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7 oeuvres 246 utilisateurs 22 critiques

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Comprend les noms: Joni Cole

Œuvres de Joni B. Cole

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Date de naissance
20th Century
Sexe
female
Nationalité
USA

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I have wanted to write since I was a child in school. It seems like there was always another world going on in my head. I wrote out some stories in school. As life went on I continued to write but not sharing. I never thought I was good enough or knew enough to truly write. This book was perfect for me! I used an entire pad of sticky notes. Page after page have little pink squares on them. There is a wealth of information in between the covers. The best part? It is written so you understand and are encouraged. You are encouraged to take the writing class. You are encouraged to write. You are encouraged to share what you write. You are told not everyone will like it. You are told you probably won't be great. You are told to write anyway. The author is herself a writing instructor as well as author. She truly gives a solid look at writing. More important she gives a solid look at being happy writing. It is the most motivational and helpful writing book, I have read. You come away encouraged and ready to start writing. You may have already started by doing the exercises in the book. I did which is why it took so long to finish the book. In honesty, I am not done with it. I don't think I will ever be done with it. I keep going back and over things and doing the exercises mentioned, this way then that way. If you write, want to write, are intimidated to write, buy this book. You will grow from it and will probably use it over and over.
I was offered this book for review purposes. Thank you to Joni B. Cole for providing a copy of it for an honest review. I am giving copies for Christmas to a my son and a few others who want to write but aren't confident. I know they will find it to be a writer's treasure.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
Wulfwyn907 | 10 autres critiques | Jan 30, 2022 |
Spoiler alert: according to writing teacher Joni B. Cole, the key to writing more, writing better, and being happier, as promised by the subtitle, is to join a writing group. I'm in a writing group, and although I don't always find happiness in this, I can attest to the "more" and "better" components of the formula. This entertaining, encouraging guide addresses the psychological and emotional aspects of writing, most notably how to get out of your own way, overcome your hesitations, and get some work started or revise what you have written. Highly recommended; I borrowed this book from a library but am considering buying my own copy for reference for when writing times get tough.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
akblanchard | 10 autres critiques | Jun 26, 2019 |
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.
Sub-title seemed like quite a bit to expect. Author surely challenged herself greatly. While I wasn't very thrilled with the contents I would love to attend her in-person writing sessions. Nevertheless I did learn something from the book that I have long suspected. I am no writer. I do not care to be a writer. I will never be a writer.
 
Signalé
gdemange | 10 autres critiques | Dec 6, 2017 |
Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.
First thought on this writing guide: the author insists that all aspiring writers should attend workshops. She leads creative writing workshops, so that bias is there. She mentions several points in the craft of writing that she brings to her workshops. Unfortunately, while workshops (or writing groups) are a nice idea, it's not practical for everyone. Not everyone can afford them, or have the ability to get away to attend them, and/or in my case being Deaf means an interpreter would have to be hired and paid for. Setting the workshop issue aside, there are still some useful take-aways from this book.

One such take-away is from this quote:

"Now is a good time to make an important distinction in narrative craft. The terms story and plot are often used interchangeably, or at least I use them interchangeably, but it helps to understand how they differ. Story is context. It is a series of events in chronological order. This happened and then this happened and then this happened. It is all the stuff that occurred even before the first page of the book. Plot is also a series of events, but plot embodies causality, as in this happened because that happened. Here is an example of story: Geraldine left for work, and then her husband made an spinach and mushroom omelet. Here's an example of plot: Geraldine left for work because she couldn't bear to watch her husband make one more spinach and mushroom omelet. Now that's causality, where emotion and motive drive motion". (p. 72-73)

This quote may be obvious already to those who have studied literature and/or writing, but it was eye-opening for me in more than just how to write: it also describes how some books are more successful than others in my enjoyment of reading them. That was a good "a-ha" moment. Cole also mentions later in the book that being a writer can ruin you as a reader: learning to write well can make you recognize works that are also written well and those that sadly are not.

Cole also mentions that editing, editing, editing is very important in writing. I agree -- and I'm sure many others agree also, but it can be challenging to push oneself to go through yet another edit. In fact, at the risk of sounding like an armchair editor, I feel like a lot of recent novels are too sprawling and all over the place and could have been cut at least 100-200 pages shorter.

Overall, a helpful book. It doesn't break down the basic mechanics of writing. It's useful in that wisdom is imparted -- each reader of this book is sure to find something from it that is relevant to them.
… (plus d'informations)
½
 
Signalé
ValerieAndBooks | 10 autres critiques | Sep 6, 2017 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
7
Membres
246
Popularité
#92,613
Évaluation
3.8
Critiques
22
ISBN
18

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