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My Review of Writing Fiction- A User Friendly Guide:
Writing Fiction: A user Friendly Guide by James Essinger was a quick and highly informative book to read. It was particularly helpful to me because I am first and foremost a nonfiction writer. Although I understand character, plot, and structure, it is always good to learn more.
My favorite parts of this book were the practical pieces. When I started the draft of my current novel, I wish that I would have had this handy guide.
Instead, I had to do hours and hours of research and multiple rewrites of my first few chapters as I tried to figure out what voice would be best for my novel.
I was distressed to discover that modern authors no longer write in the third person omniscient voice. Essinger strongly discourages his readers from writing in the “narrator as voice of God,” style. He states that this style is no longer in vogue, and that unless your Charles Dickens, very few publishers are going to take a chance on a debut novel written in third person omniscient voice. I wish I would have known this sooner because I had a great deal of trouble rewriting my current novel to make it fit into the third person limited point of view. Essinger’s book is full of many such practical gems.
Essentially, if you are an aspiring fiction writer and you want to save yourself lots of time and headaches, grab a copy of Writing Fiction and give it a read. You’ll be glad that you did!
Thank you, Rachel, from Rachel’s Random Resources, for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Writing Fiction: A User Friendly Guide
What Other People Are Saying:
‘Writing Fiction is a little pot of gold… Screenplay by Syd Field for film, Writing Fiction by James Essinger for fiction. It’s that simple.’
William Osborne, novelist and screenwriter
Writing Fiction – a user-friendly guide is a must-read if you want to write stories to a professional standard.
From the back cover of Writing Fiction: A User Friendly Guide
Writing Fiction by James Essinger draws on the author’s more than thirty years of experience as a professional writer, and on the work and ideas of writers including:
- Anthony Burgess
- Joseph Conrad
- George Eliot
- Ken Follett
- Frederick Forsyth
- Dan Harmon
- Ernest Hemingway
- David Lodge
- Norman Mailer
- John Milton
- Ben Parker
- K. Rowling
- William Shakespeare
- Martin Cruz Smith
- R.R. Tolkien
The twenty-four chapters cover every important matter you need to know about, including: devising a compelling story, creating and developing characters, plotting, ‘plants’, backstory, suspense, dialogue, ‘show’ and ‘tell’, and how to make your novel more real than reality.
Also featuring special guest advice from legendary screenwriter Bob Gale, who wrote the three immortal Back to the Future movies (1985, 1989 and 1990), and novelist and screenwriter William Osborne, whose many screen credits include the co-writing of the blockbuster Twins (1988), this highly entertaining book gives you all the advice and practical guidance you need to make your dream of becoming a published fiction writer come true.
Get Your Copy!
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Fiction-user-friendly-James-Essinger-ebook/dp/B07VYY9XH9/
About the Author
James Essinger has been a professional writer since 1988. His non-fiction books include Jacquard’s Web (2004), Ada’s Algorithm (2013), which is to be filmed by Monumental Pictures, and Charles and Ada: the computer’s most passionate partnership (2019). His novels include The Mating Game (2016) and The Ada Lovelace Project (2019).
Follow James Essinger on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.essinger
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesessinger
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Rev. Rebecca Writes 
Another great review!
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