Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

TWO CRAFT BOOKS IN ONE MONTH? What am I, some sort of literary addict, jonesing for another hit of structure and plot?MAYBE.Stein on Writing does not mess around. It is a technical manual, craft-oriented, and if you so choose to metaphorically strap it on your back and hike through the wilds of your words, does it ever deliver. Stein offers actionable advice on key elements of effective writing, including structure, dialogue, pacing, and character development. Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, his insights are spot-on, particularly when it comes to clarity and engagement—cornerstones for holding a reader's attention.Stein emphasizes “particularity,” (my new favorite word), and guides writers on crafting and revising prose. This is not a book of vague inspiration, abstract advice, or “fix the commas” or “cut adverbs” suggestions. The method is clear and pragmatic: shape your writing, tighten, refine, repeat, until you’ve produced polished, professional work.Make no mistake, this is no dry tome. Stein practices what he preaches, often with great wit, as evidenced by gems like:"Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions.""One plus one equals a half."Too often, advice at this point in my career feels mushy, repetitive, or feasibly addressed by a simple search-and-replace. Stein’s book demands more of us as architects of meaning. This is about our responsibility for the reader’s experience, forcing us to organize our thoughts clearly on the page.This one also earned a place on my “Easy to Reach Craft Book Pile”

Stein is an author, editor, and publisher. His advice is geared toward fiction, with some thoughts for nonfiction. I am a reader and reviewer of books, not a writer. I have strong likes and dislikes about books I've read. I'm reading some "how to write books" to see if I agree with the experts. I'm delighted to say that writers who follow Stein's advice will very likely make me happy when reading their books. I am more liberal than Stein in two areas: the first three pages of a book and his fifth commandment. Scenes that end prematurely are a subject Stein did not discuss, but I believe he would agree with me.ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, & FLAB:For a while now I have been confused when I hear people say "cut adverbs." I've loved some colorful writing that adverbs produce. I made a list of wonderful sentences with adverbs written by J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, and Georgette Heyer. I recently read three Hemingway short stories and noticed a lot of adjectives and adverbs in two of them. That intrigued me because he is famous for concise writing. Stein is the first expert who explains this subject to my satisfaction. Although he recommends cutting most adjectives and adverbs, he gives examples showing when they are valuable. I like his view. Stein and I both like the following paragraph which is full of adjectives and adverbs. Although a novel filled with this should probably be labeled poetry rather than fiction. Still it shows the emotional and sensual ability of adjectives and adverbs. Stein calls it "a nearly perfect paragraph." It was written by a student of his, Linda Katmarian."Weeds and the low hanging branches of unpruned trees swooshed and thumped against the car while gravel popped loudly under the car's tires. As the car bumped along, a flock of startled blackbirds exploded out of the brush. For a moment they fluttered and swirled about like pieces of charred paper in the draft of a flame and then were gone. Elizabeth blinked. The mind could play such tricks."Stein says "She's breaking rules. Adjectives and adverbs which normally should be cut are all over the place. They're used to wonderful effect because she uses the particular sound of words `the low hanging branches swooshed and thumped against the car. Gravel popped. Startled blackbirds exploded out of the brush. They fluttered and swirled.' We experience the road the car is on because the car `bumped' along. What a wonderful image. `The birds fluttered and swirled about like pieces of charred paper in the draft of a flame.' And it all comes together in the perception of the character `Elizabeth blinked. The mind could play such tricks.' Many published writers would like to have written a paragraph that good. That nearly perfect paragraph was ..."Another example. Stein does not like the sentence "What a lovely, colorful garden." Lovely is too vague. Colorful is specific therefore better; but lovely and colorful don't draw us in because we expect a garden to be lovely or colorful. There are several curiosity provoking adjectives you might use. If we hear that a garden is curious, strange, eerie, remarkable, or bizarre, we want to know why. An adjective that piques the reader's curiosity helps move the story along.Stein says when you have two adjectives together with one noun, you should almost always delete one of the adjectives. He also recommends eliminating the following words which he calls flab: had, very, quite, poor (unless talking of poverty), however, almost, entire, successive, respective, perhaps, always, and "there is." Other words can be flab as well.PARTICULARITY (attentiveness to detail):I love the following comparison. "You have an envelope? He put one down in front of her." This exchange is void of particularity. Here's how the transaction was described by John LeCarre. "You have a suitable envelope? Of course you have. Envelopes were in the third drawer of his desk, left side. He selected a yellow one A4 size and guided it across the desk but she let it lie there." Those particularities ordinary as they seem help make what she is going to put into the envelope important. The extra words are not wasted because they make the experience possible and credible. (My favorite part: "Of course you have.")FLASHBACKS AND SCENES THAT END PREMATURELY:Stein discourages flashbacks. He says they break the reading experience. They pull the reader out of the story to tell what happened earlier. Yay! I agree! I don't like them either.I don't recall Stein discussing "ending scenes prematurely," but I think (or hope) he would agree with me that they also "break the reading experience." For example, Mary walks into a room, hears a noise, and is hit. The next sentence is about another character in another place. Many authors do this to create artificial suspense. It makes me angry, and my anger takes me out of the story because I'm thinking about the author instead of the characters. You can have great suspense without doing this. Stein says "The Day of the Jackal" is famous for use of suspense. The scenes in that book have natural endings.FIRST THREE PAGES OF A BOOK MAY NOT BE AS CRITICAL AS THEY USED TO BE:Stein said a "book must grab the reader in the first three pages or they won't buy the book." This was based on studies watching customers in book stores. They looked at the jacket and then the first one to three pages. They either put it back or bought it. I think the internet changed things by providing customer reviews. I buy around 280 books a year. I never buy a book based on the first three pages. My decision to buy is based on customer reviews and/or book jacket summaries. I suppose the first three pages might still be important for customers in physical stores like Barnes & Noble and Walmart. But today we have books that become best sellers as ebooks and subsequently are published in paperback, for example Fifty Shades of Grey. Bloggers and reviewers spread the word, not bookstore visitors.STEIN'S TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WRITERS:I've edited for brevity and to remove thou shalt's.1. Do not sprinkle characters into a preconceived plot. In the beginning was the character. (I like this, but I also think Stephen King has a good idea - something to try. He creates a "situation" first, then the characters, and last the plot.)2. Imbue your heroes with faults and your villains with charm. For it is the faults of the hero that bring forth his life, just as the charm of the villain is the honey with which he lures the innocent.3. Your characters should steal, kill, dishonor their parents, bear false witness, and covet their neighbor's house, wife, man servant, maid servant, and ox. For readers crave such actions and yawn when your characters are meek, innocent, forgiving, and peaceable. (I love this.)4. Avoid abstractions, for readers like lovers are attracted by particularity.5. Do not mutter, whisper, blurt, bellow, or scream. Stein prefers using "he said." (I'm not sure about this one. I like hearing these words. Maybe in moderation?)6. Infect your reader with anxiety, stress, and tension, for those conditions that he deplores in life, he relishes in fiction.7. Language shall be precise, clear, and bear the wings of angels for anything less is the province of businessmen and academics and not of writers. (I assume this includes cutting adjectives, adverbs, and flab - but keep the good ones.)8. "Thou shalt have no rest on the sabbath, for thy characters shall live in thy mind and memory now and forever." (I'm not sure how this is advice to writers.)9. Dialogue: directness diminishes, obliqueness sings.10. Do not vent your emotions onto the reader. Your duty is to evoke the reader's emotions.OTHER IDEAS:Do not write about wimps. People who seem like other people are boring. Ordinary people are boring.Cut cliches. Say it new or say it straight.If not clear who is speaking put "George said" before the statement. If it is clear, put "George said" after or eliminate "George said."Don't use strange spellings to convey dialect or accents.NARRATOR:Christopher Lane is excellent.DATA:Unabridged audiobook reading time: 11 hrs and 16 mins. Swearing language: one instance of the word s*** (as I recall). Sexual content: none. Book copyright: 1995. Genre: nonfiction, how to write.

