Jill Dearman

The full title of this book is "Bang the Keys: four steps to a lifelong writing practice." It's a very new release, and I received it last fall as part of a prize pack from Writer's Digest. My only question is--where was this book five years ago? Back when I was wanting to take my writing seriously, but still often petrified and struggling with writer's block? Really, this book addresses many issues I've had to learn the hard way through trial and error (also known as rejection, rejection, self-loathing and more rejection).

Jill Dearman carries a conversational tone throughout the book. There's nothing patronizing here--just lots of wisdom peppered with pop culture references. Dearman breaks her method into four steps, with the acronym of BANG:
Begin with your strongest idea.
Arrange your material into concrete form.
Nurture your project so that others may love it also.
Go. Let it go so it may live independently in the word.

This isn't a book about how to write or edit. For that, go read Browne and King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Bang the Keys is all about setting up a writing practice, on setting realistic goals, on shoving away distractions, and meditating to find your way out of dead-end plots. Each chapter contains exercises to use on your work-in-progress or yourself. I was especially amused as I read her chapter on "Sex and Money," and how those two little words can tell you loads about your characters; she's right.

This would be a wonderful read for someone approaching NaNoWriMo. It's such a gentle book--rather like a therapy session. Instead of telling you HOW to fix your writing, Dearman turns it around and asks pointed questions so that the writer can fix it themselves. I'll be keeping this book on my shelf.… (més)