jonwesleyhuff's review against another edition
4.0
I don't laugh very often when I'm reading. I'll smile at an amusing passage but I usually don't laugh outright. It takes special talent to do that to me, and this book hit the mark. I will say up front that I'm inclined to enjoy humor about bad writing or badly constructed sentences. I even enjoyed the examples of this in grammar handbooks. The fact that the book is very funny and also extremely helpful at the same time helps a lot.
Even if you're not writing a novel, I think readers in general will find a lot to enjoy in the book. If I had one minor complaint it is that some of the examples are a bit too silly for their own good. Having a ton of mistakes in one paragraph is fine, but when it's coupled with a lot of silly names and silly situations I think the humor is actually lessened. That being said, this is only really noticeable in a couple examples and it doesn't really weaken what the writers are trying to illustrate.
Even if you're not writing a novel, I think readers in general will find a lot to enjoy in the book. If I had one minor complaint it is that some of the examples are a bit too silly for their own good. Having a ton of mistakes in one paragraph is fine, but when it's coupled with a lot of silly names and silly situations I think the humor is actually lessened. That being said, this is only really noticeable in a couple examples and it doesn't really weaken what the writers are trying to illustrate.
frtps's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.75
An exhaustive list of all the things that an aspiring author should avoid. The examples of bad writing are hilarious.
saralynnburnett's review against another edition
3.0
I found this craft book more lighthearted than other ones I've read and it definitely had some useful tips and the examples used to illustrate the authors' points were mostly from genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, humor etc).
pbobrit's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this up randomly at Waterstones. Not planning on writing the great American / English novel just yet but this is still a good read for anyone who does any writing. It uses rather amusing examples of what not to do in order to steer you down the path to decent writing. So for anyone interested in writing or more importantly having their first novel publish this is actually well worth a read.
morag's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
A solid chunk of advice for people who need help getting their story off the ground, through the air, and close to the landing strip. This manages to be funny, informative, and concise, which made it a breeze to read. The authors show an example of each mistake in a short excerpt and then explain how it fails in further detail. It's a great resource for people who know their book isn't working but can't pinpoint how.
I don't recommend following all their advice, of course. No book is perfect. The chapter on characters in particular sticks out as being a bit less helpful than the rest. Some of their advice boils down to leaning into stereotypes to make characters recognizable. You have to be able to tell a character is gay, so he can't just "act like a straight guy." This isn't technically wrong, of course, but the tone felt off to me. In another example, when depicting a best-friend who was the protagonist's true love all along, they try to tell you to make them more traditionally attractive by the end. If it's a guy, he better put on some muscle and get rid of those glasses, etc., which is not ideal.
Overall, as long as you don't take everything they say as gold, this is a great book for writers. I'd highly recommend it.
I don't recommend following all their advice, of course. No book is perfect. The chapter on characters in particular sticks out as being a bit less helpful than the rest. Some of their advice boils down to leaning into stereotypes to make characters recognizable. You have to be able to tell a character is gay, so he can't just "act like a straight guy." This isn't technically wrong, of course, but the tone felt off to me. In another example, when depicting a best-friend who was the protagonist's true love all along, they try to tell you to make them more traditionally attractive by the end. If it's a guy, he better put on some muscle and get rid of those glasses, etc., which is not ideal.
Overall, as long as you don't take everything they say as gold, this is a great book for writers. I'd highly recommend it.
biblio_lore's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off kind of promising and a lot of it was fun to start. Unfortunately, it wasn't a concept that lent itself to a longer book in this case. What started off as good advice framed in a humorous way quickly started to get a bit tired and after a while, I started noticing that the examples weren't as funny and the advice wasn't as sharp. In fact, I found it kind of going against what it had said it was doing. The book begins by telling you that it's your novel and that they won't tell you how to write it but then they get into some areas that seem fairly specific and advice that just seems limiting and unnecessary. (Characters shouldn't own pets? There's no creative situations that wouldn't be useful or more interesting where you introduce a pet in? Was this a problem for newbie writers for a while that it was necessary to devote a few pages to it?) That was a personal low point but there were others that I questioned along the way, particularly because it seems to exclude genre fiction in its scope. Maybe all this advice is great if you're looking to write the next big literary book that is set to win all manner of prestige awards but I think there's room for more diversity in writing that what they're selling here. Not all of it is bad advice but I found the humor waned and the advice was limiting. Proceed at your own discretion.
birdkeeperklink's review against another edition
5.0
This book is hilarious and informative at the same time. Rather than dictate to you, the authors point out why certain writing styles and choices are a bad idea, in the most humorous way possible.
I recommend it even if you aren't planning to write a novel, because it is funny and worth the read.
I recommend it even if you aren't planning to write a novel, because it is funny and worth the read.
kireteiru's review against another edition
4.0
My copy was apparently missing the last several pages, but still a good read. Sometimes learning what you need to do first involves learning what NOT to do.