Keyes Helps Writers Feel Less Alone With Their Concerns

books:

	• The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear Ralph Keyes Holt Paperbacks, 2003 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Keyes Helps Writers Feel Less Alone With Their Concerns

This book is useful for writers at all levels. It would be a nice primer for those who hope to write as a career or for hobby. Author Ralph Keyes talks about the roles of fear and courage in the writing process. "The most understandable trap is to wait for fear to subside before starting one's journey," he says. "It doesn't, won't, and shouldn't. Too much good writing comes from writers on the edge." (Page 191)

The main strength of the book is that Keyes obviously empathizes with the reader who writes. He first identifies himself as someone who sometimes feels daunted by the task of writing; then he discusses tangible methods that he and other writers have used to address their fears.

A challenging of conventional writing practices and noting of comments from famous authors makes the reader feel less alone with his or her concerns related to writing. For example, Keyes notes that Vladimir Nabokov thought circulating early drafts of one's work was like passing around samples of sputum. (Page 160)

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Probably the most important book for a new writer...

Who doesn't want to be a writer? Your Aunt Sally has always said she wants to write her memoir. Your brother Joe, a hedge fund manager, says he wants to write a thriller. The truth is that it is damn scary to write anything that you hope to sell. Imposter's syndrome sets in almost immediately. There are many books out there on writer's block, but I think this is the best. If you are really serious about spending a year or two of your time truly putting your [...] in your chair to try to write a saleable piece of fiction, this has to be in your bookcase (or Kindle) and something you pull out when the nasty voices of fear start to whisper sweet nothings into your ear. Writing is hard. It's scary. This will help.

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There Are Few Books Like It

If you're a writer, want to be a writer, or know and love a writer and want to better understand what a writer faces and how you can help - this book is for you.

This is one of the best books I've read about the heart of a writer and how to face the fears - big and little - that all writers face, whether they're crafting their first story or their fiftieth novel.

Fear of a blank page. Fear of being exposed as a fake. ("I'm not a real writer, not like so-and-so.") Fear of what family or friends will think about you and what you've written. Fear of getting started. Fear of finishing. Fear of submission. Fear of rejection.

It takes a great deal of courage to write. There are a hundred reasons not to, and only a few reasons to do so. This book explores those fears and talks about how other writers cope with them. Fear is also the writer's friend, and this book offers plenty of practical advice on how to turn those fears into excellent fiction.

I've had one novel published which went on to win a couple of national awards and was a finalist for a couple more. I've had about 60 short stories published in mass market anthologies, magazines, and a few small presses. I read this book as I was tackling the rewrite of a troublesome third act in my second novel. It was just the inspiration I needed at the time I needed it most. I've already begun to apply many of the suggestions found in the book.

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A Must for the Aspiring Writer

I first discovered Keyes work in a writers magazine, and fell in love with his message. Just being let in on the "big secret" that all writers are fearful, has helped me continue on the writing path.
In Chap. One, "Writing as an Act of Courage" Keyes notes that E.B. White
was a great procrastinator. He often wrote long letters and puttered around his farm to avoid the trauma of writing altogether. White once told his friend James Thurber, that he considered himself "the second most inactive writer living, and the third most discouraged."
Throughout the book, Keyes shares the fears and anxieties of many famous writers, as well as his own travails, noting that his fear often expressed itself as stomach trouble, irritability, and restlessness.
John Cheever called the attempt to write seriously "a dangerous career."
After a thorough exploration of the fear of writing, Keyes offers "Courage Boosters" such as "Identify your censor-in-chief and mentally rehearse how to deal with that person," "Get to know yourself well enough not to be too terrified by what escapes from within onto the page," "Convert fear into excitement," etc.
Keyes is a great motivator, reminding his reader, that "In writing, as in so many pursuits, it's not the most gifted, but the most determined who succeed." The book provides a gem on every page, plus an extensive bibliography and index.
I keep this book close by my desk, as a talisman. It has helped me get past many a roadblock. I'd like to give it 6 stars. Pure gold for any writer!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Katherine Anne Porter called courage "the first essential" for a writer. "I have to talk myself into bravery with every sentence," agreed Cynthia Ozick, "sometimes every syllable." E. B. White said he admired anyone who "has the guts to write anything at all."An author who has taught writing for more than thirty years, Ralph Keyes assures readers that anxiety is felt by writers at every level and can be harnessed to produce honest and disciplined work., Keyes offers specifics on how to make the best use of writers' workshops and conferences and how to handle criticism of works in progress; he also exposes the most common "false fear busters" (needing new equipment, a better setting, a new agent). Throughout, he includes the comments of many accomplished writers--Pat Conroy, Amy Tan, Rita Dove, Isabel Allende, and others--on how they transcended their own anxieties to produce great works.

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