Josip Novakovich Offers a Workshop in a Book

Does this sound like the writing workshops you've attended? Most of mine have been more like reading sessions: no writing, no exercises, no lectures. Just reading. The few attempts we made to introduce actual work into the workshop met with protest. At a few, lectures droned on and on, and the serious workshoppers knew to come in an hour late.

Don't get me wrong. I love writer's workshops. They're great for intermediate writers. They provide a venue for you to share your work with other writers. The feedback you get, positive or negative, can help you become a better writer. But what if you're a rank beginner, or you're switching from nonfiction to poetry? How do you write enough to have work to share in the first place? How do you get ideas for stretching yourself into new media? While some workshops do teach writing, most garden-variety monthly workshops are geared toward people who are already writing and feel confident about their work. If you're just starting or you're changing gears, you could take a class, read a few books, or just start writing and hope for the best.

A Take-Home Workshop

In Fiction Writer's Workshop , Josip Novakovich gives you another alternative. This is not a book to browse through. Although he calls his book a workshop, it's more like a self-taught course in fiction writing. You'll learn all the basics, with plenty of examples to guide you along the way. He'll take you from ideas to final revisions in small, easy-to-follow steps. His advice may not make you a great writer, but it will certainly put you on the right track.

In the introduction, he starts you on the path and explains the rules of the road: "If you spend five or six hours on exercises in each chapter, you could be through this book in two months. It would be ideal to spend an hour a day, regularly, so that by the time you finish this book, you will have acquired the writing habit." He also suggests that, before you start using the book, you write several hundred pages of drafts, writing anything at all, not letting anyone else's advice cramp your style. Then read through your work to see if some interesting patterns emerge. You'll probably see recurring themes, appealing turns of phrase, and lots of sloppy writing. What you'll also see is your own, raw style.

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