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

Sol Stein has taught some of the most illustrious writers of the last half of the 20th century how to write. So it is not surprising that he writes beautifully and is also a wealth of critical info. Every chapter makes a technical point that every writer should never forget. A great and useful book.

I am so glad my agent recommended this book. Beginning and more advanced writers will each find valuable tips. Stein's section on dialogue is great! Editing and revising no longer seem insurmountable problems. I wish I had read this when I first started writing ten years ago.

Every writer should enjoy the elements of writing as presented by Mr. Stein. I have given one to our current college freshman and, although already a very good writer, this book will raise awareness of the simple beauty of thoughtful writing. It did for me.

Sol Stein's Stein on Writing should inspire any soon-to-be published author to improve the final product. It did me. Sol himself practices what he preaches and augments his suggestions with fine specimens from talented published and unpublished writers. A must read for the future author before going public.

Mr. Stein's vast experience in guiding, mentoring and editing writers is presented here in a helpful and inspiring way.This book is key to anyone who, like me, can benefit from applying discipline to raw creativity.

The author is a published author and a professional editor. He shares his wisdom and then demonstrates it and then asks you, the reader to do a little work, i.e. identify the words not needed in this sentence. This book is akin to taking a course from an accomplished editor with the curriculum geared toward making you a writer worthy of publication. I will read this book again and again.

Although I was an English major and taught high school students for twelve years, I found this book full of helpful tips and reminders about how to write good fiction and create believable and interesting characters. While all writers have their own style, Stein emphasizes how to make the story and its characters come to life for its readers.

The book contains some good advice, enough to make a useful essay on writing, but not enough to make a really useful book. The rest is water, more or less. Apart from that, it's not a book on "how to write well", it's pretty much a book on "how to write exactly like Stein", with many narrow rules proposed as absolute.

The observations that come from Stein's experience as a publisher are probably the most interesting and the less trivial in the book.

As for the general writing instructions, I like "Gotham Writers Workshop: Writing Fiction" much better.

An excellent source to get a true understanding on writing novels. Author pats himself on the back and comes off as arrogant. I tired of reading about his acolades which he keeps remind you of. About half of the pages would have been elimated if his self-serving comments were deleted. Those were the sections that were a bore to trudge through.

I emailed Sol Stein six weeks ago about hiring him for a Chapter 1 critique. I've not heard from him and now don't ecxpect to.

Stein's book covers most of what makes books live. You can feel his advice is based on real experience he had
working with major writers of American fiction. He does not simply ride a couple of themes, emphasising them ad nauesum as how-to-write books often do, but draws on life experience. I recommend this book for anyone writing fiction or non-fiction, especially when getting to a stage when the words are down on the page but you know it is not working- perhaps the beginning pages fail to set up the book successfully or it sags in the middle or you can't find "the voice". This book will help you overcome the problems.

The Sol Stein books are just, if not more, valuable today as there were when they were published in the 90's. I have enough books about writing, but I wish I had discovered these much earlier than all the money I spent on books about writing that Steven King says are full of ?!+>&!!.

After reading a library copy of Stein on Writing, I realized I needed to own this helpful book. I recommend it to writers of both fiction and non-fiction. The examples help me to visualize my work and see how it can be improved.

I teach creative writing at the high school level, and this is the core text I use. Stein has a master's eye for both fiction and non-fiction, and his ideas on how to think about character, plot, voice, mood, style, and all the other aspects of an author's work have proven immensely helpful for both me and my students.

Stein's guide is simply written, with many excellent examples, and very well organized. It's excellent for relatively inexperienced writers, and for those who want to improve their ability to understand and critique fiction.

Deciding to write again after a ten year neglect to my hobby I purchased several excellent books on style and technique from the store. Writing The Breakout Novel by Maass, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King, Outlining Your Novel by Weiland, Plot and Structure by Bell. Searching those you will find others of quality. I had never heard of Sol Stein but I bought this book based on the the store description. I never met anyone anywhere who said they read one of his novels. I agree with the other one star reviews. I would give this book to a used book store but fear some young aspiring talent would be ruined by it. Nothing but sales seminar superficial hype. If he is such a great writer how is it I have to force myself to read to the end of each page thinking there must be SOMETHING good here. Just sad.

I very rarely leave comments, but I bought this book in part because of the 4 1/2 star rating. I was sorely disappointed.

Stein on Writing is a self-indulgent, long-winded Writing 101 guide. While there were some helpful pointers, the book goes on for graphs about very basic pointers and comes off like some kind of vanity project for the author. He inserts himself a lot in the book as well to poor effect.

