The Modern Library Writer's Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction

by Stephen Koch

Book Overview

"Make your] characters want something right away--even if it's only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time." -- Kurt Vonnegut "'The cat sat on the mat' is not the beginning of a story, but 'the cat sat on the dog's mat' is." -- John Le Carr Nothing is more inspiring for a beginning writer than listening to masters of the craft talk about the writing life. But if you...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375755586
• ISBN13: 9780375755583
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

One of the best books on craft

It's unfortunate that this book is saddled with such an ugly title. It is an excellent tour of all aspects of the craft, and covers the process of revision--and stages of drafts--in considerable depth. Stephen Koch is a respected author and also an admired teacher (nearly 30 years of teaching creative writing at Columbia and Princeton), and a number of his students have gone on to brilliant literary careers. Some people scoff at the idea--which Koch supports--that stories are discovered during the writing process. Writers from William Faulkner to Stephen King to Martin Amis (and I bet you've never seen those three in a sentence together before) all claim exactly that--stories are discovered, not planned out like the construction of a cabinet. Don't pick up this book if you're looking for exercises or assignments. I've taken novel workshops from three accomplished novelists, and none of them focused on 'exercises or assignments.' We were told to go write our books, and then bring in chapters for critiques. In this sense, what Koch has written here is pretty close to how a workshop approaches the problem of building a novel. For those who want them, there are plenty of books out there with connect-the-dots instructions, and tons of annoying (to me) exercises. The only one I can recommned is Brian Kiteley's "The 3 am Epiphany." I didn't do any of the exercises--I save my writing for writing--but they are clever and stimulating to read.

One of the Best Writing Books I've Read

As a professional writer for over 25 years, I've read many writing books. The Modern Library Writer's Workshop by Stephen Koch is one of the best I've read. Although the subtitle of the book is A Guide to the Craft of Fiction, this is a book every writer who is serious about writing needs to read. Story is a critical element of nonfiction as well as fiction. Unlike many how-to-write authors, Koch avoids taking the superficial, fill-in-the blank approach. His chapters include Beginnings, The Writing Life, Shaping the Story, Making Characters Live, Inventing Your Style, the Story of the Self, Working and Reworking, and Finishing. The pages of this book are filled with ideas that helped me to look at my writing with new insight. If you can afford only one writing book, this is the one to buy.

A book of great usefulness

I am one of those people who has been writing things for years but never got serious enough to write an actual story. Well, recently I got serious enough. I checked out a stack of writing books from the library as well as pulled out what I already had at home. There was a lot of good advice in these books. But Koch's book described the inner problems I had that were preventing me from progressing, and did so consistenly. It's one of those books that you read and find yourself nodding in agreement as a grin spreads across your face. This book has done more for me in a shorter period of time than any other writing book I've read. My weaknesses were exposed as a common problem of would-be writers, not something wrong with me alone. Though there is no magic formula (and Koch offers none) to apply it's good to know that if you apply yourself diligently enough there is no reason why you can't write that great piece.

One of the best books out there on the craft of writing

This is one of the best books on writing I've ever read. I highly recommend it. I'd give it 10 stars if I had the option. What another reviewer states, as "name-dropping" is actually research. Anyone who has ever written a term paper knows this. In order for the writer, Stephen Koch to include all of the facts and quotes, he had to find them. I thank him for writing this book and for doing all the research required to take it to a higher level. As the back cover states, " If you can't get Vladimir Nabakov, Virginia Wolfe, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez together, The Modern Library Writer's Workshop gives you the next best thing." The quotes from great writers are inspiring. They bring the writers alive. Like notes from a great writing workshop, I'll continue to re-read this book. This is definitely one book I'll keep accessible on my desk. If you are interested in other books on writing, I suggest Natalie Goldberg's Writing down the Bones.

no new information, but gets points for readability

In my time, I've read plenty of writing books. To be honest, few of them offer terribly unique advice. Some prescribe goofy meditations, guided writings on uninspiring topics, or bizarre activities meant to "unlock your creativity". Some prescribe pretty much the same information as Koch's book here: things like, you have to create & defend your writing time. OK! Nothing anyone who has participated in NaNoWriMo before doesn't know.The difference with this book, and the reason that I've given it five stars, is that it didn't at any point stall me with a "homework assignment", and the prose didn't feel dry to me. I wanted to keep reading, instead of struggling to reach the end of each chapter and feeling like the book was a chore.One reason that I have a lot of writing books is that a lot of them are boring, or stop you fifteen pages in (and every twenty pages thereafter) with a project you're supposed to do before reading any further. (I don't want to do your stupid set of guided meditations and accompanying journal entries: I want to *write*, the things that *I* am thinking about and needing to write, and I just want some good advice on how to go about it, and not just from people who are failed writers except in terms of getting a book or some freelance articles published). The advice in this book comes from authors of classics and of extraordinarily successful popular novels, drawn from works and quoted from interviews. These are proven success stories. (However, I would like to add, as popular and influential as Hemingway has been, writers of books like this one never do seem to take into account that one must deviate from his model at least a little bit, if one does not wish to wind up suicidal.)