The Making of a Story Book Review

The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing is written by Alice LaPlante and published by W.W. Norton & Company. The book is an inspiring guide to help readers with the basics of creative writing, both fiction and creative non-fiction, and it walks writers through each stage of the creative process, from the initial idea to the revision of the final manuscript.

The book’s hands-on and accessible approach aids many aspiring writers in creating and finishing their writing project, as well as equipping them with techniques and methods used in creative writing. Throughout the book, Alice LaPlante talks through three main aspects of writing, which are process (finding inspiration and getting ideas on the page), craft (specific techniques like characterisation), and anthology (learning by reading masters of the form). Using these instructions, readers are able to apply the theory to their own writing project while also being able to look at several examples, such as excerpts from well-known pieces of short fictions, essays and contemporary novels.

In addition to these, the author provides everyone with many writing exercises in order to help improve ourselves and master each section of the book as we work through it. At times, the book itself may seem like there is a lot to unpack, though once we look at the contents of the guide, quality beats quantity.

There is so much useful information within Making of a Story, I believe that reading it once is not enough. If you are working towards become a creative writer and hope to publish a book one day, or if you simply enjoy writing but would like to improve, then I suggest keeping a notebook with you dedicated specifically for The Making of a Story. This is because once you start reading, you may want to remember certain points, techniques and methods, and writing them down in your own notebook is a very helpful way to continuously remind yourself.

Something else you could do is to keep a highlighter with you as you are reading the book, and highlight anything you find useful or interesting, then mark the page by either folding a corner or leaving a sticker behind to come back to when you need.

After working through the entire book, I myself thought that I need to go for another round, because there is so much valuable material within the pages that I cannot remember and learn everything at once. The same goes for everyone else, which is why keeping a notebook and a highlighter is highly recommended.

If you would like to improve your writing and use it to finish your project, then do not hesitate to buy this book, and do not let the size intimidate you either! With a rating of 4.2 on Goodreads, it can do no harm. The Making of a Story is available on Amazon here!