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3.0 

Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art and Practice of Writing

By Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem
Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art and Practice of Writing by Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem are no strangers to the writing business. Between the two of them, they have published more than 600 short stories, 20 novels, and 10 short story collections. Not to mention numerous articles, essays, poems, and plays. They've won the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, and Bram Stoker Award.

In this book they go over everything from the mechanics of writing, to how to find the time to write, to dealing with all the paper writers tend to collect. They discuss plot, point of view, setting, characterization, and more, all in an informal tone that invites you to become part of their conversation. Learn how to find your stories because they are Yours to Tell.

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1 Review

3.0
“Another in the string of books I've read by writers on writing. Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem are not actually authors I've read, though they have long careers and backlists. They are a married couple who both write horror and science fiction (primarily). This book, expanded from its original form, is written in the form of an email dialog between them. They go back and forth on their process and various aspects of writing; it's a little like listening in on two writers speaking at a convention panel. They both write engagingly and in a lot of detail about their careers, their influences, and of course there are chapters hitting all the usual topics like Character, Plot, Setting, Genre, Subtext, Point of View, Structure, etc. Having read many of these books (Stephen King's On Writing remains one of my favorites), there isn't a lot of unexplored space in the genre of "writers writing about how they write," in my opinion. I didn't find anything particularly to disagree with, and in fact, Steve Tem's process sounds in many ways similar to mine. I liked their commentary, but I can't say I learned anything new. Towards the end of the book, they talk a little bit about marketing and PR and the writing life (apparently in their experience, many writers become hoarders) and epublishing, but admit themselves that much of their advice will already be outdated. This is the sort of book to read if you like reading authors' notes, or if you are interested in these two authors in particular. It was worth reading but it's not likely to give an aspiring writer any novel insights or much in the way of actionable advice that isn't found repeated in many other such books.”

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