A clear-cut and excellent guide for how to write fiction. Even if one did not agree with Ayn Rand's objectivism philosophy, one could still benefit a lot from this book.

I was delightfully suprised by Ayn Rand's thought's on writing and unabashed praise of her own talent. I recommend it for its logical and clear purpose, the inventive and elaborate self aggrandizing, as well as the biting and sarcastic criticism of her contemporarys. I laughed out loud at times, something I can't say about anything else she wrote. I understand her work and philosophy with a greater clarity, and appreciate the charisma and vivacious personality of the woman.

Great plot construction advise.

Although there are flashes of insight in this guide, drawn from a series of taped lectures that Ayn Rand gave to a small group of friends and associates in 1969, I would not recommend the book to students. First, the book is dull—though I grant that any editor would have had difficulty making something readable out of an edited series of talks given decades previous. Second, Rand’s tone is humorless and insufferably arrogant.

Furthermore, some of Rand’s advice, especially about style, is actually pernicious. For instance, Rand mentions a pamphlet that impressed her at the beginning of her career and says the author she so admired wrote in a “colorful” style, that he “dramatized everything.” (108) So, instead of writing “Max Linder was born in such and such year in Paris,” he wrote “On such and such a spring day, a child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Linder” and “by the year so and so, a black-haired little boy was marching happily to school in such and such district of Paris.” I groaned reading this advice because I spend a lot of time trying to knock out of the heads of students just this sort of fancy writing. I tell them to save it for their novel.

Oddly enough, one of the worst writers in history gives some of the greatest advice to writers in history. If only she had followed her own advice, Atlas Shrugged would've been 300 pages, introduce its main character before chapter 25, and not contained a ham-fisted 50 page soliloquy!

4.5

really good! enjoyed most of it except for the last chapter and the fact that I got spoiled how The Hunchback of Notre Dame ends!

Rand offers ample reason to dislike her. She claimed to be the best author alive (at the time), claims to be better that Victor Hugo & Dostoyevsky, and says this claim is not a subjective claim but is objectively based. Her confidence exudes vanity, her modesty nonexistent, and her book was fantastic.

"[The purpose of writing is to objectify values.] In this sense, every writer is a moral philosopher." p23
"The more struggle a story involves, the better the plot" p33
"Make it as hard as possible for the characters, and tie the lesser characters' tragedies to the main line of events." p49
Do not substitute form for content.
If writing doesn't apply to human choice, it's not worth writing or reading.
"A good style is one that conveys the most with the greatest economy of words." p162
"I read a novel for the purpose of seeing the kind of people I would want to see in real life and living through the kind of experience I would want to live through." p195

Oddly, she hates obscenities and recommends they never be used.

One of the two most insightful books ever written for readers and writers of fiction. The second is "The Romantic Manifesto," also by Ayn Rand.

Interesting stuff, but Objectivism morally offends me, so parts of this were useless.

This is a collection of lectures given salon style by Ayn Rand and preserved by audience members. Chapter 10 on Particular Issues of Style is fantastic discussion of craft, and I would use that chapter alone in a classroom on fiction.

This book is edited from transcripts of a 1958 course Rand taught in her home. It presents an integrated guide for writers and readers on the essentials of literature, which Rand regarded as plot, theme, characterization, and style. She provides objective analyses of writing (hers and others'), contrasting the objective and subjective as well as the Romantic and Naturalist methods. She explains in detail the mechanics of vivid, integrated dramatization and narrative. She covers tangential issues like humor, slang, and flashbacks. As Leonard Peikoff noted in the introduction, some of its contents are shocking for those unfamiliar with Rand, but the book is never boring. Most readers, even those who agree with the essentials of her philosophy, will find at least one or two points of contention. But Rand's mind is astounding and as consistent as anyone's. Tore Boeckmann's editorial work is generally praiseworthy.

Ayn Rand gives focused advise on how to write. It is not how to start, but how to punch things up, how to show vs. tell, etc. Well-organized, easy to read, a great tool for authors.