Writing Fiction For Dummies

I lost my patience with this book

I haven't read the entire book yet because it was so annoying. It kept talking about how I shouldn't worry about getting my book published over and over and I just got to the point where I screamed at my Nook "I DON'T CARE! Tell me HOW to write dammit!" I don't care about publishing my book yet because I just wanted to learn HOW to write fiction. Publishing comes way later in the process so why would I even be worried about it yet? What I wanted to learn was difficult to learn because it would not shut up about publishing. It was like the book was worried that I would be worried that they wouldn't tell me how to publish but that is so way off into the future that I just don't care. I feel like if they said at the beginning that they will teach me how to write fiction now then teach me how to publish at the end of the book then I would have stayed with it. I started to get the impression that this book is not going to teach me anything so I lost my patience with it and gave up.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

For a beginner there's more info than you need

For someone who has no idea how to write a fiction novel, there is more info than you need. So I would recommend it to begin with as you don't have to read from front to back before you get started in your fiction novel writing. As you write, you can access it for more information. Like working on details and editing and then, if you so choose, getting your work publish ready.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

What are you waiting for? Buy this book!

It used to be that finding good books on writing fiction was about as hard as finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Nowadays, successful writers have stepped forward to provide concise, easy-to-understand information on the subject. Randy Ingermanson is at the head of that movement.

"Writing Fiction for Dummies" is now my go-to guide for all things writing. It has a proud slot on the top shelf of my bookcase where I keep all my favorite books, but it's almost never up there, because I can't stop taking it down and flipping through its pages to glean more wisdom.

Bottom line, everything you need to know about writing fiction is contained within this book. If you're a writer at any stage of the journey toward becoming an author, do yourself a favor and buy this book. You won't regret it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

The 'Dummies' title should really go away. This is a book for anyone who ever entertained writing fiction. He makes the process clear and to-the-point.I have been a newspaper reporter all my life, but have never written fiction. Now I have a road map for how to plot my novel. I am confident. This book is my guide -- but could also be the guide for readers who have never written professionally.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

For all writers, new or experienced

This book tells the beginning writer how to make the leap to published author. It shows how to tackle characters, plot and theme, and then how to refine them by editing and polishing. It emphasizes that most vital element of all in a compelling book, writing a powerful emotional experience for the reader. It helps the writer with the smallest pieces of a scene, "clips," right on up to the largest issue of theme.

But this book isn't just for the new or beginning writer. Even experienced writers get stuck occasionally, perhaps even in that most dreaded trap, the writer's block. This book, with information on everything from dialogue to the three-act structure, can help that stuck writer get going again.

This is a book that belongs on every writer's shelf. First, to help you get started as a writer, and then to refer to anywhere in your journey as an author.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hmmm

Is this book helpful for young (as in grade-school) writers? ;)

I cant believe...

...how great this book turned out to be. It would be impossible to write a (fiction) book without this handy.

A great addition to your resource library

In Writing Fiction for Dummies, Christy Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson and bestselling author Peter Economy present a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach to crafting a novel. They outline everything a beginning fiction writer needs to know, from fine-tuning your idea and identifying your target audience, to putting together a book proposal and approaching editors. They cover the mechanics, too. Characterization, setting, dialogue, story structure - all the elements of a great novel. To illustrate the skills presented, they include plenty of examples from published novels, some well-known and some a little more obscure, but all extremely helpful. Of course, being a speculative fiction fan from way back, I really appreciated the examples from sci-fi classic Ender's Game.


Even though I don't consider myself a "dummy" when it comes to fiction, I found the book really helpful. I enjoy reading what successful writers have to say about the craft of writing. Some of the skills Ingermanson and Economy described were refreshers for me, things I already knew but don't focus on all the time. For example, the section on scene structure really helped me in my current task of revising my current manuscript. I needed a reminder about reactive and proactive scenes, and when I finished reading Writing Fiction for Dummies, I felt more confident in my revision. Other sections of this book were new to me, like the tips for analyzing problem areas of my stories. I love learning something new!


The writing in Writing Fiction for Dummies is clear, clean, and easy to understand. The authors' conversational style and occasional humor kept me reading. Passages like this one made chuckle out loud: Every author thinks that he is the lone exception and can get away with writing pages of backstory in chapter one because the reader is dying to know it. This is a lie from the pits of hell. At other times I wanted to grab my highlighter, or clip sections of text to send to my critique partners.


In other words, you don't have to be a dummy to learn from Writing Fiction for Dummies!

Ahh, Randy. What a funny guy

Review by Jill Williamson

Randy Ingermanson is my hero. I have been learning from him since I discovered his website in 2005. The man is not only a wealth of information, he teaches in such a fun and friendly way, you can't fail to learn. And now, everything Randy teaches is here in one convenient package. Man, how I wish he had written this a few years ago! It would have saved me a lot of trouble.

I highly recommend this book to any writer, but especially to beginners who want to write a novel. You'll learn how to come up with a plot and test it to see if it's strong, how to create amazing characters that are deep and engaging, how to plot your story and avoid the dreaded sagging middle, how to keep the tension and pacing strong, and how to edit your novel. This book even includes cool things like an interview between J.R.R. Tolkien and Frodo Baggins. Ahh, Randy. What a funny guy.

All novel writers--novice to experienced--need this book!

Regardless of where you are in your novel-writing career, you need this book. Whether you're brand-spanking new at novel writing or you have a few published books under your belt, in some respect or another (maybe many others), you're still a dummy about the writing biz. I would have loved to have this book when I began my first novel. And I'm thrilled to have it now, after publishing four. Early in Writing Fiction for Dummies, Ingermanson categorizes writers as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors, and the book guides writers at every one of those levels. But as a post-grad (I assume), I still found plenty of ways my novel writing could be tightened and deepened.

Ingermanson is well known on the conference circuit for his methodical approach to creativity, dispelling the myths that you're not smart enough or talented enough to write a novel. He doesn't sap one's right-hemisphere flow; he encourages it to flow in the best possible way--so it creates a story that will draw your readers in and stay with them long after they read the last word. Highly recommended!

Great tool for aspiring fiction writers

I wish I would've had Writing Fiction for Dummies when I wrote my first novel several years ago. Such a wealth of information! I appreciate the authors taking a multi-faceted approach, giving room for different types of plotters. I also applaud the attention to scene structure and self editing. If you're starting this journey, or you're partway through and you don't quite know how to continue, or you're farther along but want some excellent tips, this is an informational and inspirational read. It's such a holistic resource that I plan on using it when I teach fiction.

Wow! So helpful!

I thought this book was so helpful. I have the first draft of one book that I just don't know how to edit, and I'm writing several others right now. "Writing Fiction for Dummies" helped me with both. This book helped to guide me and will help me when I try to get something published.

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