THE ONE WEEK WRITING WORKSHOP

Adams’ practical handbook guides readers through a seven-step writing method with a focus on concrete daily activities.

The author has spent over a decade teaching her writing method to a variety of audiences, helping to prompt procrastinators or aspiring writers who don’t know how to get started. The steps cover topics including generating ideas; developing characters, settings, and plots; and drafting and revision. Each day’s agenda begins with “warmups,” moves on to a core activity, and concludes with “stretches.” Readers are encouraged to begin with a clean slate, but they can also work on a project already in progress. The most helpful days are the fifth and seventh, when participants are expected to start some actual writing and to learn how to close-read and revise. The final section has suggestions on how to use the method beyond the initial brainstorming and kick-starting phase. The activities are all explained clearly and no doubt will prove easy to execute. The strengths of the workbook are its clarity, simplicity, and flexibility; writers who just need a nudge can use a few of these exercises in the space of an hour, while others may devote a week or more to completing all of the tasks comprehensively. This is a nuts-and-bolts guide to competently beginning a manuscript—there is no focus on the deep contemplation and insight that transform writing into meaningful art. The program is designed to elicit a sense of accomplishment, so there is a danger that the workshop itself can stand in for the creative product; more optimistically, these steps can help writers to embrace the joy of the process along with the end result. Adams is present as a guide and coach, reflecting on her own experiences and journey through the steps (“what’s worked best for me in frustrating times of ‘nothing is coming to me!’ is learning something new that also keeps my hands busy”), but she is never intrusive. This primer is most appropriate for new and amateur fiction writers, but anyone may glean a few helpful tips.

A simple and fun handbook that’s perfect for new and aspiring writers.