Review: A novelist's point of view in great detail - excellent guide!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2013
My first read by Rachel Aaron and I LOVE her writing voice. Just love it. It's obvious from the first page that this is not written by a random blogger but by a true writer.The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is because of the numerous, numerous grammar and punctuation errors that were overlooked. I could have done with a couple but I expected a truly polished book from a novelist, and it actually brings up one point. I love every concept that Rachel covered in taking your writing to the next level by increasing your words per hour and your throughput with the techniques she teaches you but the one thing that I believe we should never sacrifice is the quality of the writing and that includes a polished finish. This is nothing that Rachel or her editor could not clean up after a quick read so I am sure it was just an oversight ....Now that the constructive part is done, I do want to praise and thank Rachel for sharing so openly all of her techniques and for putting herself out there so vulnerably. I LOVED loved that she talked about the emotional aspect of writing, the resistance, the self-berating, the pressure we put on ourselves, the bleak feelings of the blank page after 2 hours, and the euphoria of the good writing days.The techniques she shares are actionable; you can apply them right away. The details she covers are amazing - this is the first book which I read about how-to writing of a novel and I loved being able to look behind the curtains into the life of a true pro novelist.Even though it is from the point of view of a novelist, this is still very useful for the non-fiction writers such as myself. And I will recommend it without hesitation to anyone else who has any interest in writing their heart's stories - be it fiction or not - and in making a living from it. Thank you Ms. Aaron!