Shut Up & Write
By Judy Bridges
Copyright 2011
176 pages
I found this to be a good handbook for writers regardless of the stage of career, though experienced writers might find it less informative than beginners.
Bridges had interesting ideas for character creation using a character wheel that I had never seen before. It was a bit like the technique I teach in my journaling class called clustering.
She advocated for one writing technique that I'd not seen elsewhere, either: retype the entire manuscript, don't just cut and paste and move stuff around. A new writer in particular might find this helpful. Having been a journalist for years I learned to edit on the fly and don't know that I could slow my self down long enough to do an entire retyping of a piece, but it might be worth an attempt or two to see if it helps the brain cells think a bit.
Additionally the book introduces newbies to business terms, style manuals, and other writing necessities. She offers a useful critique list, too.
I read the book looking for new ideas to offer my writing classes and found them, so this was an excellent read for me.
Becky over at Peevish Pen reviewed this book in great detail about 18 months ago; she does a fine job of explaining what is good about this book. So click on that link if you want more info.
Sounds like an interesting and insightful resource. I've never heard the advice to completely retype a WIP before, either, but then--if you think about it, all of our literary greats had to rewrite by hand or retype any new version of a manuscript. It sounds like it would be a good editing tool, particularly for new or struggling writers.
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