I agree with an earlier review that this book will help bad writers, but not good writers looking to reach a new level. There are also better written and better organized books on writing fiction (for ex: Gotham Writers' Workshop: Writing Fiction, which is excellent).

I finally returned this book after struggling with it for weeks. I was so disappointed in the shallowness of the author's observations, and the utter lack of insight on technique. I finally got to the point where I was no longer interested in reading any of his explanations.

I think we all know when we've come across a book that offers a gift giving insight into how something functions. We walk away from it feeling like that old question that's always haunted us has finally been answered. It's a eureka moment that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Well, this book offers no such insights. It is the opposite, filled with cursory guesses, that are outright wrong. You'll actually know less when you're done reading this than when you started.

I was pleased that the other negative reviews here repeated my own frustrations with this work. When I pick up a book on writing, I expect real insights into how literary devices tic. With a good one, I'll get that, and more. But with Stein on Writing, I was VEXED to find explanations as I went through the chapters. Yes, the chapter headings sound so promising! Then you read them, and you're going 'where's the beef'? You think it must be you because HE'S THE MASTER EDITOR OF SOME OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WRITERS OF OUR TIME.....!!!!! Wooooooooo! Don't buy it! It's all hype!!! When looking at the writer's he's edited, I've never heard of them! Who says they are the most successful writers of our time? He does!

You will be hard pressed to find any deep insights into the mechanics of good writing here. And the explanations you do get are superficial and worthless.

I've read several books about editing and style, and this is one that stands high above the rest as the most awful book I've read of any subject. The tone is so condescending that I was struggling to finish this - only the fact that I'd thrown my hard earned money on this rubbish kept me reading.

A lot of the advise is actually sound and the writer knows his stuff, no doubt about it. But he's so full of himself that he comes across as an overbearing ego-maniac. He only approves of literature novels (so if you're writing anything else be warned that you will be put down at every page of this book) and he thinks the novels he's penned are the examples of perfection. There are pages and pages of excerpts of his novels which are not in any way helpful. All other books of this type manage to bring the point across with way shorter examples and do it by presenting a wide variety of novels.

Far better book is Elizabeth Lyons Manuscript Makeover. You will get every single advise that's in this book plus tons of others which this book completely misses.

The tone of the writer prevented me to actually gain any real benefit of his (so called) advise - so I was torturing myself for nothing. At the end of the book I just wanted to throw it across the room or preferably set on fire.

If you enjoy being critiqued and talked down to go ahead and get this book. However if you're interested in getting some helpful advise and support on how to make your novel a better one, skip this book. There are dozens of other books that don't leave a bitter taste in your mouth and won't ruin your day.

I really wish the store had zero stars option in the reviews.

There are kernels of good information in here, but it's like mining for gold with a kitchen colander. The cover touts, "A master editor of some of the most successful writers of our century..." The ellipse is because, like all the advice in this book, it goes on far too long. "Master Editor Stein" could have used a good editor to cut this down and hone in on the salient points. As is, what could be valuable, salient advice in a sentence or two becomes watered down and lost in the next iterative 8, 9, 12 sentences. The examples given are often horrible, illustrating more "how-not-to" than how-to, particularly the examples from his own novels. For new writers looking for helpful information to get started, or for experienced writers looking for a reference book you'll turn to again and again, I'd recommend passing on this. Everything in here is said more concisely, with more impact, and with better examples---before and after rewrites following their advise--in Browne & King's Self-editing for Fiction Writers.

I finished listening to the audio book version of Stein on Writing for the second time. (I also own the paperback version, which I loaned to one of my proof readers to good effect.)

The book addresses fiction and nonfiction. Stein discusses, at length, how to turn on the engine of the story and write immediate scenes. His discussion of particularity--the details specific to a character or other element of a story--has helped me tighten scenes and develop my writing voice. Advice on back story, flashbacks, and developing tension are also helpful.
Stein clearly favors literary fiction, though he has edited what he calls transient fiction as well. The precise use of words and the sound of words, a writer’s diction, is one of the elements he claims distinguishes literary works from transient works. He give examples that are useful.

Each time I read or listen to Stein on Writing, I consider purchasing his Write Pro software, but have yet to spend the money. I think reading this book and others on writing should benefit any serious writer. If and when I try Write Pro, I will post a review after completing a manuscript using the techniques.

In the meantime, I recommend Stein on Writing to novelists, screen writers, and journalist.