I'm a poetry luddite but I found Fairy Tales for Writers a very quaint book. Imagine, combining writing advice and anecdotes with fairy tales and verse! What I really loved about this book, aside from me being the perfect target audience, is that it's accessible. The language is plain and simple and the poems are, at most, two pages long. Ample images and metaphors are utilized such as "The Little Mermaid" losing her "voice" in her attempt to mimic a particular writing style.
There are thirteen poems all in all, each one named after a popular fairy tale. The tone and quality of the book is consistent as the last poem is as charming as the first. Lawrence Schimel also pays attention to the sequencing of the poems. While most of the poetry are cautionary in nature, his key placement of the optimistic ones manages to strike a balance even if the former outnumbers the latter.
Fairy Tales for Writers is a book that's easy to pick up and gives you a lot of breathing room whether you have a degree in literature or not. Best of all, it actually gives writing advice without being too heavy-handed or too serious. Definitely a creative way of preaching to the converted.
There are thirteen poems all in all, each one named after a popular fairy tale. The tone and quality of the book is consistent as the last poem is as charming as the first. Lawrence Schimel also pays attention to the sequencing of the poems. While most of the poetry are cautionary in nature, his key placement of the optimistic ones manages to strike a balance even if the former outnumbers the latter.
Fairy Tales for Writers is a book that's easy to pick up and gives you a lot of breathing room whether you have a degree in literature or not. Best of all, it actually gives writing advice without being too heavy-handed or too serious. Definitely a creative way of preaching to the converted.
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