A collection of cures for the most common stumbling blocks writers face when completing a novel or memoir, prescribed by the director of creative writing at Ohio University.
CONTENTS
Introduction: Notes from a Book Doctor 1
PART I: CURES
1 | The Story Cure: Diagnosing Problems of the Heart 7
2 | Your First Breath: Where Story Begins 31
3 | Prescriptions for Healthy Prose: Character, Dialogue, and
Setting 57
4 | The Lifeblood Test: Scene and Sensory Detail 79
5 | A Visit with the Throat and Eye Doctors: Voice and Point of
View 97
6 | The Strong Skeleton: Plot and Structure 125
PART II: CHECKUPS
7 | Keeping Fit: Moving from First Draft to Fifteenth Draft
143
8 | An Apple a Day: Healthy Habits for Any Writer 151
9 | The Book Doctor’s Final Illegible Scribbles 159
Notes 163
DINTY W. MOORE is director of Ohio University's BA, MA, and PhD in
creative writing programs. He has authored various books of
literary nonfiction as well as textbooks and craft guides, most
notably Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy and his memoir, Between Panic
& Desire, winner of the Grub Street Nonfiction Book Prize. He has
been published in Harpers, the New York Times Sunday Magazine,
the Philadelphia Inquirer, Utne Reader, Salon, Okey-Panky, the
Southern Review, the Georgia Review, and the Los Angeles Review of
Books. Moore is founder and editor of Brevity and is a frequent
speaker and teacher at writers' conferences.
". . .for anyone who has been writing for a while but feels
stuck."
— Library Journal
"Professor and veteran writer Moore delivers a clear, compact
writing guide. . . . few guides are as tight, thorough, and
engaging as this one. . . . In a field littered with gimmicky
advice, this strong, lean title stands out."
— Booklist
". . . a handbook for writers who have encountered artistic
ailments such as writer’s block, character anemia, flat plot, and
silent voice. Moore’s signature wit and wisdom are once again on
display in this useful guide for writers of all levels of
experience."
— Poets & Writers
"Writing a novel is a daunting task, a labyrinth filled with thorny
obstacles of all kinds. The Story Cure provides tonics
for many of the ailments that can plague a novel, but most
importantly, it probes the key part of any creative endeavor: the
heart of the story."
— Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing
Month
"“Moore is the longtime director of the writing programs at Ohio
University and an all-around writing guru. Even with all of these
lives, Moore manages to write his own nonfiction and his own books
about writing. So this prolific author is a physician who has
healed himself – The best endorsement for any book doctor. . . We
write from our wounds – brandishing our story like a brimming salve
– to reach the wounds of others. And so The Story Cure cures
the story.”
— Texas Public Radio's Texas Matters
Praise for Dinty W. Moore's Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy:
". . . a guide to writing essays that is both brilliantly
instructive and wonderfully entertaining. . . . Highly recommended
for writers and anyone who loves to laugh out loud while they
read."
— Library Journal (starred review)
"[A] witty and disarming new book. . . . he sneaks in answers so we
are left with a touch of wisdom as well as laughter."
— BBC.com
"Moore at his best. It’s witty but also substantial, and the
conversations between Moore and his interlocutors get to the heart
of what makes the essay such a compelling form: its capacity to
render, on the page, the human experience."
— The Rumpus
". . . the book as a whole will leave you feeling educated,
amused, and perhaps even inspired."
— The A.V. Club
"Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy is an enjoyable read . . . Its
witty, modest tone belies the artistry of the essays contained,
which are exemplars of the short form."
— Shelf Awareness
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