Let the Crazy Child Write!

Let the Crazy Child Write! by Matson, Clive. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781880032350.

In spite of its whimsical title, this book is a solid, in-depth course in creative writing. The 12 chapters cover image detail, slow motion, hook, persona, point of view, dialogue, plot, narrative presence, good cliches, character, surrealism, and resolution. Each opens with a discussion of the topic at hand, followed by an exercise, and finishes with a workshop section in which the reader is encouraged to work with at least one other person to get helpful feedback. For individuals, workshops, and classes, this is the first how-to-write book to give full credit to the creative unconscious since Becoming a Writer, the 1934 classic by Dorothea Brande.