“The pleasures of writer and reader are interwoven.” This is the essential thought that is threaded throughout this book for both fiction and nonfiction. Many writers often fail to focus on the reader while they are in the process of writing. Stein instructs the writer how to make “the reader,” as he puts it, “King.” I probably have 30 writing books on my shelf and this one will go front and center for easy reach because it’s a perfect reference book on how to fix your writing problems, flaws, and weaknesses. The content is a jump-start for your creativity and an inspiration to improve the quality of your work. I liked Stein’s perspectives on “keeping the story visible and on stage” to give readers a sense of immediacy. He addresses at length character desire and motivation and how that creates plot that will keep the reader in suspense. His explanation on the omniscient voice and the pitfalls will help any writer who wants to develop a memorable narrator. Backstory, flashbacks, show vs. tell, and revisions are instructive chapters that will show writers their weak spots and how to correct them. And his ending? Stein’s Ten Commandments for Writers. Here’s one of them: “Thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader, for thy duty is to evoke the reader’s emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the writer.” The literary values here are irresistible. Highly recommended. Paula Cappa is an avid book reviewer and an award-winning supernatural mystery author.

I really enjoyed this book, as well as Stein’s How to Grow a Novel. In On Writing, he takes the struggling writer under his wing and attempts to show him/her a clearer path to good writing. “How to Show Instead of Tell,” “Choosing a Point of View,” “Flashbacks: How to Bring Background to the Foreground,” are just some of the helpful chapters, as well as the short but important “Tapping Your Originality.” I would recommend both of Stein’s books if you are a writer wanting to hone your craft. Having been a playwright and publisher for several years, Stein knows his subject matter, but the books don’t stand alone. I will be on the lookout for others of this nature that will build on his knowledge and the somewhat elusive technique of writing well.