Walter Dean Myers knows a great deal about writing. He has successfully written and published over 100 books, most targeting young readers.
“Just Write” also seeks young readers as its primary audience, but like so many really good YA books, it appeals to older people, too, even really old people like me.
The book is a great guide to writing. Simple, down to earth, well structured and enormously practical, “Just Write” offers tremendous help to young (or old) people who want to write but just don’t know how to get their ideas translated into something others would want to read. I wish I had read this book many years ago since one of the greatest regrets of my life is that I did not pursue a career in writing.
Myers’ advice is divided into two primary areas: how to write fiction, especially a novel, and how to write non-fiction. The techniques and tools he describes are quite simple, yet there is a world of difference between simplicity and ease. In other words, the tools are simple and making them work in an actual application is not easy because being a writer is work, it is difficult no matter what tools are being used, and it takes perseverance.
“Just Write” lays out a roadmap of the steps for how to go from idea to product, and the map is excellent.
For me personally, I have written down lots of ideas and notes about things I would like to write about, and many I have even turned into compositions, stories and essays. My greatest challenge has not been what to write about or why to write it, but how to develop the idea fully. Even more challenging for me has been to see how to end a fictional piece. The tools in this book gave me very practical ideas about how to overcome these stumbling blocks of mine.
Teachers in high school and even early college classes could easily find Meyers’ ideas excellent and practical tools for their students who hope to be writers. ( )

Walter Dean Myers knows a great deal about writing. He has successfully written and published over 100 books, most targeting young readers.
“Just Write” also seeks young readers as its primary audience, but like so many really good YA books, it appeals to older people, too, even really old people like me.
The book is a great guide to writing. Simple, down to earth, well structured and enormously practical, “Just Write” offers tremendous help to young (or old) people who want to write but just don’t know how to get their ideas translated into something others would want to read. I wish I had read this book many years ago since one of the greatest regrets of my life is that I did not pursue a career in writing.
Myers’ advice is divided into two primary areas: how to write fiction, especially a novel, and how to write non-fiction. The techniques and tools he describes are quite simple, yet there is a world of difference between simplicity and ease. In other words, the tools are simple and making them work in an actual application is not easy because being a writer is work, it is difficult no matter what tools are being used, and it takes perseverance.
“Just Write” lays out a roadmap of the steps for how to go from idea to product, and the map is excellent.
For me personally, I have written down lots of ideas and notes about things I would like to write about, and many I have even turned into compositions, stories and essays. My greatest challenge has not been what to write about or why to write it, but how to develop the idea fully. Even more challenging for me has been to see how to end a fictional piece. The tools in this book gave me very practical ideas about how to overcome these stumbling blocks of mine.
Teachers in high school and even early college classes could easily find Meyers’ ideas excellent and practical tools for their students who hope to be writers. ( )

13. Just Write: Here's How! by Walter Dean Myers (2012, 176 pages, Read Feb 21 - Mar 4)

Looking for books on writing at my library, this came up in ebook format because I sorted by publication date. It was only after I started that I learned it was Juvenile book targeting teenagers, but I read it anyway because it was quite good. Myers, who was adopted and then watched his adopted father fall into unemployment and alcohol addiction, never went to college. Nonetheless, he has published over a hundred books since the 1960's, mainly juvenile and young adult books, many highly regarded and award winning. He brings in numerous personal stories, including his experiences co-writing a book with a 13-year-old admirer, the experience that probably led to this book.

From a writing advice perspective, Myers focuses on beginning with the story structure. He has six "boxes" of aspects of a story he fills in before he starts writing. If he can't fill them in, then he knows the story won't work. Once he gets that basic structure, and fills in more detail and only once he has worked out the outline in some depth does he begin writing. I found it interesting that such a prolific writer writes five pages a day, everyday and no more. He talks about how he used to try to write ten, but the quality wasn't as good and he had to do a lot more re-writing.

What I also found interesting was that once I started taking story ideas I had and tried to fill in those six boxes, I couldn't, and the weaknesses of the stories jumped out at me. His method seems very good.

2014
http://www.librarything.com/topic/163456#4641207 ( )

This non-fiction text gives advice on how to unlock writing ideas from brain to paper. Myers discusses what makes writing hard (revising) and what make it easy (ideas). There are excerpts of his own writing notebook and the back pages have top 10 writing tips that could be easily studied and practiced in a classroom.

This book would easily fit in to reading and writing standards of self-expression.

Awards/Reviews:
Booklist 06/01/12
Horn Book 11/01/12
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 07/01/12
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/12

One of America's most accomplished authors shares his experiences, and excellent insights and advice on the art and craft of writing that young people (and adults, too) will find invaluable. ( )