Writing is supposed to be something creative and I did not find this book to be creative.
You can't be creative with 4 questions did you use you ask a bunch of people. For me that's not creativity, it is merely a college assignment and it was boring and repetitive and I hoped for more from this.

To be completely honest this wasn't as helpful for me as I thought it would be. It's a good book. And for some it will help them find themselves and cool ideas to help them. But I just got bored and started flicking through not really taking in any of the words on the page.

While I like the concept, I wasn’t a big fan of this book. Asking all of the authors the same questions made it too repetitive, in my opinion. Thanks for letting me check it out!

This book gives answers to four questions of 55 different writers, with as many assignments to get you thinking. I really like the format, because it provided a lot of varying insights as well as means to apply those insights to my own writing.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. It has lots of good information and has journal prompts to help you try to incorporate what each writer discusses. I have enjoy reading this book. I may even try my hand at writing again. I haven’t written a poem for a few months. Perhaps eventually I will try to write a book. It has always been a pipe dream of mine.

I have been considering writing a book for some time and have recently been reading more memoirs and trying to learn more about the process and how one goes about writing a book. So when I found this book on Netgalley, I thought it would be a great place to learn more.

Writers on writing isn’t like your usual writing guide, giving you thoughts and ideas on what you ‘should’ be doing. Instead, it’s a collection of 55 different takes on the process. Chip Scanlan has asked various other authors, editors and journalists to answer four 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?
Followed by tips for your journal (ideas of what you should or could write about).

This provides an entirely different but interesting view on writing. Each chapter is another person and is just a couple of pages long at most, so you can get through them relatively quickly and pick up some great tips. You can also quickly dip in and out of this book; you don’t have to read it in a set order.

Each person offers a different tip, opinion, or information on what they consider the keys to being a successful writer. There are some great pearls of wisdom inside, and it makes a lovely little book to pick up and flip through for some quick inspiration.

I teach 5th grade writing so have loved using this as a teaching tool and incorporating the tips, hints, and anecdotes into my mini-lessons. This will be a book that I will continue to refer to as a guide/anthology to make my instruction better and help my writers to feel good about taking those writing risks!

Fun book by writers for writers. I appreciated the honest insight they are provided. I liked that I could flip it open to literally any page and get some pearls of wisdom

The process of writing a book is tricky, and I think all the help we can get is significant. Even if sometimes the advice people tell you seems reductant,
If you read many books on this topic, some of the tips given here will be similar to those presented to you in other books, but even still I'd recommend it as a read if you have an interest.

Writers on Writing was a good read, with lots of useful information. I think it would be helpful anyone currently writing or aspiring to do so.

A helpful book for aspiring writers, and those already writing, with plenty of lessons and suggestions. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review.

I have read a lot of writing-help books over the last few months (as I attempt to write my first novel). This one was an easy read, as it was structured into four questions and each author/editor who was questioned provided quick and condensed answers/advice on writing and editing. And after each author/editor's answers, there was a journal prompt to help you utilize what you may have learned from their answers. I highlighted a few pieces of advice, such as, “there is no such thing as writers block,” “show up every day”, “search for the emotional core, or the emotional truth, of a story” and other such sentiments. Did the book truly help me in my quest to write a novel? No. But it did offer tidbits of inspiration. Things you can write on a notepad and stick around your desk while writing. And let's be honest, as writers, we can all use a little inspiration while were in the chair for hours on end, typing away, reminding us that it can be done. One thing though, there was a lot of advice from journalists, and not enough from novelists or poets. I know, writing is writing, but not all writing is the same. So, at times, the advice just didn’t apply to me, because I am not a journalist or reporter getting my story from an outside source. I do wish there were more fiction writers. Either way, there is still some interesting pieces of advice and journal prompts to get you writing.

