approaches and genres. After you complete each exercise, "check" questions will help you review what you've done - so that you may revise or rewrite. Encouraging real improvement over negative self-criticism, Novakovich helps you gain a more productive sense of where you can write one more line that will add life to what you already have down - or where you can delete a line that may obscure your readers' view. He helps you develop day-to-day self-discipline. And perhaps most important, he respects and encourages your development of personal style. "I will give you a lot of advice," he says, "but you need not take it." As a writer, Novakovich knows that the strongest fiction emerges from your own choices and directions. Fiction Writer's Workshop gives you clear, firsthand understanding of the elements of fiction . . . so you can make more informed choices and your fiction more successful.

Private Bookshelf Tutor!
Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a 'blah' setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.


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Summary: Excellent Help for the Price
Review: Excellent book for sure. I have not done the exercizes at the end of the chapters (that will come later) but the information is very helpful. An easy read.

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Summary: A complete course!
Review: Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a "blah" setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.

Rating:
Summary: A complete course!
Review: Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a "blah" setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.

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Summary: Novakovich has changed my writing life
Review: Not only does Novakovich bring in the advice of many other writers to make his book of instruction a great resource for a writing workshop, but he shares his own vast wealth of experience as a short story writer and recently published novelist to make this book the best book from which to learn the craft of writing I have ever owned. The Fiction Writer's Workshop is the only writing instruction book of the several I bought that offers a set of useful exercises and writing prompts at the end of each chapter. For anyone who is serious about the writing life, Novakovich's book is a must buy and a must use.

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Summary: Helpful, but not as practical as his other book...
Review: Novakovich is a master teacher, and this book is fine for some things, but I think he's really at his masterful best when he's dispensing practical exercises, rather than extensive theoretical background.

For sparking my own fiction, I much preferred his "Writing Fiction Step by Step", which takes you in a much more practical direction towards creating finished pieces.

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Summary: Fiction Writing Workshop Without Shelling Out the Big Bucks
Review: This book covers everything you need to develop page-turning fiction. Chapters include Setting, Character, Plot and Dialogue.

Each chapter has an exercise at the end so you can get the full "workshop" feel. It's like having a personal writing instructor in the privacy of your own home!

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Summary: Very informative!
Review: This book is extremely helpful to any writer. I am using it for a course I am taking at a University (at home writing fiction course). It has fresh perspective for every aspect of writing fiction. This book uses endless passages to enhance the message he is trying to get across. I would recommend this spectacular book to any fiction writer (especially beginners). I would give it ten stars if I could.

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Summary: Great Help
Review: This is a great book to help the struggling writer, or the writer that just wants to hone his skill. Just like the title indicates, this book is a giant practicum in writing. Joseph Novakovich is able to put a creative writing class into a book with ease. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that focuses on a topic, from settings to dialogue and everything in between.

Novakovich focuses on each topic with in-depth detail. He provides specific examples from his own work as well as others to get his ideas across. He has found a way to simplify the idea of writing such that it may be easily explained. I felt that Novakovich covered dialogue, setting and description better than any other help-book that I have read. In fact, my problem has always been with "show, don't tell". I was finally able to learn the difference thanks to Novakovich.

But, he doesn't stop with just the lecture part of the lesson. At the end of each chapter is a series of exercises to build your writing muscles. The exercises focus on the material in the chapter that he just covered so you actually learn the ideas by performing them. He also follows each exercise with an explanation of what you should be looking for in your "answer" allowing you to see if you did indeed grasp his teachings.

I have read many books trying to improve my story telling ability. The "Fiction Writers Workshop" is the best one that I've come across to date, and I believe that my writing has improved greatly from the lessons Novakovich provided.

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Summary: Josips' idea of transferring class into a book was genious!
Review: This is a must for any fiction writer. Whatever problem you have, it's here. Each chapter begins with a lecture, then examples, and finally some assignments. His lectures are easy to understand, encouraging, and reasonable. His examples make sure you understand what he's talking about! And to sum it off, the exercises are as wondeful as the one's the What If? Exercises for the fiction writer.