Reddit reviews Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

I can give you three books that I recommend without reservation. The first is the easiest to read and a solid introduction to fiction editing. The second goes into more depth, with an excellent workflow for the revising process in the latter chapters. The third is the most dense, like a college class in fiction editing with a focus on how the 19th and 20th century masters actually revised their works, but it is also the most thorough.

Self-editing for Fiction Writers (written by two editors)

Stein on Writing (written by an accomplished editor)

Revising Fiction (written by an college professor, writer and editor)

I don't want to sound like a jerk but maybe take a creative writing class or something?? Writing good isn't easy, and I feel like there's too much to go over to put in a reddit post.

edit:
or read this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Memoir-Craft-Stephen-King/dp/1444723251

or this https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

very helpful books.

Some of the best I've used:

Story by Robert McKee -- As its title indicates, this book takes a look at story construction from a more theoretical perspective. McKee works mostly in the realm of screenplays but the ideas he puts forth are universally applicable and have already helped my writing immensely -- story itself was one of the big areas where I was struggling, and after reading through this book I'm able to much better conceptualize and plan out thoughtful stories.

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein -- if McKee's book is written from a theoretical perspective, Stein's takes a practical look at how to improve writing and editing skills. The mechanics of my writing have improved after reading this book; his examples are numerous and accessible. His tone may come off as a bit elitist but that doesn't mean he doesn't have things to teach us!

On Writing by Stephen King -- A perennial favorite and one I'm sure you've already received numerous suggestions for. Kind of a mix of McKee and Stein in terms of approach, and a great place to start when studying the craft itself.

Elements of Style by Strunk & White -- King swears by this book, and although I've bought it, the spine still looks brand new. I would recommend getting this in paperback format, though, as it's truly meant to be used as a reference.

Writing Excuses Podcast -- HIGHLY recommended place to start. Led by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal, this is one of the places I really started to dig into craft. They're at Season 13.5 now but new listeners can jump in on Season 10, where they focus on a specific writing process in each episode (everything from coming up with ideas to characterization and world building and more). Each episode is only 15(ish) minutes long. Listening to the whole series (or even the condensed version) is like going through a master class in genre fiction.

Brandon Sanderson 318R Playlist -- Professional recordings of Brandon Sanderson's BU writing class. Great stuff in here -- some crossover topics with Writing Excuses, but he is a wealth of information on genre fiction and great writing in general. Covers some of the business of writing too, but mostly focuses on craft.

Love this idea - hopefully I've sent a couple you haven't received yet!

I'm surprised people haven't said much about the actual writing itself. Tone is an issue, but the actual structure of your writing needs work. I'll pull a few examples that way you can see what I mean.

"Unless you’re a member of an isolated ancient tribe living under one of the six remaining trees in what used to be the Amazon rainforest, you have almost certainly heard the term “Machine Learning” floating past within the last few years."

Your first sentence is almost a paragraph. This is a problem. Writing should be succinct and to the point. Clarity and strength of word usage will make what you say much more meaningful.

"In fact, personally, I’m convinced that if humanity doesn’t eradicate itself prematurely, there won’t be anything left humans can do that can’t be done much better, faster and cheaper by a suitably designed and programmed computer (or a network of them)."

This is a sentence in your third paragraph, which is again almost an entire paragraph by itself. You also severely diminish the strength of your sentence when you use things like 'In fact', 'personally', 'I'm convinced'. Your readers know that you are convinced because you are the one writing it. You need to convince them.

"Even though a computer can do just about anything, making it do what you want it to do can be very hard indeed."

Adverbs are not your friend. - Stephen King

Strength of sentence structure is impacted when you use adverbs like 'very'. And throwing on an 'indeed' doesn't do you any favors either. Make a point to think about what you are adding to your sentences with these words. Is the answer "I am adding nothing with these words."? Then those words should not be there.


I'm going to leave you a list of books where you can learn from writers that will help you with these things. Try not to get discouraged. We all have a lot to learn, so just think of it as part of the process. I would HIGHLY suggest you at least look into Elements of Style.

Sol Stein's On Writing

Stephen King's On Writing

Elements of Style

Writing Down the Bones is pretty good, as is Stein on Writing Actually, anything by Sol Stein is good for a aspiring writer, if for no other reason than it'll be an outstanding example of good writing.

Stein on Writing is pretty great.

http://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

Hi u/Calicox,


Brandon Sanderson has a series of lectures he did at Brigham Young University when teaching a creative writing class there. Here's his lecture on character, but the others I've seen are also worth your time.

You may find the following books helpful:

This
This
This
This
This
This
This


Best,

DR-M

Game related :

https://www.amazon.de/Slay-Dragon-Writing-Great-Stories/dp/1615932291

Stories in General:

https://www.amazon.de/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

I don't know how much advice I can offer, as I write coming-of-age pieces that aren't necessarily vast or world-building. I may misjudge your audience.

However from a personal level, I can tell you that I come to a story for a character and the plot he/she goes through. I know that in scifi world-building is a huge element, but books involve stories, and stories involve characters, and the character should be mentioned as early as possible. Not just the fact that he's a sweaty pilot--say something painterly about him, humanize him.

As a reader, I don't mind being confused about the plot if I like something about the character. If he's 19 and scared out of his mind and there's someone waiting at home for him. Throw the readers a little treat, and they'll be patient on their leash.

Then, once you've roped them, you can find ways to sneak information. Use dialogue during this mission to explain to the readers important details in a natural way.

And don't forget that you may want to reveal some details to the readers in later chapters instead of earlier on. The right amount of confusion is a plot device that keeps people reading the next chapter.

Game of Thrones has what people jokingly call "sexposition," which (as you may have guessed) when exposition is revealed through the dialogue of people having sex. I'm not suggesting you use sex scenes as liberally as GoT, but keep in mind that it's easier to read important details while characters are doing things or talking than it is to read great big chunks of information--especially if we don't care about the characters yet, or know what they're going to do.

Again, I don't know if this is at all helpful--if it's relevant to your audience--but I think it applies to general readership.

Also, I highly recommend 2 excellent books, "Stein on Writing" and "How to Grow a Novel," both by Sol Stein. He's an old editor with plenty of brilliantly sharp writing and editing advice. He has a lot of "rules", but it's really fantastic advice if you take it with a grain of salt.

https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312267495/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=09Q68W3D49Q8ZQ5PJTTR

Sol Stein recommends the opposite as well: examine crap to identify what doesn't work. Since that sentiment is mirrored in our sister profession, I'd call that a good tip.

I'm not sure about what questions you could ask a coach, but any information i'd ever want to learn about writing can be found in the following books:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444723251

Stein on Writing
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0312254210

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0060545690

Maybe some questions you can answer for us? Why have you sought out a writing coach? What kind of writing do you do? How long have you been writing and at what level?

You may get some better responses after these questions. :)

Sol Stein is a masterful editor; below is a good book to read.

https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

Watch your comma usage. Too many commas slow down and break up the flow of the sentence.

Am not trying to be hyper-critical, just calling it like I see it and want to help.

Stein on writing, by Sol Stein?