The Linchpin Writer

I've been writing fiction for a long time, but I still read books on craft because I know there's always more to learn. I highly recommend “The Linchpin Writer” because it offers an entirely new (to me) way of looking at the craft of writing fiction. The book aims at those crucial moments in novels that can make or break a reader's involvement with the story–the beginning, the first lines of the protagonist's dialogue, and so on. As I am just now in the final stages of revising a new novel, thinking about these critical moments–these “linchpins”–has been enormously helpful. Besides offering helpful observations and tips, the book is written in a delightful, conversational style, loaded with humor. It also includes writing exercises to help drive home the points in each chapter, and suggestions for where to find more information on the author's popular website, Bookfox.

This is an excellent book and you won't be sorry if you spend some time with it.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a writer, I'm always happy to come across good writing advice. [b:The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments 61874556 The Linchpin Writer Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments John Matthew Fox https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659785287l/61874556.SY75.jpg 97534244] happened to be terrific writing advice that made me want to drop everything and throw open my notebook. It's been my experience that creative writing teachers/mentors/blogs like to keep an upper hand. Somewhere down the line, they begin preaching that their way is the best way — if not the only way. John Fox's exercises were a sigh of relief. He knows there isn't one way to write that's going to fit every book and every author. Each chapter ends with a series of prompts (keep a pen handy!) that force you to think outside of the box. Speaking as someone who gets hung up on the ‘rights' and ‘wrongs' of writing and having a set way of doing things, it was nice to have a push outside of my limited mindset. Though I didn't have the time to do every lesson at the time of reading this, I am excited to go back and give my undivided attention to the exercises. It's been a while since I've had such a burst of motivation.Part memoir and part handbook, there is a lot to discover about the writing industry and the craft in under 200 pages. The writing itself, no surprise, was charming and encouraging. I'm looking forward to exploring the author's blog and other books. A huge thanks to the author and his team for sending me a free ARC to read and review!Full review: https://oceanwriterreads.com/2022/08/25/book-review-the-linchpin-writer-by-john-matthew-fox/