Good insights for beginners, but for those more experienced, I'm not sure there's much to be found here, but lots to be at least reinforced, so that was interesting.
A good, comprehensive read for what the book presents itself as.

I thank the publisher, and Netgalley for my opportunity to review this book.

This was an interesting read. But it didn’t feel too focused on fiction writing, which is what I’d hoped.

An engaging read that brought inspiration and wisdom and made me think more intentionally about my own writing practice.

It took me a while to get through this, but only because I usually don´t read non-fiction. But a book on writing? Yes please. It had a great variety of tipps and tricks and got a lot out of it.

A little too simplistic; examples were decent, but just not enough meat and potatoes in the suggestions to be fully useful.

Chip Scanlan's book is filled with brief interviews with authors and writers in which they share one piece of advice that stuck with them throughout their careers. It is a fascinating insight into the mind and processes of some of the amazing writers out there. And the interviews are brief, only a couple of pages which makes it the perfect book to go through slowly with one person a day, or to binge read.

I learned an enormous amount about not just writing, but the lives of these fantastic authors. Really compelling, interesting and full of useful pieces of information that I’ll remember for a long time.

Writers on Writing: Inside the lives of 55 distinguished writers and editors by Chip Scanlan and Ray Hoy is a great collection of information and writing tips. This book is arranged in very short chapters with a reflection about a writer’s habits and a .quote to ponder. Writers will particularly love this book. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

An absolute must read if you love writing. Wonderful collections of thoughts that can inspire and teach people about writing. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I found this book to be full of interesting insider thoughts on the craft of writing that were really interesting and helpful.

As a wannabe writer myself I'm always keen to get my hands on more books about writing. The opportunity to delve straight into the minds of other writers is invaluable, and I really learned some good tips in this book. One of the biggest takes I took from it is writing is a craft that like any craft, can be mastered, with hard work, patience, perseverance and practice - and that for most authors, it still takes all these things, every day, with every book, no matter how successful you are. I found that pretty motivating.

I'm a huge fan of the interview format and I'd love to see this series continued with more authors (particularly more fantasy or sci-fi authors!) - perhaps even whole genre takes?

If you're passionate about writing. Whether a fiction or a non-fiction writer. This book will help you learn the skill of writing with the help of the best authors. And by author and award-winning journalist Chip Scanlan who has over five decades of experience as an accomplished craftsman. Now he’s here to share invaluable advice for achieving the career of your dreams.
Writers on Writing: Inside the lives of 55 distinguished writers and editors is an empowering collection that reveals what lies behind the visionary brains of the very best wordsmiths. Through inspiring interviews, you’ll understand the facts and practical processes needed to conquer the demanding profession of journalism and creative nonfiction. And by applying these key tips to your work, you’ll soon gain the skills and knowledge to stand head and shoulders above the crowd.
I love this book, it gave me information on the jargon language writers use. I now know that to be a good writer you must follow a certain structure.
This is the best book if you're an aspiring writer.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this free ebook in exchange for my honest feedback!

This was such an interesting read from Chip Scanlan - he interviewed 55 authors, editors, and journalists and asked them about their careers, writing process, and any advice they had to give aspiring writers.

I initially thought this was going to be more of a narrative how-to piece but I actually enjoyed hearing from the other writers who have already had crazy success in this field. I also loved the prompts at the end of each chapter to help you apply what you've just learned.

Very useful book for anyone who is interested in the world of writing!

A collection of thoughts from various writers, all of them answering the same four questions.

The questions:
What is the most important lesson you've learned as a Writer?
What has been the biggest surprise of your writing life?
If you had to use a metaphor to describe yourself as a writer, what would it be?
What's the best piece of writing advice anyone ever gave you?

I'll be honest, I came to this wondering if I was about to read a whole bunch of very similar pieces of advice, but the range of talent and capability that has been assembled to write this is staggering, and the answers given to the questions range from the whimsical to the direct, from the reasonable to the outrageous. This is not only an excellent resource for writers, but also for anyone interested in being creative, because it shows the nature and extent to which all of us differ, and while we're all our own person, similarities can be seen to what we do and how we do it.

