Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings

The print version is heavy, so I was happy to see the availability of a Kindle version. I was less than happy to find that the activities are not hyperlinked to the readings. Considering the price of the edition and the number of activities that reference readings, it is quite an omission, and rather thoughtless.I hope this will be addressed in an update.

I've been studying writing and writing for most of my 29 years and bought this book for my grad course, and I absolutely love this book. I've read a few books on writing and this one will be one of my favorites. I plan on reading the entire thing when I'm done reading the sections required in the course.

This is one of the best course books I have ever bought. It could totally stand alone as a self-teaching guide. Every lesson is accompanied by excellent examples and very helpful activities.

This book is being used as a text book in my graduate class and I absolutely LOVE it! It's not over-the-top hard to understand or take in, but an array of creative to-dos and excellent readings that help rev up your creative engine. I'm not a poet and even the writers of poetry have so much information to offer in my non-fiction writing field. I would have bought this book no matter what! Like I said, I LOVE it!

This is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it. Well written, fun activities - really a tome on how to live a conscious human life, as strange as that might sound. The book is about slowing down, looking, listening, watching, and sensing with all of one's senses...and then watching what arises. I am so impressed by the book - would like to use it as a text.

Love it. As a young writer I wanted something to help develop my skills while school is out, I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in developing their own writing skills.

Have read two chapters for class and one for myself and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! I have read MANY books with writing exercises and they never sparked my interest, but the ones I have done so far have, in the first 3 chapters alone!!! Much more practical and gets your juices flowing. Amazing! Love it!

I had to buy this book for a class but honestly I am glad I did the writing assignments given are fun and got me back into the habit of writing again.

Useful advice and exercises. Just work from this, and save the cost of OU course which is via online forums and relies on this book to a large extent.

Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings is divided into five different sections of more or less equal length: writing fiction, poetry, life writing (including biography and autobiography) and going public with your writing (including editing your work and finding publishing avenues). The final section of the book contains different readings/ samples of published/ well-known writers that illustrate the points made in the different "theoretical" sections.Basic concepts such as characterization, choice of narrative viewpoint, structure and plot, etc., are explained well in a way that makes them easy to understand, even for beginners, but the real strength of this book lies, in my opinion, in the numerous writing exercises that allow you to apply these concepts to your own writing. In addition, the exercises are "cumulative" and build on each other, which really helps to internalize the things you've learned. The exercises also help you to realize where your own strenghts and weaknesses as well as preferences as a writer lie.I would have given this book 5 stars (the usefulness of the writing exercises alone would warrant this), if it weren't for the fact that it does not cover genre fiction (with the exception of one or two very short passages, it does not refer to sci-fi, romance or the detective novel, for example). Another, albeit minor, negative point relates to the weight/ size of the book. This is a very heavy/ bulky book indeed.Still, as creative writing books go, I believe that this is one of the better ones on the market due to the clarity of the explanations provided and the very useful writing prompts/ exercises.

An excellent workbook. For anyone who is interested in writing - prose, poetry, non-fiction, plays, TV & film... there is a lot in this book to learn from. Read the guidance, then do the exercises. No point buying this book if you're not prepared to engage with it fully. I used it in preparation for an MA in Creative writing and it was the perfect opportunity to get my brain in gear. I would think that A-level students would find this an amazingly helpful means of developing their writing skills for essays.

Pretty much the only creative writing book you will ever need. Everything is very clearly explained and there are many examples given which are written by successful writers. It may make you want to read some of the novels mentioned.Yes the OU use this as a coursebook but, unlike other reviewers, I would say it is about half of the course. The exercises in this book are great and some prompted stories from me. If you are serious about being a writer, do the exercises.

Which I am currently doing. I hate the course! I can't say I am finding the book particularly helpful, however, that could absolutely due to just not being my style of learning.