An orderly, no-frills guide to the craft of fiction writing.
Klaassen (Cracks, 2014, etc.) identifies 11 different aspects of writing fiction in this how-to manual.
The average reader is probably familiar with some of the elements of fiction creation (or “modes,” as Klaassen terms them): “exposition,” “narration,” “action.” Others may seem a bit harder to pin down—“introspection,” for example, or “recollection.” There are 11 in all, according to the author’s categorization, and he’s quick to point out that no other available system currently recognizes them all: “If you don’t know the eleven, you may be writing without all the tools available to you,” he says. “That’s the equivalent of a painter trying to create masterpieces with only a few colors.” He gives each mode its own chapter, or more than one: a full quarter of the book, for instance, is dedicated to the mysteries of “conversation.” The book compiles the modes into larger divisions of “interiority,” “activity,” “dialogue,” and “exteriority.” Each chapter breaks into subsections tackling smaller topics, with many examples and checklists to keep the information organized and aid readers’ comprehension. The book’s chapter content tables and concluding reiterations of major points make the work bear a greater resemblance to a textbook than to many other writing guides. The book is surprisingly comprehensive, given its relatively short length, and it dedicates sections to questions as specific as the use of slang and the difference between concrete and abstract nouns. There’s a lot of advice here that even experienced writers may not have encountered before (such as, “In part, the amount of description depends upon the genre in which you are writing”). By the time Klaassen gets to “show, don’t tell,” readers will have gotten their money’s worth many times over. Overall, this book sits at the Apollonian end of the spectrum of writing guides, as the author attempts to break fiction writing down into as replicable a craft as possible. Free-spirited writers may prefer the softer, more personal touches of Anne Lamott and Natalie Goldberg, but aspiring scribblers who want to quickly absorb the fundamentals of the medium will find Klaassen’s book to be a concise manual.
An orderly, no-frills guide to the craft of fiction writing.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-68222-100-6
Page Count: 234
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
