• Help! For Writers

  • 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
  • By: Roy Peter Clark
  • Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
  • Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (31 ratings)

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Help! For Writers

By: Roy Peter Clark
Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
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Publisher's summary

The craft of writing offers countless potential problems: The story is too long; the story's too short; revising presents a huge hurdle; writer's block is rearing its ugly head. In Help! For Writers, Roy Peter Clark presents an "owner's manual" for writers, outlining the seven steps of the writing process, and addressing the 21 most urgent problems that writers face.

In his trademark engaging and entertaining style, Clark offers 10 short solutions to each problem. Out of ideas? Read posters, billboards, and graffiti. Can't bear to edit yourself? Watch the deleted scenes feature of a DVD, and ask yourself why those scenes were left on the cutting-room floor. Help! For Writers offers 210 strategies to guide writers to success.

©2011 Roy Peter Clark (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

What listeners say about Help! For Writers

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Guidance for New Writers

The advice is probably best for journalists and non-fiction writers. Some of it is basic but might be useful to new writers.

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Really Useful Book

Dr Clark helps me understand how working with a writer's group will improve my skills. These skills include Writing, Reading, and Listening.

He also let me know that starting at the end can help me understand how to get from the beginning to my chosen ending.

I am working on a technical book on solving failure modes on electrical generating systems.

Dr. Clark's book has helped me understand how to write, not for me - but for my reader.

The technician who has no schooling on this specific system will be able to solve the basic system failure mode after reading my book and doing the preparation homework.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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helpful advice when writing professionally or not

I found this book to be a good reminding of bad habit we should try to overcome when composing at any level of writing.

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Much more useful than I would have thought

While I didn't love the narration, I loved the content. These short chapters are perfect for jumpstarting writing when you're stuck.

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Good advice, but novelists beware

There's a wealth of good advice here. That's obvious. However, a huge portion of this book pertains to article or essay writing. While I think there are a lot of good parallels to draw, "not liking the subject you were given" is not really a problem of most, dare I say all, novelists. I found a lot of the advice in the book, while good and useful, sadly just didn't pertain to me or my writing.

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Roy Peter Clark is the Tony Robbins of writing.

like Forrest Gump's mother, he always has a way of putting things so that I may understand them.

I revisit his work yearly.


always something to learn.

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