How to Write Like a Writer
A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice
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- USD 10.99
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- USD 10.99
Descripción editorial
The New York Times bestselling author of the beloved classic How to Read Literature Like a Professor teaches you how to write everything from a report for your community association to a meaningful memoir in this masterful and engaging writing guide.
Combing anecdotes and hard-won lessons from decades of teaching and writing—and invoking everyone from Hemingway to your third-grade teacher—retired professor Thomas C. Foster guides you through the basics of writing. With How to Write Like a Writer you’ll learn a practical writing process, how to organize your thoughts, construct first drafts, and (not incidentally) keep you in your chair so that inspiration can come to visit.
With warmth and wit, Foster shows you how to get into (and over) your best self, how to find your voice, and how to know when, if ever, a piece of work is done.
Packed with enlightening anecdotes, highlighted with lists and bullet points, this invaluable guide reveals how writers work their magic, provides essential writing tips, and reminds us that we all—for better or worse, whether we mean to or not—are known by what we put on paper or screen, both our thoughts and our words.
This is the practical, encouraging guide every writer needs to find their confidence and master the page.
Overcoming Writing Anxiety: Move past the paralysis of the blank page with Foster’s warm and witty guidance, learning how to get into (and over) your best self.The Craft of Writing: Go beyond the basics with lessons on everything from constructing first drafts to knowing when a piece of work is truly finished.Develop Your Personal Style: Learn to inject your unique personality and intelligence into every sentence, moving beyond rigid rules to find the voice that is truly yours.A Masterclass from a Master Teacher: Benefit from decades of wisdom from the beloved professor and bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, packed with anecdotes from Hemingway to your third-grade teacher.
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Foster (How to Read Literature Like a Professor), an English professor at the University of Michigan, Flint, offers in this friendly guide practical advice on developing a voice and writing "like you mean it." The bulk of his instructions come on the topic of building confidence, for which he provides numberous exercises—one can get in touch with their "intellectual/emotional response system" by writing a fake review, and writing about "a complex painting in massive detail" can sharpen one's description chops. Foster insists that the key to writing is "having something to say" and "knowing what that something is," and gives a rousing "pep talk" about how to get started writing, which, he claims, is the hardest part. He urges writers to "burn your thesaurus" and frequently references the works of Ernest Hemingway, John McPhee, and Joan Didion as examples of sentence structure and voice. Though his personal examples feel a little self-indulgent and unnecessary (ironic, given that he warns against the dangers of using the first person), he's solid on classroom tips and tricks, as in his point-by-point list of what makes a good thesis. Students will appreciate these handy notes.
