How Writers Write

If you’ve ever been on a creative writing course ... you’re thinking of going on one ... you’re a published author ... you’re an unpublished author ... you simply love writing - then this book is an indispensable(and unique) companion. Most creative writing courses focus on the mechanics of how to write - choosing the right words, plot-building, developing characters and the like which are all absolutely essential, but are only literally half the story. How Writers Write is a friendly, practical and jargon-free book that supplies the missing half, venturing behind the text to help you understand why successful writers make the creative decisions they do; in short, how they get their thoughts and perceptions out of their imagination and down onto paper or screen. So this book won’t tell you which adjective is the right one or whether the hero should get the girl at the end. But it will provide the essential background you need to understand and have confidence in the creative decisions you make; and just as importantly, how and why you make them. Many chapters contain practical exercises, allowing you to work through what you’ve learned; and at the end, there’s a useful list of topics and texts for further reading and thinking. Along the way, you’ll find out what’s been going on in writers’ minds for the last four thousand years; how different social attitudes have shaped their creativity; how they’ve tried to understand themselves and their role in the world; and how technical advances in writing and now distribution - have allowed them to express themselves in an ever-expanding variety of ways. How Writers Write is all about what makes great writing great and achievable.