I can’t remember who recommended Andrew Cowan’s The Art of Writing Fiction Second Edition, but I’m glad I picked it up. If you’re really into writing exercises, this book is for you. If you have never taken a creative writing course, this book is for you. If you’re an experienced writer who has taken college level creative writing courses, this book might not be for you unless you want a refresher. It was an enjoyable read, but I didn’t walk away with more than a handful of new things to try. But after over two decades of working with words, maybe a handful of things isn’t so bad.
The book is CHOCK FULL of writing exercises. Most pages have one. There are eighty-two exercises in this book, and I think it contains some of the more arduous exercises I’ve encountered. Many ask you to pull from personal experience and relationships. Some people really love this (I’m looking at you, memoirists), and some people sort of hate this. I’m somewhere in the middle, so I found myself hmphing at a lot of exercises. If all of that is your thing, then you should give this book a read.
After working through Steering the Craft’s exercises with cheer, I started Cowan’s book with good intentions of working through every exercise. But I abandoned this quest by chapter five, marking the ones I wanted to return to in the future. Many of the exercises were time consuming, and some felt a bit more like busy work than sharpening tools.
A lot of exercises required you to have completed a prior exercise in the book. I found myself wishing he’d marked the ones that later exercises were dependent on. Some also assume that a good deal of time has passed (entire seasons) and that you’ve collected things (there are collage/clipping, weather, and place collection exercises).
Cowan seems to think his reader will take their time with this book—it’s meant to be read, digested, and worked through slowly over months. I think if you approach it in that way, you might find it more worthwhile than I did. While this review isn’t super glowy, I can see myself returning to this book when I’m experiencing a block.
This book is meant to be a college-level creative writing class, and as a former creative writing major, I can share that it does cover a lot of that ground. Cowan often explains how an exercise would work if the reader were in his workshop, and there are even exercises that ask you to find a buddy. All of this gives the reader a feel for what that world is like.
Cowan is excellent at collecting and selecting quotes from other writers to make his point. I think his biggest strength is curating. When I went through the book to share some of my favorite sections, nearly all of the underlined text were quotes by other writers. I really appreciated that he chose a fair number of women and BIPOC authors to showcase in this book. So instead of sharing my favorite quotes, I’ll share a couple of the more interesting exercises from the book.
Exercise 32: A portrait of yourself as you are to someone else
Imagine that you are coming through the door of a coffee shop. Several of the tables are taken; several are not. Describe yourself in the third person (he, she, they) from the point of view of one of the other customers—a stranger—who sees you enter and join the queue to be served. This other customer is close enough to hear you order. Quietly they observe you for the next ten minutes or so. What do they see? What do they suppose about you?
As an alternative, you might be entering a room for a meeting. You sit down. At some point you will have to join the discussion. Again, describe yourself from the perspective of someone who is already in the meeting.
I loved this exercise. While I’ve used my own experiences for characters before, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve somehow never thought of myself as a character. It wasn’t fun, or even pleasant, but it was a fascinating exercise.
I thought this was fun too:
Exercise 67: Literally
Here are some other figurative expressions:
- It was a heart-sinking moment
- He was high as a kite
- The shit hit the fan
- She got her knickers in a twist
- He lost his tongue
- She gave me the finger
- He was running on empty
- It cracks me up every time
- There was a definite spark between us
- Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth
Choose two of these and write a couple of short scenes in which they are taken absolutely literally.
Cowan also suggests keeping a journal devoted to recording an entire year of weather (not recording the weather daily, but writing detailed experiences of different weather) and keeping a journal devoted to real places and settings where you record everything you experience there. The idea is you pull from these journals for better fiction. I thought this was a useful idea.
I use a Midori/Traveler’s notebook, which can accommodate up to three notebooks, so I added an insert to record some weather and places. A few months ago I upgraded my old Traveler’s notebook, which was dented at the elastic strap and its corners were curled. I found these AMAZING little brassy bits for the damaged areas on Etsy. They didn’t add any noticeable weight to the journal, and they’re so easy to install—you just tap them on with a hammer. Everything still lays nice and flat when open. I love that it gave new life to my old journal. I also added a cheesy text bar to the front. I’m pretty sure it’s not me, but I’m trying it out. Here’s a couple pics of my well-loved Traveler’s journal and links to the metal bits on Etsy in case you’re interested:
Corners: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1785866205/6pcs-metal-corner-protectors-for?ref=yr_purchases
Center edge protector: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1785873367/2pcs-metal-edge-protectors-for-travelers?ref=yr_purchases
That’s it for now. I’m almost finished with the next craft book I’ve been reading, Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done, and that book is a home run. I can’t wait to tell you all the reasons I love it.
