HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of…
Loading...

Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and (original 1995; edition 2000)

by Sol Stein

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
7331830,492 (4.09)2
The master editor of some of the most successful writers of our century shares his craft techniques and strategies, including how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, and how to create interesting writing in the first place.
Member:ZenPatrice
Title:Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and
Authors:Sol Stein
Info:St. Martin's Griffin (2000), Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:writing, 6/2007

Work Information

Stein on writing : a master editor of some of the most successful writers of our century shares his craft techniques and strategies by Sol Stein (1995)

  1. 10
    The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera (JuliaMaria)
  2. 10
    Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith (JuliaMaria)
  3. 00
    The Writing Life by Annie Dillard (mcgilh)
    mcgilh: I use this book over and over again in my writing. It is a wonderful master writing class, chapter by chapter.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 2 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
I tried and made it through the first one-third of this book before giving up. It’s not a bad book. In fact, Stein had numerous tips that writers can use to improve their work. But it’s information dense and not particularly interesting to read.

Stein’s stated goal of this book was to provide techniques for solving editorial problems. He certainly does that, but the tips and techniques follow one after the other in an information dense format. He provides examples which are of some use, but I doubt anyone can make effective use of the countless suggestions he provides.

An eBook version of this book with a list of all the tips linked to their discussion in the book might be somewhat more useful than this print version. Even better would be to use this as a sourcebook in college writing classes. Students having access to an instructor who can evaluate efforts to incorporate the suggestions into their writing would benefit. However, I do not recommend it for sit-at-home readers. ( )
  Tatoosh | Apr 8, 2022 |
It's full of writing tips that can be used right away. ( )
  troymcc | Jun 30, 2021 |
Definitely one of my top 10 writing guides. Comprehensive and detailed with a plethora of examples. Two techniques, which I haven't seen described in this useful and epiphanic way in any other book, stand out:

Particularity
We hear about avoiding clichés and generalities, but here Stein puts forward a positive admonition.
"To characterize, particularity is used to show how an individual looks dresses, or speaks without resort to cliches or generalizations."
Triage revising
Instead of going through a page-by-page edit, you should fix the major problems first, much like a developmental editor would. I'll be using this revision process going forward.
"Even some of the most experienced authors are not aware of a better way of revising than repeatedly starting at page one and going through to the end... the writer, having gone through his entire manuscript, is likely to grow "cold" on his manuscript... What follows is a guide to the triage method of revision, which gives priority to those matters that are the principal causes of rejection by editors."
The process is to make sure that you've achieved the following:

1) Humanized your characters.
2) Your villains are morally villainous rather than merely badly behaved.
3) Created a credible conflict between your protagonist and antagonist.
4) All your scenes are important and memorable.
5) All actions are clearly motivated.
6) Your first page is compelling enough for the reader to turn to page two.

His occasional self-aggrandizing salesman voice can be irritating, but don't let that get in the way of learning numerous, solid techniques to improve your craft. A must-read book on the craft of wrting! ( )
  quantum.alex | May 31, 2021 |
The chapter about computer software for writing is somewhat... humorous. ( )
  Paul_S | Dec 23, 2020 |
In my opinion, this is a fantastic book and a must for all budding writer's. ( )
  AWA1 | Sep 24, 2018 |
Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

The master editor of some of the most successful writers of our century shares his craft techniques and strategies, including how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, and how to create interesting writing in the first place.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.09)
0.5
1 1
1.5 1
2 4
2.5
3 24
3.5 1
4 50
4.5 3
5 48

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,241,922 books! | Top bar: Always visible