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Title: Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande ISBN: 0-87477-164-1 Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 01 March, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.61 (31 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A great blast from the past!
Comment: Becoming a Writer is a reprint from a book originally published in 1934. However, I have found the advice to be timeless and in keeping with that given by modern writers such as Stephen King and Natalie Goldberg. Dorothea Brande writes in clear, concise terms what is needed to become a writer, and like the others, she advises that hard work is what will in the end, be a necessary ingredient. Especially if we are to be conscious competents.
I found the chapters on reading as a writer most helpful as I do so much reading and therefore wish to learn as much as I can while doing so. And I was most amazed at the insight that Ms. Brande had with respect to how the mind works. She seems to be well ahead of her times, and I'm not so sure that many would find fault with her take on how genius or "empty mind" is to be encouraged and enhanced.
In short, this book is well worth the read and should be on any aspiring writer's shelf. I give it a three out of five rating (and then only because there are more current volumes that provide this information). I am pleased to have spent the time reading this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Take with a grain of common sense
Comment: I read Dorothea Brande's classic writing text because it was recommended to me on amazon.com (I'm an addict). It was one of those "You'll love this" picks, and for the most part, they were right. I enjoyed the exercises, and I liked Brande's ideas about writers using nonverbal recreation to stimulate their writing (for instance, going to an orchestra concert instead of watching a movie)and ways to observe as a writer. However, I think she takes some things a little too seriously- and I consider myself a serious writer. She made too much of the importance of environment in "preserving the writer's spirit" and in the process came off a bit like a wilting Victorian lady, ready to stop writing because of the smallest interruptions to her writing routine. In my experience, if you're really committed to it, the will to write is a lot stronger than that. Good advice, but don't let it push you over the edge into overzealous belly-button examination.
Rating: 5
Summary: Always Remembered
Comment: Brande's timeless classic is the mother of writer's inspirational books and still in print. I swear other writers steal from her exercises to fill their writing books.
Brande covers nearly every tangible aspect to the writing life - working, creating time, friends, trusted readers, finding good books, etc. This advice echoes through the journals and diaries of authors small and large. (I'm not kidding. Check how many times this is mentioned in the National Archives of our most beloved authors.)
In the early 1900's when this book was first released, writing was modern and reaching new heights. The fact that this book could be put in a contemporary cover and sold as new is a testament to its validity.
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Title: If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland ISBN: 1555972608 Publisher: Graywolf Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg ISBN: 0877733759 Publisher: Shambhala Publications Pub. Date: 01 October, 1986 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott ISBN: 0385480016 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course by Jerry Cleaver ISBN: 031228716X Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King ISBN: 0743455967 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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