There's a lot of useful info here for aspiring authors (like me!). Good focused book without a lot of fluff, divided into helpful little sections. I'll be coming back to this one a lot. Seems especially helpful for the process of revision.

This mid-sized book about writing has an oversized amount of knowledge packed into it. Nancy Kress has won four Nebula and two Hugo awards, written over 28 books, and it shows. Divided into three parts, appropriately, Beginnings, Middles and Endings, with three chapters in each part, and yes, a very helpful index at the back of the book. She goes from your opening line, your opening scene, to last paragraph, the last sentence.Terrific, useful, step-by-step, craft advice on how to put the qualiti...

Great tips and exercises.

It was a good read and motivating. 🙂💚

I think this book would benefit most the person who has never taken a creative writing class, but maybe feels a bit stuck in teaching themselves. It covers all of the basics, and it puts into words the things that if you’re a frequent reader you’ve probably intuited as a. important factor in good writing without knowing why (credibility, fulfilling your promises to the reader, using details to show your characters as unique beings and not placeholders...)To some writers, this advice might seem t...

This book was extremely helpful to me. As I continue to write daily, my writing improves, but I often find myself getting stuck in the middle of my stories and also either not ending them sufficiently or at all. Nancy Kress offers excellent detailed advice for all three aspects of the story. Most meaningful her explanation of how these aspects will differ from short story to novel.

“The story that comes out on the page isn’t the same as the story in your head,” Nancy Kress says on the very first page. I know this feeling intimately, and from this moment on I was hooked.I’m very serious about writing, and I also have a tendency to research things I’m interested in very thoroughly. I’ve done this with every RPG and MMO I’ve ever played. I’ve done it with shows that have complex mythologies. So, it probably comes as no surprise that I’ve read quite a few books about writing.

This was excellent, not least because it's very well laid out, with a clear flow from point to point and chapter to chapter. (As you would hope from a book on beginnings, middles and ends.)All too many craft books, I'm finding, don't have much to teach anyone who isn't a beginner. This is an exception. Even though some of the ground it covers is inevitably ground I've seen covered before, it does it so clearly and thoroughly that it provides fresh insight. For example, the section on endings gav...

I didn't do the exercises on this one - but I found this an easy, helpful read. It's one of those books you want to come back to after you've finished a book - or when you reach a new stage, whether that be the middle or the end or writing a whole new novel, and you need a structure to boost yourself. Anyway, I might buy this... or get it from the library again. :)

This how-to-do book on beginnings, middles and ends helps the writer with writing skills. In beginnings the author discusses the implicit promise writers make with the readers. It instructs the writer on the importance of the first sentence, the first paragraph and the first scene.The middle looks at developing the promise and keeping your novel or short story on track. The writer does this through answering three questions: (1) Whose story is this? (2) Who is the point-of-view character? and (3...

A how to write book.With plenty of useful advice about how the beginning sets up the book's promise, transitions to your second scene, development of the middle, point of view structures, having it all collide in the climax, and the denouement. Getting unstuck, working out how to develop the character rather than pull things like rabbits out of hats, and more.

Very decent guide to writing both novels and short fiction. It reminds me of a great deal I should always keep in mind while reading, as well. My appreciation for novels might just improve some more with these kinds of reminders. :)

I don't often find the time to read how-to-write books, but I've been meaning to find some additional strategies for helping students who get stuck in the middle of their novels. This book is relatively short and simple, but I found all the advice to be sound and practical. Almost all of the end-of-the-chapter exercises are versions of what I call Field Reconnaissance, which is the best way for a practicing writer to learn; so clearly I endorse them. I did find some strategies to add to my list;...

It is a very daring thing to write a book about how to write books, especially because there are so many ways to do it. While I do not agree with all of the author's methods, I found this book generally helpful.

This is a good book to help newer writers focus on what is important in writing a book. It provides a good overall set of rules and things to consider when writing anything from a short story to a massive novel. One thing I did like was the acknowledgement that not all writers write in the same way which makes it difficult to write a book on writing. Overall, I thought it was a good book.

I borrowed this from the library, but I need to own it! I have never read a more clear, useful, step-by-step manual to brilliant writing. If you don't have talent, this book won't give it to you, but if you do, Kress' advice is invaluable.

Beginnings, Middles & Ends, by Nancy Kress is one of the best writing how-to's that I've read, yet. The book is targeted at both novelists and short story writers of any experience. Kress assumes little writing theory on the part of the reader and yet manages to be neither patronizing nor cliche when explaining basics (I swear some books are written from the same template - not this one!) Kress also takes care to emphasize that different writers work in different ways, addressing the "pantsters"...

I'm starting to really dislike books like this. They remind me of teaching/classroom managements guides."Oh, just do this.""Well . . . I tried and it didn't work.""Nope. This is how it works.""Well, you told me what to do, but not really how to do it. Also, I can see flaws even as I'm reading! I can come up with situation after situation after situation in my mind that completely contradicts what you're saying! And every time I take your advice into the real world, specifically the bits I need h...

Really helpful. Lots of practical exercises for both crafting a piece of writing and polishing those you have already written. The chapters were knowledgeable and the information was useful. I especially liked that there were exercises that had you looking at stories written by other writers for examples of the ideas Kress was trying to teach.

In general, I tend to dislike writing guides. My dad bought me "Beginnings, Middles & Ends" when I was in high school, and it's the rare guide I keep coming back to when I start a new project. I usually dip in and out of it depending on what is giving me grief, but this time I read the whole book cover to cover and was reminded why it's stuck around on my shelf for almost 20 years (ugh I'm old). I'm about a month in to a new novel and I'm sure I'll refer back to the "Middles" portion of this boo...