Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies - Hardcover

Sol Stein

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312136080 ISBN 13: 9780312136086

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1995

Synopsis

Your future as a writer is in your hands. Whether you are a newcomer or an accomplished professional, a novelist, story writer, or a writer of nonfiction, you will find this book a wealth of immediately useful guidance not available anywhere else. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of useable solutions-- how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."

You will find one of the great unspoken secrets of craftsmanship in Chapter 5, called "Markers: The Key to Swift Characterization." In Chapter 7, Stein reveals for he first time in print the wonderful system for creating instant conflict developed in the Playwrights Group of the Actors Studio, of which he was a founder. In "Secrets of Good Dialogue," the premier teacher of dialogue gives you the instantly useable techniques that not only make verbal exchanges exciting but that move the story forward immediately. You won't need to struggle with flashbacks or background material after you've read Chapter 14, which shows you how to bring background into the foreground.

Writers of both fiction and nonfiction will relish the amphetamines for speeding up pace, and the many ways to liposuction flab, as well as how to tap originality and recognize what successful titles have in common. You'll discover literary values that enhance writing, providing depth and resonance. You'll bless the day you read Chapters 32 and 33 and discover why revising by starting at page one can be a serious mistake, and how to revise without growing cold on your manuscript.

In the pages of this book, nonfiction writers will find a passport to the new revolution in journalism and a guide to using the techniques of fiction to enhance nonfiction. Fresh, useful, informative, and fun to read and reread, Stein on Writing is a book you will mark up, dog-ear, and cherish.

About this title

About the Author

For thirty-six years, Sol Stein edited writers as diverse as James Baldwin, Dylan Thomas, Jack Higgins, W. H. Auden, Budd Schulberg, Jacques Barzun, F. Lee Bailey, David Frost, and Lionel Trilling. Stein is himself the author of nine novels, including the million-copy best-seller The Magician, making best-seller lists as far away as Moscow. He is also a prize-winning playwright produced on Broadway, an anthologized poet, and the author of nonfiction books, screenplays, and TV dramas. Stein is the creator of the award-winning computer software WritePro®, as well as FirstAid for Writers® and FictionMaster. He has lectured on creative writing at Columbia, Iowa, UCLA, and the University of California at Irvine, which presented him with the Distinguished Instructor Award in 1993.

Reviews

In this stimulating guide, a veteran novelist (The Magician), editor (Stein & Day) and teacher offers a banquet of savvy advice. Unlike Anne Lamott et al., Stein aims not to help his readers wrestle with writerly anguish; rather, he gets on the page, citing examples from writers famous and fledgling, closely analyzing first sentences, creation of character, plotting and dialogue (use "speech markers" to differentiate among characters). Stein concentrates more on fiction?point of view and the creation of love scenes?but his advice on such issues as self-editing and choosing a title applies also to nonfiction. A section on nonfiction contains worthy remarks about adapting fictional techniques (suspense, visual particularity, etc.) but is too brief to be a full guide to journalistic writing or producing an account of a historic event.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"A book of usable solutions" is how the author describes this work. And who better to know than Stein, a writer of fiction (Best Revenge, LJ 7/91) and nonfiction (A Feast for Lawyers, LJ 12/89), a playwright, a writing instructor, and the former editor and publisher of Stein and Day. His expert practical advice frequently applies to the process of writing both compelling fiction and nonfiction in terms of characterization, pacing, revision, evoking emotion, and "liposuctioning flab." Stein's own writing demonstrates the "resonance" and "particularities" he discusses, and his original checklists, writing exercises, and numerous examples encourage the reader/writer to see and do the same. A chapter of help sources and a glossary of terms provide the finishing touch. This book can jump-start anyone's creativity and propel the stodgy writer into the 20th century. Highly recommended for all writing collections.?Cathy Sabol, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Manassas
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312136080
• ISBN 13: 9780312136086
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 308
• Editor: David Stanford Burr