I was right ten years ago
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I picked up this book after an almost ten year layoff from creative writing. It had been reccomended to me then, when I had read it and found myself recalling Johnny Rotten's immortal words - 'never trust a hippy'. What was given under the guise of being serious advice to inexperienced writers was a loose collection of platitudes, wrapped up in an anthema - ignore the rules.
It may be fine for an experienced writer to ignore a rulebook, but just as an apprentice carpenter needs to learn how to use his tools, so a writer needs to learn plot, characters and the other skills that make up the craft of writing. Let go in the Goldberg style and the result may please yourself, but one can almost guarantee no one else.
In short, a pure exercise in self-indulgence, disguised as a 'how to' book. Try something else - 'Teach Yourself Creative writing' by Dianne Doubtfire is far more useful to a novice writer, and it isn't written by a sixties leftover.
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The Best Book on Writing in the Known Universe!
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Natalie brings a unique perspective to the art of writing. If you can get onto her wavelength - and the way she writes makes this spectacularly easy - then this book will open up all sorts of hidden doors and pathways in you that you never even knew existed. The chapters are very short and snappy - rarely more than 2-3 pages - and each one gives you something to try out, to play with. She mixes personal anecdotes with Zen teachings and a wealth of experience to make your neurons leap and your synapses crackle. A few weeks into regular 'writing practice' I heard a song lyric which reminded me of something I'd heard in the past few days. I puzzled for some time over who on Earth might have said that to me before realising it was one of the characters in a short story I was working on! I've NEVER before had the experience of mixing my own fiction with real life! Could be psychosis, but I prefer to think of it as a deepening of the creative process ;-) If you're even semi-serious about turning out some great stuff, and breaking out of your fixed patterns of thought and action, go get Wild Mind....and enjoy the ride!
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An excellent guide for writers of every variety
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Goldberg's excercises will introduce a beginner to structured writing practice, and stimulate the jaded or professional writer out of any blocks they may have. Each chapter gives an insight into the writer's problems, routines, habits, and is ended with a practical excercise designed to challenge our imaginations and abilities. Goldberg's practice of Zen Budhism is woven through her text, and used to illustrate ways we can tame our distracted 'monkey minds' and get down to the daily practice that is necessary to produce work of any standard. A must for all writers - anywhere.
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It gets you writing
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I love this book and have recommended it to many people. It is an extremely interesting read and the "Try This" exercises really invite you into the writing process.
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A good book to inspire would-be writers
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Having already read "Writing down the bones" by the same author, which I often return to for ideas for writing and life, I found this second book on the same subject more personal and revealing about the author, but full of the same short, pithy and very usable tips. This time there is much more about not just the mechanics of writing and the thought processes that go into it, but what it has been like for this particular writer, the sacrifices she has made, conversations she had with writer friends and others who followed other diciplines, and the spectacular power which writing and being honest about ourselves can unleash in other areas of our lives. Not only did this book renew my interest in truly creative writing ( as my notebooks were becoming more and more like straight factual journals), it also got me wanting to take up running again after a long interlude, to see if the confidence that came from writing could help me there! I suspect I will be giving this book as a present in the near future, there is something in it for anyone with an interest in any art or discipline.
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