Review: 'The Writer's Idea Book' by Jack Heffron

The Writer's Idea Book: How to Develop Great Ideas for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Screenplays by Jack Heffron, 2011, Writer's Digest Books, $19.99, softbound, 337 pages. Category/Genre: writing how-to. Cover: a little bright, but somewhat inspired. Where we got it: borrowed it. Where you can get it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.



Heffron suggests prompts to get you writing when it's hard to start. In fact, there are prompts throughout the book, some of which are topics, some of which are not (like creating a writing schedule for the next two weeks). Broad topics include family, travel, work, and plenty more. 
     
Heffron also has prompts for editing your own work, such as reviewing your piece and asking yourself what's at stake for the people involved. He says that sometimes your original idea will lead you to other, better ideas, and that you must learn to forego the original idea in these cases. He also goes over other times in which it's important to let go of an idea -- something that can help a writer as much as keeping a good idea. 
     
Likewise discussed is getting started through improving your draft. 
     
The prompts seem to take up the bulk of the book, so this one's really good if that's what you're looking for. 
     
Note: mild language. 


If you like this one, try: How to Grow a Novel, by Sol Stein.