250 Things You Should Know About Writing by Chuck Wendig
250 Things You Should Know About Writing actually has 275 things listed (as Chuck explains in the Introduction) and neatly divides them down into sections of 25 on topics such as: Being a Writer; Writing a Novel; Storytelling; Character; Plot; Dialog; Description; Editing, Revising, Rewriting; Getting Published; Writing a Fucking Sentence, and even a section on Writing a Screenplay.
The advice contained within the book is not unlike that we’ve all heard before, but has that special, profane-Wendig-style turns of phrase that makes this advice memorable.
Such as this gem describing a character that is “meaner than two rattlesnakes fucking in a boot…” or on conflict: “conflict is the food that feeds the reader. It’s a spicy hell-broth that nourishes. A story without conflict is a story without a story.
One of the best bits of advice is in the first section of the book, 25 Things You Should Know About… Being a Writer #21 Everything Can Be Fixed In Post:
“Stop stressing out. You get the one thing few others get: a constant array of do-overs. Writing is rewriting. You know the saying, ‘Drink till she’s pretty/till he’s handsome?’ This is like that. Edit till she’s pretty. Rewrite until it doesn’t suck. You have an endless supply of blowtorches, hacksaws, scalpels, chainsaws, M80s and orbital lasers to constantly destroy and rebuild.”
Our Inner Critic is so powerful during the initial stages of writing and it is very easy to forget that everything can be fixed in post.
The book has been constructed by his prolific ability to produce list posts for his blog terribleminds.com, along with additional content created specifically for the book, so it delivers the advice in quick, easy-to-digest chunks. Don’t expect any in-depth delves into technical specifics of the writing craft and techniques. But it does deliver good advice on all of these topics and gives you a good swift kick in the ass, by boot filled with fucking rattlesnakes.
Humorous, yet practical and motivational advice that is well worth the the $.99 cover price. So check it out.
Buy it from Amazon Here: 250 Things You Should Know About Writing by Chuck Wendig
Rating: ***** Well Worth it at Full Retail Price [$.99 for a Kindle or Nook eBook, or buy it direct from the author at: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/portfolio/250-things-you-should-know-about-writing/]
About Ratings: ***** — Well Worth it at Full Retail Price; **** — Buy on Sale/Discounted; *** — Buy Used; ** — Borrow It from the Library; * — Waste of a Good Tree