Who has seen the movie Ella Enchanted? Who has read the book? Well, the writer of "Ella Enchanted" was written by a very talented writer, Gail Carson Levine. This writer also wrote other books, one of which I am here to talk about.
Do you like writing? Do you write for the Times? Or maybe you just like/love writing for the fun of it. The book for this is called "Writing Magic". I have read it, and found it very useful.
Here is the summary of "Writing Magic":
In "Writing Magic", Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine shares her secrets of great writing. She shows how you, too, can get terrific ideas for stories, invent great beginnings and endings, write sparkling dialogue, develop memorable characters - and much, much more. She advises you about what to do when you feel stuck - and how to use helpful criticism. Best of all, she offers writing exercises that will set your imagination on fire. With humor, honesty, and wisdom, Gail Carson Levine shows you that you, too, can make magic with your writing.
This book helps you with so many things. Each chapter talks about a different part of writing. This includes beginnings, endings, ideas, characters, practicing writing, tips for writing, point of view, etc.
One thing I really like about this book is the fact that at the end of each chapter, it has exercises to get you to practice what the chapter talked about. Like if it was an ending, it would have you write about the ending. Also, usually there are topics that are mainly about the chapter.
Now teachers always want you to use as much detail as possible. Which, at an early stage (I've learned), can be a good thing. But over-detailing can be a problem. For example:
(Compare these two paragraphs)
She gracefully strutted in like a ballet dancer, her feet gliding on the cold hard shiny polish dark brown wooden floor. When her beautiful movement finally slowed down (still gracefully), she slowly let her peachy, thin, and long arm lower as she released her hot pink shoulder bag with black polka-dots, that was a bit rough and sometimes hurt her slightly bumpy wide shoulder, from her side. It fell with a great speed, falling with the force of gravity. She bent over in the direction that the bag was falling, guiding it in the correct direction. Her camouflage t-shirt lifted up slightly with this movement, her light worn away jeans with a flare tightened the littlest possible. She re-aligned her bent spine as she straightened up. She flicked her shiny straight light brown, and dark brown colored hair that went an inch past her ribs behind her broad shoulders quickly.
Seems a bit boring, when you have to go through all that detail? Try this paragraph to see if it's any better.
She gracefully strutted inside, the wooden floor beneath her. She lowered her hot pink backpack with her direction. She flicked her hair behind her broad shoulders.
See? Better, eh? I learned all that with the help of "Writing Magic". This little comparison I did was quite like what you will see in the book.
This was mokey6, talking about a great book.
-mokey6
*click*
Author's Note: Other books written by this fantastic writer, Gail Carson Levine include: "Dave At Night", "Ella Enchanted", "Fairest", "The Two Princesses of Bamarre", "The Wish", "The Princess Tales" (a series), "Betsy, Who Cried Wolf", and "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg".
