A classic handbook for anyone who needs to write, Writing With Power speaks to everyone who has wrestled with words while seeking to gain power with them. Here, Peter Elbow emphasizes that the essential activities underlying good writing and the essential exercises promoting it are really not difficult at all. Employing a cookbook approach, Elbow provides the reader (and writer) with various recipes: for getting words down on paper, for revising, for dealing with an audience, for getting feedback on a piece of writing, and still other recipes for approaching the mystery of power in writing. In a new introduction, he offers his reflections on the original edition, discusses the responses from people who have followed his techniques, how his methods may differ from other processes, and how his original topics are still pertinent to today's writer. By taking risks and embracing mistakes, Elbow hopes the writer may somehow find a hold on the creative process and be able to heighten two mentalities--the production of writing and the revision of it. From students and teachers to novelists and poets, Writing with Power reminds us that we can celebrate the uses of mystery, chaos, nonplanning, and magic, while achieving analysis, conscious control, explicitness, and care in whatever it is we set down on paper.
Whatever your reason for writing, Peter Elbow has a "recipe" to guide you. A longtime proponent of "freewriting" (writing without stopping, for a preset amount of time), Elbow incorporates its use in a variety of ways. Have a limited amount of time? Spend half of it freewriting and half of it cleaning up your prose. Got all the time in the world (and only a vague sense of what you want to say)? Freewrite, then focus, then freewrite, then focus, repeatedly, until you get "a trustworthy vision of your final piece of writing." Elbow offers a plethora of prompts for priming the creative pump, as well as several ways to revise the piece of writing that results: thorough revising, revising with feedback, cutting and pasting, proofreading, and the like. He pays close attention to the ways in which focusing on an audience can assist or interfere in the writing process, including a terrific chapter on the strangeness of writing for teachers, in which "your task is usually to explain what you are still engaged in trying to understand to someone who understands it better." And he provides an excellent section on how to solicit the kind of feedback you want. Though it is a new edition of a 1981 book, there is nothing tired about Writing with Power: it provides many tools to help a writer feel empowered throughout the writing process. --Jane Steinberg
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Inspirational, but not very practial:
This book is filled to the brim with inspirational talk for people who want to write. Elbow tends to emphasize non-fiction, which is a bit of a shame. Most of what he says boils down to: write a lot and revise a lot. Although that is sane advice, it hardly justifies the number of pages Elbow has filled. The last half consists of vague, non-directional musings about the "voice" of a writer--a concept Elbow can't even describe with sufficient detail to be of any practical use. So all in all, this book is... more info
Writing With Power:
Peter Elbow has chapter after chapter techniques to get you through the writing process from start to finish. He helps you to create your most powerful writing. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, are a beginner or seasoned writer, this book is a "must have" in your writing library.
Great Resource!:
Elbow is the known authority for writing techniques and this book is a classic. Easy to read and understand, Elbow creates a world where writing is not only important but rewarding. I have tried many of the suggestions and after years of frustration with writing papers, I have found tools that are very useful.Best of all, Elbow is so excited about the writing process, I actually look forward to sitting down and getting started.
Writing with Power:
The Institute I am currently taking a writing course through, encourages the students to collect other points of view toward achieving our goal. I learned of this book from my neighbor who also took a writing course. I am enjoying the use of it very much. Thank you.
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