How to Write your Best Story Ever! by Christopher Edge
| How to Write your Best Story Ever! by Christopher Edge | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: Great for use in schools and at home, this really should work in its bright design and punchy lessons in narrative. It's a guide in the clearly showing, not hand-holding and dragging, sense. | |
| Buy? YES | Borrow? YES |
| Pages: 128 | Date: May 2015 |
| Publisher: OUP Oxford | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780192743527 | |
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Oh those feared words from my primary school days – just sit and write a story. The countless hours I spent, sifting my mind for what little I knew and what I had read before, and no real guide on hand to what to put down on the page and how. How times change. This volume, for all the vivid design and hyperbolic title, might have been the best companion to the budding author version of me, for it will easily sit alongside the junior scribbler wherever s/he may be from now on. It has a beginning, middle and end (and index), and can be counted on for some great, no-nonsense advice.
Prime to that is the way the book doesn't talk down. It slips in details regarding grammar, punctuation and more through the use of regular box-outs, so doesn't feel dry. The use of two double-page spreads as a maximum to spend on any one subject is another way the reader is guided through a welter of advice, meaning a lot of information is absorbed, even if the young reader would be aware of that happening or not.
We start with a simple guide to what we should aspire to – good dialogue, fine characters, impact – and a mature eye to editing at the end. All subjects, and there are many more than that, are covered in a similar way – with a non-preachy, lively guide, aided by examples, and 'professional' advice from our author (who has to his credit written rather a lot, and successfully). Without much acclaim the book shifts gear at the midway point, discussing each and every genre in turn – sci-fi, espionage, school narrative, diary forms, comedy, romance – you get the gist. The USP of these chapters is the vocabulary list, presented each time as a neck-twisting spider's web full of inspiration, but pretty damned close to indispensable, for being non-patronising, comprehensive, and a fresh way of aiding the craft in our storycraft.
And that's an important point, for this is where the book differs from many of its kind. It doesn't allow a single instance of you using the pages of this book to follow an inspiration – no, you need your own notebook (or app, as it so handily and currently suggests) with which to complete your outpourings. There is no 'lesson one – do this' structure here, no 'this is what you must do' approach at all, rather a warm breath on the shoulder from someone looking over it and always on hand to give advice. The fact these pages will not be tainted once and once only by someone's efforts means this is an ideal book for the school library, but it is also going to be good – and good fun – for home use. I've been on the receiving end of enough creative writing courses since those aforementioned school days to know that a lot of the tips and suggestions here are current and relevant to learners of all ages, and they're going to be essential for the younger sources of the creative juices. This is a great way to get them flowing.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Add Drawing Projects for Children by Paula Briggs to the mix, and a whole graphic novel is on the cards.
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You can read more book reviews or buy How to Write your Best Story Ever! by Christopher Edge at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy How to Write your Best Story Ever! by Christopher Edge at Amazon.com.
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