Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Modern Library Writer's Workshop- Stephen Koch

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Date Finished: 23rd December 2010

Pages: 214

Rating: C


I wanted to enjoy this book thoroughly, but I ended up more disappointed than enlightened and educated.


To much of this book read like a long stream of pretentious lecturing and I didn't connect with the modern aspect of writing that I'd hoped it would read.


Stephen made some brilliant points and shared not only his own valued experiences, but those of classic and current writers. I found this part of the book to be inspirational and the first chapters were my favourite, as were the last.


I loved the passage in chapter seven on revision where Stephen makes note of a rule Stephen King learnt himself about the drafting process.


Formula: 2nd draft= 1st draft [- minus] 10%”


I would greatly recommend this book to students and readers who like more in depth discussions of writing and the history of writing. I believe those who have a more fundamental understanding of classic literature would take more from it than I have.

1 comment:

  1. Oh dear :-( one thing that I really dislike about some writing books is that half of them are very pretentious and the author can come across as a pretentious boob of a snob....:-)

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