| Fiction Writing Demystifed |
In FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED, you'll find hundreds of no-nonsense, take-'em-to-the-bank nuggets that eliminate the mystery from such challenges as plotting, scene structure, building action sequences, finding conflict, avoiding clichés, and more. Also covered are problem-solving strategies for polishing the final product, all of it aimed at forcing one's readers to turn those pages – at the challenge of keeping your audience glued until The End.
Simply put, there is no other book on writing quite like FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED.
Where was this book when I set out to write my first novel? Tom Sawyer translates his successful career as a screenwriter and novelist into a brilliantly practical primer that tells you all you need to know about every aspect of storytelling. Smart, funny, dead-on accurate – buying this book is like putting a down-payment on a ticket to the bestseller list.
Linda Fairstein – bestselling novelist, author of The Bone Vault and
The Deadhouse
Absolutely devoured your book! Pages folded back, underlinings, margin notes... A treasure trove, brother. Fabulous.
Jerry B. Jenkins – writer of the mega-selling Left Behind novels
The best technique book I've seen. A here's-how-you-do-it book…fun…reads like a workshop, with Tom rolling breathlessly and enthusiastically from topic to topic. I began using it the day I got it.
Pat Browning – novelist, author of Full Circle and Absinthe of Malice
Really wonderful…the most specific and helpful I’ve ever read – not only for the beginner but for the experienced writer…
Barnaby Conrad – Bestselling author of Matador
Exceptional, and not just for those who’ve thought about writing a novel…Concise, authoritative, a refresher course in basics…masterful!
Robert S. Levinson – bestselling author of Hot Paint, The John Lennon Affair
and The James Dean Affair
Sawyer’s analysis of the craft and observations on the process are not only true, they’re universal. If you use only half of what’s in this book, your writing will be twice as good!
John Wirth – Screenwriter, Executive Producer of The District
Chapter one begins 'Face it — We’re Entertainers'. How refreshing! If today's novelists listened to Tom Sawyer, they'd have more readers, and better zip codes.
Jim Kearney – Loyola Marymount Faculty/Network TV Consultant
REVIEWS
In his book FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED: Techniques That Will Make You a More Successful Writer, Thomas B. Sawyer shares his insight and experience from spending many years as the head writer for TV’s Murder, She Wrote, as well as other television pilots and series episodes. Sawyer is also the co-creator of the writing software programs Plots Unlimited and Storybase. FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED covers the full scope of fiction writing, from idea to final draft, including outlines, plot, structure, characters, and dialogue. Sawyer borrows liberally from his own career, using specific examples from his days working on Murder, She Wrote and other projects to illustrate important points.
FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED is a comprehensive look at the many facets of good fiction writing technique. Sawyer shares his thoughts on the importance of writing an outline, common plot devices, conflict, scene structure, character development and dialogue, opening and final scenes, keeping readers glued to the story, and the bane of so many writers’ existence, the old ‘show, don’t tell.’ Sawyer uses a rapid-fire pace to move quickly through the points he wants to make, which sometimes leaves the reader feeling like they want more, but on the other hand never lets the reader get bored with a long exposition on the nuances of a particular theory or technique.
With a straight-shooting writing style and tone, FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED provides a solid checklist of things most writers realize they probably already know, but don’t think to keep in mind while they’re writing. Most writers will read Sawyer’s book and slap their foreheads, thinking to themselves, “Right! I forgot about that,” or “Good point – never thought of it that way before.” A great example of this is the instruction that he gives regarding dialogue; put simply, if you can attribute dialogue that you’ve written for one character to another, without rewriting it, you’re doing it wrong. Sawyer makes his points with many examples of added emphasis, which some readers may find distracting, but others will welcome the extra reminders that this is important and that maybe now would be a good time to take notes or scribble in the margins.
In addition to providing practical, real-world advice on the craft of writing to fiction writers, FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED is also highly instructive on how the process of writing for television works. Through his experience and examples, Sawyer gives the reader a sneak peek into the life of a television scriptwriter. Sawyer’s book is unique in that there is solid value in it to writers across the full spectrum of fiction writing. Illustrating his points on how to make his readers’ writing stronger with examples from both film and television, Sawyer’s book is a cross-medium refresher on what makes for a good story, regardless of whether you’re writing for print, film, television or the stage.
Amy Brozio-Andrews - AbsoluteWrite.com
As an aspiring fiction writer I was not only excited to review Thomas B. Sawyer’s book FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED: Techniques That Will Make You a More Successful Writer but also hopeful I would pick up some useful hints on how to improve my own writing. I was not disappointed. His credentials as a writer are impressive, apart from being head-writer for Murder, She Wrote writing 24 episodes, Sawyer has written 9 network series pilots and 100 episode scripts, both drama and comedy, half-hour, hour and movies. He has also served on the writing staff of 15 network TV series as producer, Creative Consultant or Story Editor and is the author of THE SIXTEENTH MAN, a bestselling thriller about the JFK assassination.
FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED brings together this wealth of experience and condenses it into a practical, easy to read, fast-paced book that is full of insight, ideas and useful information. The reader is taken through every aspect of fiction writing from the initial idea to final draft, including outlines, plot, structure, character development and dialogue. It is a comprehensive overview of the essential skills needed to be a good fiction writer.
Sawyer’s easy-to-read, direct style of writing helps the reader move rapidly through different points without getting bored, confused or feeling overwhelmed. It is packed with practical advice and information as he uses examples from his own career in films and television. This is a book you will want to read time and time again to make sure you haven’t missed any of the wisdom contained in its pages.
Sawyer has a knack of shedding new light on old problems and a great example of this is found in the section Writing Great Unique Dialogue. Sawyer states "if you can assign a block of already-written dialogue to another character without rewriting the dialogue, you are doing it wrong". He emphasizes the importance of ‘listening to your characters’ a skill all writers need. Fiction Writing Demystified also spends time explaining how the process of writing for television works as Sawyer gives the reader a fascinating ‘behind-the scenes’ look at what it takes to be a television scriptwriter.
This book will be invaluable to anyone who wants to write great fiction, whether the writer is experienced or a novice and whatever the medium they choose to write in. It gives a general overview of skills and although it will not necessarily be the sole reference book used, FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED should be kept close at hand when writing and referred to often.
Freya Gordon – Writers Monthly
FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED: Techniques That Will Make You a More Successful Writer by Thomas B. Sawyer is the most difficult book review I’ve ever had to write. I found it so tricky because I didn’t know where to start without doing Mr. Sawyer or his book a great injustice as he has filled every page with tips, insights and tricks of the trade learned during his years writing episodic television.
Mr. Sawyer has broken the creative process down into six easy to understand areas. He begins by helping us understand how and why we are driven to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. How and why we want to create a vision of the world for others to see through our eyes! Then Sawyer immediately leads us into the creative process by putting his finger on the most important element of every well constructed story. It doesn’t matter if the story is a poem, a novel, a song, or a joke, he nails it in one phrase – “Where’s the heat?” In other words, where is the conflict in the story? Have we, as writers, created enough tension within our story to engage our audiences?
His third section shows us how to develop our story. He helps us understand the importance of outlining our stories piece by piece; How to create a real texture to our stories; and how and why plot devices work.
Next Mr. Sawyer takes us on a journey that explains how to create vivid characters for our stories. Tom lays out, in plain English, where to start; what to avoid; and how to develop a character that lives in our audiences’ mind. A character so alive we’d swear he was our best friend – or our worst enemy!
When Sawyer finally leads us into the actual nuts and bolts of building our story, we have all the tools necessary to create an unforgettable tale of suspense, mystery, love, hate, humor, or human tragedy. He shows us how to seamlessly weave the backstory into the plot and hows and whys of what to include and what to leave out.
His final section is how to write dialogue that is not only believable, but riveting! Sawyer shows you how to avoid the pitfalls so many beginning writers fall into that ends up making our work unsaleable without major rework. He illustrates how to use subtext; how to use silences, crosstalk, the villain’s “aria”, and how to avoid writing “show and tell” dialogue. Sawyer even takes it a step further by giving examples of energetic sentences that create the feeling of urgency and action. And, as we all know, action is what keeps our audiences from putting the book down or glued to the screen.
I’ve found FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED to be one of the most important books I’ve ever read on HOW to write. In the past three months I’ve read it three times trying to get a handle on this review and have learned something important each time.
Steven W. Johnson – Mojave News
Writing books may come and go. However, this one they'll have to pry out of your hands to get it away from you. Fiction Writing Demystified: Techniques That Will Make You a More Successful Writer is not your run of the mill how-to-write book. Rather it is a gold mine of information on how to craft enthralling stories that are highly marketable....
Eminently readable, succinct, and full of practical advice, Fiction Writing Demystified is a must have reference guide… No matter how accomplished you are as a writer, you are likely to mine some valuable tidbits of information from this book that will help you become more successful and productive.
Auggie Moore – The Frustrated Writer
If you have a story to tell, reading Fiction Writing Demystified will put money in your pocket faster than playing the lottery. Remarkable for its candor, inspiring with its insight and fun to read, think of Fiction Writing Demystified as a plot processor – an attachment that turns up the heat in the prose part of the brain – nurturing the passion living there that will be felt by others when they experience your work. If Alice were a screenwriter Fiction Writing Demystified would be the elixir she would drink to get through the studio door to deliver her pitch.
Mike Dilley - TAKE 1
...Beginning with the first page, Mr. Sawyer offers a bounty of reasonable and specific advice, useful not only for the novice but for the accomplished writer as well. Drawing upon his years of experience as a creative writing teacher, screenwriter and novelist, he presents practical techniques for crafting a tight, gripping story with powerful characters and unique, exceptional dialogue.
This is not to imply that only fiction writers will benefit from Mr. Sawyer's book. Indeed, a better title might have been "Creative Writing Demystified," as much of what he has to say can be applied by creative writers of all stripes. The historian, the self-help guru, even the cookbook writer all must engage their readers, or "...they'll stop reading or watching or paying attention to whatever it is we're trying to say."
Greg Mitchell - Virginia Writer's Club Newsletter
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