Every person who gave their time for this book is an accomplished writer, and it's humbling to see them be honest with the reader in describing who they are and what they do. For me, the most fascinating thing about this were the answers to the writing advice, which went from "Always eat breakfast" all the way to "Write horrible messy drafts and don't get hung up on how ugly they are."

This is a superb book, interesting for everyone, essential for writers.

With thanks to Netgalley and the Author for the chance to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading the mini interviews with each other the writer. It was really nice to get so many different perspectives on the same subject. Each writer brought their unique thoughts to the plate, and that was really fun and encouraging.

Writers on Writing is a fascinating resource for writers and readers alike. Over the course of fifty-five structured interviews with established writers we gain insight that extends the typical how-to novel. The author takes the unique approach of asking the same four questions of each writer which are:

What's the most important lesson you've learned as a writer?
What's been the biggest surprise of your writing life?
If you had to use a metaphor to describe yourself as a writer, what would it be?
What's the best piece of writing advice anyone ever gave you?

While this approach could seem to garner repetitive responses it offers insight into how alike and how different each writer's journey is.

This is a quick and entertaining read for fans of literature.

Writers on Writing is a thoughtful collection of interviews of established writers and their writing habits,
Each chapter comprises of an interview in which the following questions are asked:
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned as a writer ?
What has been the biggest surprise of your writing life?
If you had to use a metaphor to describe yourself as a writer what would it be ?
Whats the best piece of writing advice anyone ever gave you ?
Whilst the individual answers are intriguing and inspiring, there are perhaps too many interviews (55).
This book would interest journalism students operating in the US. I found it too US-centric.

In this volume, Chip Scanlan interviews 55 authros, editors, journalists, screenwriters asking them the same four questions, obviously adapting them to the career of the person being interviewed, At the end of each interview tere are prompts and questions to which one can answer in their writing journal.
The people being interviewed in this book are totally foreign to me. Thus, I appreciated the brief biogrphies at the beginning of each interview, so I could understand what kind of writer or editor was being interviewed,

The reading of these interviews is very smooth and interesting: each writer or editor has his own experiences and his own advice to give, which are translatated at the end in questions to which the reader (who ideally is also a writer) can answer to and to which they can reflect on. Some of these questions surprised me and, for certain, I'll go throughthe book again to write them down and answer on my own: many of them focused on how one lives writing and what kind of writer one is, as well as the advantages of a method compared to another.
Regarding the questions, the most intersting was certainly "What has been the biggest surprise of your writing/editing life?", because it gave something personal to the whole thing and one could, in a way, understand the writer or editor better. More useless was, for me, the question about describing themselves as a metaphor, but some answers were quite peculirar. Più inutile mi è sembrata invece la domanda sul descriversi con una metafora, però alcune risposte erano piuttosto particolari.
Some times, the advice given was rather banal and already heard of, some were repeated in a way or another; other advice, instead, I needed ot hear (and have them repeated) for my own writing journey, The interviews that stuck with me the most where the ones to interviste Paula Span, Kelley Benham French, and Ellen Gabler, but the others left, mostly, an impression too.
These are not authors I'd read, to be honest, but I appreciated their imput and their work.
All in all, it was a good read that I recommend, especially to new writers.
3.5/5 stars

Any aspiring writer will enjoy this book. It is full of tips from actual accomplished writers that will motivate and inspire you. It'll also make your struggles feel normal as you begin to recognize that even the best writers go through periods of doubt and writer's block. This is an incredibly helpful and honest resource for all writers. I will definitely be referring back to this book over the years to come. A lovely addition to any writer's library.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for providing a free electronic copy of this book for my honest review. Am incredibly grateful.

A number of useful thoughts, quotes and inspirational exercises here to encourage anyone embarking on a writing career. Probably better suited to an American audience though.