Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises
A story is constructed from many different building blocks: characters, plot, setting, theme, chapters, scenes, action, dialogue, exposition—not to mention point of view, tense, style, tone, and voice.
There’s a lot to learn. And once we learn the basics, we need practice—lots and lots of practice—before we truly master the craft.
Story Drills is packed with fundamental storytelling concepts and comprehensive writing exercises that will strengthen your skills.
You’ll learn the elements, principles, and techniques of storytelling; gain experience through writing practice; and get questions for further contemplation that will lead to a deeper understanding of the craft.
Story Drills is designed to be used by individual writers or in the classroom. Whether you’re an aspiring or intermediate storyteller, this book will bolster your ability to write compelling tales that leave readers wanting more.
The Storyteller’s Toolbox series of books helps you develop skills and strategies to tell the best stories possible while exploring your creativity and developing a storytelling process that works for you.
Reviews
This book, Story Drills, is another wealth of information and advice that any writer could use.
Once again, Melissa Donovan gives us another outstanding book on writing. I’ve bought so many books on writing over the years that I’ve become jaded. However, all of her books on writing are fantastic, exceed my expectations, brimming with helpful content, and learn much more than I could ever have hoped for.
It’s because of her books that I haven’t yet lost total confidence in my writing. She makes the skills we need to learn very accessible and broken down perfectly for a writer of any experience level. This book, Story Drills, is another wealth of information and advice that any writer could use. And despite the title being “Story Drills”, the book is so much more than that. It’s robust in its guidance and digs deep into many aspects of writing. Like all her other books on writing, this is a book to keep on your shelf forever. I’ve bought so many books on writing over the years. Many I’ve been disappointed in. But her books are always in the pile of ‘keep forever’ and will continue to reference and use for the rest of my writing career.
This is a “go to” tool book for writers
I loved layout of the book with its easy to read topics and drills. The book is great for new writers who need a checklist of important factors to consider in creating a book. It is also, a wonderful workbook to test and refresh one’s writing skills. I rated the work at five stars because of its practicality and clarity for each topic.
Melissa’s books are also helpful and this one is no different. She covers everything you need to know to write stories that people want to read. I write nonfiction and the topics in this book were helpful to me as I analyzed my work in progress.
This book is so comprehensive it goes deep into each section and even provides worksheets at the end.
If you want to learn more about writing or review your own work this book is really helpful.
A book I can go back to over and over again
I must say at the start of this that I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It is rarely that I come across a book on writing fiction that has been so packed with information and exercises. At first, it felt quite daunting. The book is divided into sections covering characters, plot, setting, theme, structure, narrative, literary devices and narrative techniques, craft and process, and story scholarships. Each section was further divided providing information on different aspects of each section with exercises to do as well as things to be considered or observed to help you in your writing.
It is the most detailed book for its size on the subject of writing that I have come across to date – a book I can go back to over and over again. I would consider it good for the beginner as it does tell you so much, but it would also be of use to the more experienced writer too. A great book.
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