Ralph
Fletchers Guide to the Galaxy (Writing Well)
Before we jump right into discussing the positive aspects
of this book; a little background information on the author may be a little
helpful. Ralph Fletcher was the oldest brother to eight siblings; safe to say
he came from a big family. He always enjoyed reading as a child; in fact he was
very passionate about books and stories; therefore, it is no surprise that his
career revolves around it. He graduated high school in in Marshfield
Massachusetts, and attended college at Dartmouth College and then received an
additional degree from Columbia University. When he discovered his brother had
passed away he used this tragedy as a major stepping-stone to his dream of
becoming a writer. He had always loved poetry and used the death of his brother
as the inspiration he had always been desperately seeking. His success from there
just traveled uphill with a fast momentum. He is now an author to 4 picture
books, 2 books filled with poetry and 5 chapter books at the adult level.
Alongside of those publications he finds a lot of joy in writing books about how
to write, hoping to help those who would like to advance their skills. I
enjoyed, and found his book helpful and informative. There was many pointers he
gives on how to become a great writer and they are helpful no matter what stage
of a writer you may be.
I found the setup of this book to be a quick and easy
process to receive the help you were seeking. Each chapter is about a different
stage in the writing process so it is easy to skip over the sections you are
confident in and focus on the other areas. One area I thought he did a great
job in explaining was dialogue. Dialogue can be a complicated and confusing to
know when and how much you should include in a piece of writing. His tone
throughout the entire book is simple and very personal. Once example on how we
makes his writing seem personal is, “As you write, imagine yourself on the
morning after a sleepover with your best friend. You’re sitting… put to
paper”(34). His writing style has realistic good examples that help you really
understand and feel as if you can actually do it, not just a professional
writer!
Fletcher did a great job at creating a short and easy
read about how to write. A lot of times I may have questions about how to write
and want a different view point then my teacher, friends and fellow classmates
but don’t necessarily trust Wikipedia and don’t want to spend hours reading an
insanely long book. This book is the great alternate decision to this. His goal
in writing this book was, “ Most of us have read (and written!) The opposite
kind of writing- dull. Writing come alive” (3). No more spending hours reading,
or wondering if what you are looking up is accurate information. Roger Fletcher
not only wrote a brief and concise book about helpful tips, but he also did a
fabulous job at explaining everything quickly and correctly. I was afraid when
I first choose this book that it would be jumbled and maybe have unclear
directions or thoughts, but it is the exact opposite! It is organized in a very
strategic way, and gets the point across quickly and left me with absolutely no
confusion. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to advance his or
her writing and who is possibly looking to make a career or living from
writing. I found it helpful, but not necessarily directed to a high school
audience. Nonetheless it was an informative book and I definitely recommend it
to anyone looking for this type of reading.
Works Cited
Fletcher, Ralph.
Live Writing: Breathing Life Into Your Words. N.p.: Avon Camelot, 1999. Print.
Live Writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment