Techniques of the Selling Writer

Swain is a true master of spelling out the Technigues of the selling writer. While the reading may be technical at times, he references and example of success are well founded. I highly recommend this book to any writer, even established.

Nick

I have not learned a single helpful thing from this book. The "techniques" are totally useless and sometimes counterproductive, like the suggestion that a write not review his work with another person. Terrible. I instead highly recommend "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (Paperback)
by Renni Browne (Author), Dave King (Author).

I highly recommend this book if you're serious about writing.

This book initially threw me for loop. Through the first 50 pages I just didn't get it and kept asking myself why it seemed so disorganized, or more properly, organized so unlike other texts on improving writing skill/understanding the craft. I almost abandoned this book. Because of presentation I almost missed the message. That would have been a shame since the message is quite possibly the best I've read in my effort to learn the writing craft.

I suppose it could be conditioning or prejudice that established my apparent want for an easier format so if you're a person who appreciates a more structured format that tends to lend itself to teaching the written word you may feel the same way about this book but I urge you not to abandon it and consider what finally dawned on me, it's written as if it's a conversational or lecture format. It may have only been me who feels this way about the format so I've possibly spent unnecessary time explaining a personal problem. Either way I suggest you read this book if you want to technically understand what came instinctually to you before.

The author takes an approach of explaining the construct of a good story, at novel length, in technical reasoning that tells you how elements of a story can be put together so they work and are effective. He explains there are no tricks or rules. He contends that if you use your existing knowledge of what a good story is to you, apply understanding of the method of how it was created, and work on your craft - learning as you go by doing you might succeed as a writer. His goal is to improve the odds for you.

I've read many books on writing better but they've nearly all assumed a certain level of ability to begin with, as in you're probably on the cusp of success and this book will take you over the top. Mr. Swain's book assumes nothing and teaches you the craft. Although I think I knew a thing or two about writing before his book I believe he taught me understanding, in depth, of what I knew as well as understanding of many things I didn't know.

He will ask you to learn about yourself as a writer, examine your motivation so to speak. He talks about your never ceasing hunt for the right words in your current work so you communicate the desired message to the reader. He provides techniques in how to set the mood or feeling in your story. Of course the main issue in a work of fiction is conflict. When done with his chapter on conflict you'll know how to effectively and efficiently build it. He explains the construction of a story unit by unit in his chapter BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END. You might be surprised by what you learn. I don't think I've ever seen this detail examined as he has done it in any other text. I gained a much greater understanding of story people in his chapter devoted to the subject. He goes on to examine what all this means to a writer who wants to crate commercial fiction, the goal of the book, and gives you his thoughts.

I just finished reading the book and want to start again so I have the ideas firmly rooted in my brain before I put the next word in my story. This book was originally copyrighted in 1965 so be prepared for life as it was then in his examples. I feel it's the only portion of the book that dates it. Otherwise it is relevant in every respect. I'm glad it wasn't the first book I read on writing but I'm also glad I finally read it. It will have a place next to the other very limited set of relevant texts which occupy my resource shelf on my desk. Two of the other four essential resources are THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, and Webster's Dictionary.

Dwight Swain is so good--I feel like I have picked his brain. Things that I wouldn't even have thought to ask are included in this classic "how to." As a beginning writer, I found his book invaluable, as he included background for each technique presented and gave the why behind the how. Good advice will not go out of style.

This one is a must for the active writer. Even though it was writen in 1965 it is still a great tool. This is one of three must have books. It is writen in a a straight forward almost outline style and can be used over and over again as a reference.