Advice to Writers: A Compendium of Quotes, Anecdotes, and Writerly Wisdom from a Dazzling Array of Literary Lights

by Jon Winokur

Book Overview

In Advice to Writers , Jon Winokur, author of the bestselling The Portable Curmudgeon , gathers the counsel of more than four hundred celebrated authors in a treasury on the world of writing. Here are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679443878
• ISBN13: 9780679443872
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Uplifting!

Writing is a solitary business. Most of us create alone, revise alone, submit alone. Even when we have a critique partner or group they aren't sitting with us throughout the entire process. But this book is a wonderful reminder that writers of all kinds and levels have shared dreams and shared pains. If you are a serious writer, this book will lift you when you're blue and be a good place to look for advice and a laugh.

Writers on Writing

Winokur has gathered advice on writing from more than 400 bibliophiles and categorized their recommendations into 36 sections. Most entries are short quotations. (For categories, click on Table of Contents in the left-hand column of this page.) Writers will love turning to the sections on agents, occupational hazards or punctuation to see what writers and other bookpeople have said about them. Jon Winokur is an author and bibliophile who obviously loves his work. As the author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I recommend this book to writers. DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

educational

The book is a delightful mix of thoughtful, irreverent, cynical and joyful quotes, interspersed with occasional brief advice that is specific enough to be helpful. Well done!

THE BEST BOOK ON THE SUBJECT

Advice to Writers is Jon Winokur's finest book -- and that's saying something. Its already pulled me out of writer's block several times. I mean, its not exactly a self-help book, but the damn thing WORKS. As a writer who suffers from chronic indolence, I'm keeping this book on my bedside table (since I'm indolent I work in bed) -- it makes me WANT to write.Practical usage aside, its big fun, too. No one else has Winokur's delicious eye for quotes and their juxtapositions. This lovely book is caviar; all other "advice to writer" books are neurasthenic by comparison.Bravo, Mr. Winokur, and thank you! When's the next one?

A great guide to the terrors and pleasures of writing.

As a writer and teacher of creative nonfiction, I hunger for a glimpse into the interior lives of authors. Do they feel as out of control or depressed as I sometimes do when facing a huge project? Do they suffer from writer's envy or writer's block? Finally, do they drink as much as I do? Winokur's book is satisfying and addictive. By offering actual quotes from working writers, he manages to show the amazing breadth and depth of the torturous creative experience. Writing is more of a chronic condition than a profession: think of Advice to Writers as a self-help mental health book for the ink-stained wretches of the world.