Writing Fiction Step by Step

Rating:
Summary: Josip is an amazing teacher of writing
Review: I took a graduate creative writing course with Josip at the University of Cincinnati. I have not finished reading this book, but it immediately brought me back to my studies with him. He is a knowledgeable and excellent teacher. I highly recommend both this book and his fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Josip is an amazing teacher of writing
Review: I took a graduate creative writing course with Josip at the University of Cincinnati. I have not finished reading this book, but it immediately brought me back to my studies with him. He is a knowledgeable and excellent teacher. I highly recommend both this book and his fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A writing course
Review: There are too many writing books out there for me to buy all the ones I like -- mostly, I just keep going back to the library again and again.

This one, though, I borrowed from the library and renewed it a couple of times before I realized I wasn't ever going to want to give it back. The next day, I returned it to the library and stopped in at the bookstore to buy my very own copy.

This book is very methodical, a little like taking a writing course on your own, at home. If you take Novakovich's suggestions seriously, keeping all the exercise goals in mind, you ought to have more than a few marvellous creations of your own by the time you're done.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was a lengthy inclusion of a story of his own. It is somewhat enlightening, but takes up too much space for what is gained, in my opinion.

You'll need motivation to get through this book, but Novakovich makes it easy, building on previous exercises to craft original, imaginative finished and semi-finished fiction pieces. And the feeling of accomplishment when you emerge at the end of the book is well worth the purchase price and the work you put into completing it.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This book is excellent for those who are interested in writing fiction. I think it would make a good book for a high school or college course as well--so few good ones exist. This book, while written in a flowing, 'non-textbook', easily understood style, is more informing than many textbooks I have seen on the subject.

It is well organized--even if you have some writing experience, you might still find yourself flipping through the chapters when you have a question on, per se, plot or characterization. And best of all, it endorses learning by doing, including several exercises at the end of each chapter.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This book is excellent for those who are interested in writing fiction. I think it would make a good book for a high school or college course as well--so few good ones exist. This book, while written in a flowing, 'non-textbook', easily understood style, is more informing than many textbooks I have seen on the subject.

It is well organized--even if you have some writing experience, you might still find yourself flipping through the chapters when you have a question on, per se, plot or characterization. And best of all, it endorses learning by doing, including several exercises at the end of each chapter.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for novice writers
Review: Through this book, Josip Novakovich helps novice writers gain confidence, experience, and skill. He does this not by coddling writers as if they were pre-school children palying at finger paints, but by making them work hard to attain their goal. Although not all of the 200+ exercises interested me, I found most of them to be interesting enough and several to be quite engaging. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wanted to write fiction but wasn't sure where to begin. Also, it's a good text for more advanced writers who have encountered that dreaded ailment: writer's block.