Hi all! It has been a while since I haven't written a book review but I decided to check in again with the new book I read last week "The Art of Writing" by Peter Yang. This book is designed to help you be a better writer – and I decided to give it a go on account on me attempting to write a novel. But more about that in a couple weeks' time when I'll probably give out some tips and tricks on writing a first draft and whatnot.
So let's jump into the reason you're here. Peter is an award-winning author, public speaker and all-around great guy who write "The Art of Writing" to help authors with their creative writing.
What: The book is oriented toward the art of writing and what writers should take into consideration if they desire to perfect their craft. It is organized in four major sections all with subdivisions like a spiderweb encompassing all the aspects of writing from word-choice to a writer's style.
The four principles this book stresses are
· Economy – designed to help in simplifying a sentence until it conveys the most meaning, making any piece of writing easily understandable
· Transparency – designed to help the novelist make his writing as lucid as possible, leaving no space for confusion
· Variety – oriented towards the variety of language and overall structure of the piece (such as paragraph and sentence structure)
· Harmony – focused on the harmony of the article/work-in-progress, the overall unity of the language, and the elegant presentation of the pages.
In the last pages "The Art of Writing" the author offers a few bonus tricks, such as
· Planning your sessions
· Setting goals for each session
· Taking breaks (no matter how long – they could end up being years long!) during writing sessions
As I have read it quite recently, I don't know if my writing has improved considerably after reading Peter Yang's book but I surely learned a lot, annotating as I read. The book talks about everything I could have wished for, without going too much into depth, which I did not mind since I wasn't looking for a detailed analysis, stressing that writing is not about the writer's ego but about the reader's interest.
A good piece of writing serves the reader and no one else.
So if you're looking to perfect your craft, I highly recommend you give it a shot and make notes as you go, as it is bound to spark your interest! After all, a writer needs all the help he can get.