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A review by lia_mills
How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them--A Misstep-By-Misstep Guide by Howard Mittelmark
funny
informative
3.75
Method: e-book
More funny than instructive, but not lacking in either - worth reading if you like comedy non-fiction, and/or if you're interested in creative writing, and since I'm a yes to both, this worked for me.
(It would have worked better, though, without some of the grosser examples - I'm somewhat squeamish, so this does lessen the book for me a little).
On a personal note: I read this on my phone over the course of a 10-hour day while helping patch the lights for a university theatre production (specifically, sitting in the lighting box and following the exact instructions from someone who actually knew how lighting systems work) - every few minutes, they would call up to me from the auditorium and tell me what to do, and I would do exactly what they said before returning to this book. This is one of my fondest (and one of very few sociable) memories from my university days, and I will always think rather fondly of this book for that reason.
More funny than instructive, but not lacking in either - worth reading if you like comedy non-fiction, and/or if you're interested in creative writing, and since I'm a yes to both, this worked for me.
(It would have worked better, though, without some of the grosser examples - I'm somewhat squeamish, so this does lessen the book for me a little).
On a personal note: I read this on my phone over the course of a 10-hour day while helping patch the lights for a university theatre production (specifically, sitting in the lighting box and following the exact instructions from someone who actually knew how lighting systems work) - every few minutes, they would call up to me from the auditorium and tell me what to do, and I would do exactly what they said before returning to this book. This is one of my fondest (and one of very few sociable) memories from my university days, and I will always think rather fondly of this book for that reason.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexual content