Precious Trash

Writer’s Gym by Eliza Clark

I love the structure of this book. There’s either an author interview or short description of a theme, eg: flashbacks. Then an exercise to explain the description. In this book it discusses how flashbacks are over used and a way to pad the author from facing things directly. Then an exercise: write a specific story about a man having a fight with his wife before work, the first time no flashback. The second, add a flashback. Then after some suggested reading on the topic, a fiction book that does it well, and advice. Some parts have examples as well.

Not every topic interested me (one was about finding a story, I don’t have issues with that). 

But I would say it was worth buying and reading. It kept me engaged and I will use as a resource for either the exercises or the tips.

It felt very much like being in a room of writes and then all giving some of their process to you. Take what you need from it, leave the rest. If you’ve already read a lot of craft books I’m not sure how much you will get out of it, but I’ve only read a couple and found it a good one.