Fiction Writer's Brainstormer

A right-brain reference of puzzles, questions, checklists, and advice to help stimulate writers' creative thinking and problem-solving capabilities. Coverage encompasses critical elements, characters, scenes, word choice, style and writing mechanics, and revision, with material in question-and-answ


Summary: I'd Publish More Writers If Only They'd Study this Book!
Rating: 5

I am the publisher of Flying Pen Press. One of my responsibilities is that I have the final say on which novels we publish. I picked this book up in hopes it might give me some tidbits of information for our writer's guidelines.

Instead, this was a book that astounded me in its ability to teach what it has taken me more than 20 years to learn as a writer. Make no mistake, this is a book for the advanced writer. You won't find grammar rules or a punctuation guide in this book. What you will find is a book that explains clearly what makes a novel appealing to readers, and how to start from the blank page and with a minimum of time, complete a novel that has that appeal from page one.

The book is organized into three parts:

Part One is a collection of exercises for creativity, to help brainstorm ideas, words, and titles. These exercises are not like any writing exercises you may have seen, but they do invigorate the creativity process like no other exercises I have ever seen, except maybe in the book, Thinkertoys Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition).

Part Two is the meat of the book, and walks a novelist through some of the most difficult parts of writing a novel, from how to evaluate an idea and establish the tension of each scene, to characterization, word choice, and the greatest secret of all, that writing short words in short sentences is more important than all the other qualities of a novel combined.

Part Three is a collection of tactics for increasing one's writing productivity, which Smith calls the Highly Effective Habits of Writers.

I wish everyone who submits their manuscript to Flying Pen Press for publication followed Smith's advice. I will be recommending this book to all writers who approach me with a manuscript for publication. Likely, I will recommend Fiction Writer's Brainstormer in our writers guidelines, perhaps making it required reading. If more writers followed this advice, we would be publishing more books by more new novelists.

Keep 'em Flying,
David Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press


Summary: A kick in the writing butt…
Rating: 5

As a published author, we all need a kick in the tail and this book does the trick. I keep going back to this book when I get stuck in plot and I always find something that helps. (Even if it's reminding me what I already know after 35+ books) I've taken his tips and forms and revamped them for my work, and not once have they failed. I especially like his brainstorming list that enables me to get the trash, the mediocre out of my head and dig deeper. No two writers write the same way, using the same method. Get over it. But a good writer who wants a CAREER in fiction writing should go back to the basics and rejuvenate their skills. I'm always learning new techniques that are just a twist on the tried and true. There are a zillion how-to book out there, but I feel this should be on every writer's bookshelf. Especially if you want to keep improving and be a great story teller.