Great fun, great learning, easy to read and work with.

books:


	• What If? (3rd Edition) Anne Bernays, Pamela Painter Longman, 2008 - 550 pages average customer review:based on 48 reviews
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highly recommended

A good book that gives you a map but not a blueprint

If you ask anyone who has published at least a few works of fiction--of whatever length--what instruction book helped them, I doubt whether they could come up with many if any at all. I've published fiction and I'd probably answer 'none.' That said, this book is among the best that can help get you started because the prompts and guides often mimic what goes through the heads of writers while they write. But if you don't have some magical thinking apparatus that is telling you you're going to be a great writer from studying books on writing, you can get quite a bit from this book in learning how to think like many writers and a guide on how to practice writing. But practice doesn't make perfect. It might not even make you competent as far as creative writing goes, but it's a lot cheaper than an M.F.A. program or even a continuing ed. course.

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Inspired creativy!

After purchasing this book I was inspired to write a poem titled "What If." Wonderful mind jogger when blocked.

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Excellent exercises for fiction writers

I teach creative writing at a University, and I use this text in my classroom. Bernays and Painter have compliled a great little collection of jumping-off points. No matter what you're trying to work on-- your grasp of plot, dialogue, or maybe just that first line-- this book will give you some good ideas. Super-great for those new to creative writing.

Great fun, great learning, easy to read and work with.

At first I was pretty skeptical about using a book like this to help me along in my growth as a writer, but after the first two parts I have to say it's been pretty good. The samples are very well handled and the intent is solidly established by the authors. Definitely worth buying and keeping at your side if you should need a writing nudge!

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Great book - rec'd the wrong version

I bought this for a creative writing course. The book was very helpful, and I really enjoyed the excersises. Too bad the dealer sent the wrong version, and then did not honor my request to replace with the updated version.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

What If? is the first handbook for writers based on the idea that specific exercises are one of the most useful and provocative methods for mastering the art of writing fiction. With more than twenty-five years of experience teaching creative writing between them, Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter offer more than seventy-five exercises for both beginners and more experienced writers. These exercises are designed to develop and refine two basic skills: writing like a writer and, just as important, thinking like a writer. They deal with such topics as discovering where to start and end a story; learning when to use dialogue and when to use indirect discourse; transforming real events into fiction; and finding language that both sings and communicates precisely. What If? will be an essential addition to every writer's library, a welcome and much-used companion, a book that gracefully borrows a whisper from the muse.

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