I wanted to share with you the summary of what you liked, what you didn’t, and what surprised you from the Handley reading. So you know, what I like about this book is that is it an accessible text that talks in some smart ways about the practice of writing.
Some things you liked
- the chapters that focused on action in sentences
- pathological empathy chapter
- criticism of the five-paragraph essay
- writing GPS
- tell how to change the world
- ugly first drafts
- editing is more important than writing
- story rules
Some things you didn’t
- book highlighted that you have to practice writing everyday to get good at it
- humor chapter
- the obvious points about what makes a good story
- when she called writing “a habit, not an art”
- 5-paragraph essay (it does still have a place)
- “The more you think about what you want to say, and plan for it, the easier it is to say”
- exhaustive list of advice in section 1
Some things that made you think
- misplaced modifiers
- comparing writing to math
- put the important stuff at the beginning
- changing the world with your story
- advice #4 (regard publishing as a privilege) and #28 (deadlines are the WD-40 of writing)
- “Make truth the cornerstone of anything you create.”