GMBrowning

King is the exception to the rules. There will only be one King. Just like there will only be one of any great artist/athlete/performer who influences generations. All the rest of us passionate hopefuls need to do the work, learn from the pros, put in the time and develop ourselves to be exceptional writers in our genres so we can tell some damn good stories that people will enjoy and remember.

I'll be honest, I think King is a horrible teacher. His way of writing is just that...his way. Imagine a martial arts instructor or professional athlete of any kind teaching a student to just "go with it." Are you kidding me?

I'm reminded of the time I visited the chiropractor for several weeks. After every session, I'd leave with my body in so much pain. One day, after another series of brutal snaps to my neck and spine, I told him I was hurting and asked him what the goal was; what was the projected path for my treatment. He looked at me, confused and answered, "The goal? The goal is to feel better, man!" I grabbed my coat, walked out of his office and never returned. He expected me to "just go with it." (Ugh...where was I?)

Writing can be taught. Like any other craft or discipline, it most certainly can be taught. I've been blessed to learn from highly skilled and qualified professionals and it's because of their true instruction, guidance and feedback that I've been able to grow.

"Pantsing" is unorganized and undisciplined. In my opinion, it only leads to wasted time, countless rewrites and of course, rejections. 

Write Away by: Elizabeth George

I found the section of Character Analysis to be thought-provoking. I liked the concept of a Prompt Sheet and I plan to use this tool whenever I’m out traveling, stuck in a work meeting or maybe trapped at a family function I can’t escape. With this, I can quickly sketch out character frames that I can later return to, like a bank of possible characters to use in later stories. This tool is also very helpful to reference when getting in touch with a character’s voice. George’s chapter on voice was helpful because it reinforced the importance of setting and how the characters will speak as products of their environment and how they react to it. I didn’t notice anything in her book that conflicts with the AAS Writing Program lessons. Her discipline echoes the lesson materials. She does not detail anything like the SATG structure, rather she provides a list of her organizational methods for drafting out her work.

The Art of Fiction by: John Gardner

Reading this was helpful when I needed the text book or grumpy old kung-fu teacher approach. Gardner’s mastery of the craft is vibrantly obvious and conveyed in a very technical, blunt, lecture style manner. To be honest, there were times that I got bored and this book took me the longest to read through. There was a particular moment that spoke to me, so much so that I wrote the following quote down and hung it over my desk. “In great fiction, we are moved by what happens, not by the whimpering or bawling of the writer’s presentation of what happens. That is, in great fiction, we are moved by the characters and events, not by the emotion of the person who happens to be telling the story.” This book is full of great lines like that one. Also, there is a tremendous amount of value in the list of exercises he challenges writers and writer groups to complete. They are similar to the modules of the AAS Writing Program.

The Writing Life by: Anne Dillard

Did not find any value in this book at all. It is a collection of anecdotes that are poetic and flowery. I don’t feel that this book should be required reading in this program. I passed over several pages, searching for anything that would benefit me. Instead, I found stories that spoke of what it feels like to be a writer, how hard it is to be a writer, how the world feels to a writer, and on and on. Blah! Zero value. I went back to Winesburg, Ohio just to cleanse this stuff from my brain. Then, I had to wash the lingering poetic fluff off of me with potent magic waters of Donald Maass.

Writing the Breakout Novel by: Donald Maass

Possibly the best book ever written for the aspiring commercial fiction writer. If one wants to write a manuscript with the intention to sell it and launch a career, then every word of Donald Maass needs to be fully absorbed and applied to the project. The best sections for me as they related to my work were about: premise, stakes, conflict, building a cast, and time and place. Each chapter of the book ends with a checklist, which I found myself referring to a lot. I also highlighted and tabbed many sections to return to quickly. This book and the AAS Writing Program are a perfectly married couple. This, and Winesburg, Ohio, are the best places for any writer to start. I wish I had found this book years ago, but then again, the AAS Writing Program helped me to really understand the value because the lessons were fully supported in it.