Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Importance of Story Over Plot and Character

Damn Fine Story by Chuck Wendig

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Mr. Wendig is a blogger known for his colorful language and his writing skills. In Damn Fine Story, he drops a couple cusswords, but he has a different approach to writing. His rules of writing don’t emulate the plot, plot, plot lessons of other DIY writing books. He mentions his father who told a damn fine story but didn’t write or even read books. The story is the main focus here, and a good story is even better. So, beginning writers, don’t focus so much […]

A Little Old School…But Helpful

Writing to Sell by Scott Meredith

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I was hesitant to read this book for a couple reasons. One, it seemed to be similar to Techniques of a Selling Writer (it wasn’t at all). Being written by a writer and publisher, it deals primarily with the basics to get a novel sold, not just how to write it. Although there are the usual chapters on Character and POV, there are also interesting asides such as how to come up with a title for your novel. The second reason I put this one […]

A Horse of a Different Color

Fiction is Folks – How to Create Unforgettable Characters by Robert Newton Peck

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Mr. Peck is a funny and witty writer who presents the standard writing information in a new and unusual way. Reading all these DIY books about writing, I find they fall into helpful but predictable topics: how to build a world, which POV to use, how to develop a character, and etc., etc., etc. All very helpful but a little repetitive. Mr. Peck asserts that a writer should start with the character and not worry about the ensuing plot. It will take care of itself. […]

Excellent Ammo for Writers

The Fantasy Fiction Formula by Deborah Chester

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I don’t know if this book is so good because it’s so well written or if it came along when I needed it. I suspect the former. Ms. Chester does a great job of making the material really accessible and practical while she teaches things I hadn’t read before in the dozen DIY writing books I’ve read this year. She takes the reader’s hand as she walks us through what a scene is and should be. She also describes the resolution of the scene (called […]

You Get What You Pay For

Deepening Fiction – A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers by Sarah Stone and Ron Nyren

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I’ve probably read a dozen DIY books on writing this year and some of them have been truly exceptional, but Deeping Fiction isn’t one of them. It’s a textbook, a stogy, thick, and difficult to read textbook. I’m sure the class it’s intended for found it very informative, but the layout doesn’t work so well for self-paced reading. Each chapter deals with a familiar subject in writing. For example, the chapter on Style and Dialogue contains subchapters on The Writer’s Style, Word Choice, Tone and […]

Should Writing Be This Painful?

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

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Writing Down the Bones is another seminal work all writers are supposed to read, but I found it to be a lot like Bird by Bird where the writer is expected to really struggle to put pen to paper and expose their inner truths. Both authors describe students crying and shaking as they write. To them, writing is a calling, a torturous, deep calling, more like therapy than entertainment. Ms. Goldberg, while determined to reach that human condition of life, death, and the traumatic events […]



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