TWO CRAFT BOOKS IN ONE MONTH? What am I, some sort of literary addict, jonesing for another hit of structure and plot?
MAYBE.
Stein on Writing does not mess around. It is a technical manual, craft-oriented, and if you so choose to metaphorically strap it on your back and hike through the wilds of your words, does it ever deliver. Stein offers actionable advice on key elements of effective writing, including structure, dialogue, pacing, and character development. Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, his insights are spot-on, particularly when it comes to clarity and engagement—cornerstones for holding a reader's attention.
Stein emphasizes “particularity,” (my new favorite word), and guides writers on crafting and revising prose. This is not a book of vague inspiration, abstract advice, or “fix the commas” or “cut adverbs” suggestions. The method is clear and pragmatic: shape your writing, tighten, refine, repeat, until you’ve produced polished, professional work.
Make no mistake, this is no dry tome. Stein practices what he preaches, often with great wit, as evidenced by gems like:
"Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions."
"One plus one equals a half."
Too often, advice at this point in my career feels mushy, repetitive, or feasibly addressed by a simple search-and-replace. Stein’s book demands more of us as architects of meaning. This is about our responsibility for the reader’s experience, forcing us to organize our thoughts clearly on the page.
This one also earned a place on my “Easy to Reach Craft Book Pile”
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About the author
Extremely Helpful to Writers
While revising my memoir, I devoured Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies. Novelist, editor, and teacher, Sol Stein's book is enormously helpful. His chapters on first sentences and paragraphs, characterization, how actors develop drama, suspense, dialogue, flashbacks, particularity, love scenes, and liposuctioning flab were especially helpful. I learned a lot from how he presented before-after revisions from well known writers and his own work to demonstrate methods.My process was, I read a chapter, applied his advice to certain scenes, then read another chapter and returned to the manuscript. I checked out the audio and hard copy of his book from our library, but soon decided to order my own copy to keep at hand for future writing projects. If you're writing fiction especially or nonfiction, check it out!
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2012
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- SKReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2016
Every writer should read this at least once