3/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Chip Scanlan for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @netgalley for this gifted copy! This was a quick and easy read! I loved the simple format. Each chapter was short and to the point, which is perfect for a how to writing book. ⁣
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This past semester I worked on my media writing skills & nonfiction writing skills. So reading this really helped bring everything I learned together while also teaching me some new skills. ⁣
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My favorite part was the journal prompts. They weren’t always obvious, but I liked that it advised you to journal when you’re stuck. Or to journal in order to help your brain work out what story you’re trying to put together.⁣
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Though if you’re not in journalism or know anything about media writing you probably won’t know some of the things this book talks about.

A great book of anyone who loves the craft of writing. Advice and case studies of authors from a variety of backgrounds show that there are many ways to skin a cat and many ways to write a book about skinning cats.

Writers on Writing by Chip Scanlan was a 4 ⭐️. I picked this up not because I wanted to write a novel but because I want to write better reviews. I average about 100 books a year and I want to better explain my thoughts. Anybody??
I’ve haven’t realized until recently how important a review is. How I can help “get the word out” about great books. Bad books. I’ve felt many times that I should’ve done a better review. I really want to make meaning with my words. Was this book helpful for that purpose? Maybe?? We’ll see.

About this book. It’s 55 interviews with a 4 question format. The author asks that I start this by first answering the questions myself.
My take away. Most of the authors biggest surprises were that they were writers and actually still doing it. And many said that writing never got easier.
Things I learned:
• writing is a craft that can be mastered.
• It’s helpful to be a “super-observer”.
• Learn from others.
• Read constantly.
• Write from memory and clean it up later.
• Do what make you happy.
• Be a sponge and lower your standards.
Overall this felt like a layer back interview or podcast format. I gleamed some thoughtful insight. Hopefully inspiration.
Thanks BooksGoSocial via NetGalley.

I know not a single one of these people featured in #WritersonWriting. Now that’s on me, but it still means I don’t particularly care about what they have to say — even less so when they’re an echo of not just each other, but of every single writing advice you have ever seen . . . including random ones all over the internet. But hey, this means the bunch of filler internet articles had merit to their advice, so I guess yay for them?

I have been bored out of my mind reading these 55 interviews. Everyone is asked the same four questions, but that’s not the issue; the issue is that the answers are (more or less) the same. Trust me, you have read this book before in bits and pieces, but that is exactly what it comes down to: bits and pieces. Assembled properly, the entire book would take less than 10 pages.

Everyone is surprised they get to do their job, everyone believes you should just write away instead of worrying, everyone insists on research and observation, everyone says to be your own self but do it in a clear way. The “prompts” following each interview are almost all in the same vein as ‘What did you think of this?’ This is literally what the whole book comes down to.

[DRC provided by #NetGalley and BooksGoSocial.]

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a writer myself, I appreciated this book. Full of interesting facts, and information. Recommended.

I liked this book. Different perspectives and advice from writers and exercises included. A great writing tool. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

As a literature student, I get interested not only in the final works of authors but in the actual process of writing too. To think that one just sits down and creates a masterpiece in one go is almost unheard-of. Many of the authors get stuck mid-story and need a help of a reliable editor or just a new point of view. And many times they might need a bit of good advice from other professional authors to motivate them to keep going. Writers on Writing provides exactly that - short and easily applicable tips, tricks, and advice from successful writers, journalists, and editors. I think that everybody who aspires to start writing more and better will find something valuable inside. Even though I am not an aspiring author myself (the will might come one day, who knows), I enjoy writing a semi-consistent diary. I found that the tips from this book helped me in writing more consistently and vividly. I would recommend this book to everybody interested in writing or as a great gift for your friends who constantly postpone writing their bestseller until tomorrow.

It may be a strange coincidence that <i>Writers on Writing</i> can be abbreviated as 'WOW' but honestly, this book deserves all the plaudits it has received. Perhaps its greatest asset is being a self-help book unlike so many others, in the sense that this is not restricted to one person's ideology or mantra but the generous reflections of more than 50 professional writers and decades of experience. It is a totally inspiring read and easily worth twice the cover price. A wealth of information and tips. My second reading was arguably more enjoyable than the first. Thoroughly recommended for established and wannabe writers alike.
My thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.