One of the most to the point books of prompts that I have looked at. Doing the work with this book feels a little more like eating my writing veggies than I like, I suspect because they are grounded more in literary fiction than speculative fiction, but if I need something to get me going in a new direction, I look in this book. Opening the book at random is my favorite thing, and although I usually modify the exercises to fit my style, it has yet to let me down. ( )

If all you have on the shelf is space for one, just one, volume to excercise your fiction, make it this one. Let me tell you why:

1. The excercises are, indeed, uncommon. Even the ones that look like I've heard them before when I first start reading them are, upon further examination, given a new spin. Though this may make them look a bit daunting at first, it also makes them exciting and challenging and worth your money.

2. There are so many of them; just over one hundred and fifty. Do one every few days for a year and you might just find you've laid the groundwork for about ten short story collections (the average collection holds about fifteen).

3. While the author is by no means hyper-critical, he knows how to jolt you into action by tingling your pride. A learned, patient but no-nonsense teacher, he will not shy away from calling you a coward should you chicken out of doing your excercises properly.

4. The commentaries to the excercises often provide little snippets of literary history and criticism that inspire as much as they inform. Knowing that James Joyce almost stopped writing "Ulysses" when he parted from his daily writing buddy made me go awww (because it's a cute story) and oh! (because it is always useful to remember that even the greatest wordsmiths are human beings).

... there are more reasons; though if these are not enough, this isn't the book for you. ( )

I adore this book. I've only just started doing the writing exercises, but I've read through most of them at some point or other. There are some many interesting prompts that I can't wait to work with, although I know some will prove to be very difficult. A great resource for writers. ( )

I bought this book in hopes that it would help me work on my creative writing skills.
Sometimes it did. Most of the time the instructions and prompt suggestions were too detailed to allow me a comfortable approach to writing.
However I write and study poetry. The book may be more helpful for those who are inclined to write prose (I just don't have the stamina for that sort of thing). ( )

These "prompt" books are typically all the same, but Kiteley's is one of the better I've read. He has some great ideas in here--exercises that can produce "real" fiction that doesn't seem like the result of an exercise. ( )