Comprised of twelve aspects of writing and publishing mostly fiction, delivered by eleven different independent authors, Writing Lessons provides guidance in areas such as tense and person, believable settings, drafting and editing, and legal pitfalls.
Each section consists of an introduction to the subject, an example of the writer’s own work and a lesson, with space for the reader to try out their suggestions.
While it’s unlikely that any reader will find all of the writers’ work to their own tastes, the advice they give is generally solid for advancing each aspect of the craft.
I was familiar with the work of two of the writers and found at least two more whose work I look forward to reading.
The key to getting the most out of Writing Lessons is to do the work that the writers suggest. In each case there’s a very good example of what the writer has achieved, followed by what amounts to a short lecture in achieving the same in your own work. For example, M.A. Maddock sits the reader in the middle of an auto da fe in her chapter on drafting and editing. Her lesson consists of four explications of the drafting and editing process and how she looked at this chapter and changed it from earlier versions. Much of it has to do with the tools (Grammarly if you must, and no AI, for example, but with a nice discussion of what AI and Grammarly do to your creativity), and addressing proof copies.
Laurie Markvart provides a different look at the craft, focusing on memoir and the various forms it can take. She focuses on a very real issue of the memoir: the stories you tell aren’t entirely your own and the other people in them experienced the stories you tell differently. And if those people are family members it’s even more complicated. Markvart provides some interesting advice for navigating these pitfalls.
I won’t summarise the advice of all the writers, but will point out the two chapters that are more about the post-production. Lynda Engler writes about covers, formatting, and publishing options and Rachel Churcher (who discussed voice and tense in an earlier chapter) takes us through some of the legal issues the independent writer will face in terms of copyright, credits and permissions.
Recommended for anyone new to writing and wanting to put their best work into the world.
