Reviewer Michelle Kaye Malsbury:
Michelle was born in Champaign, IL. Currently, she resides in Asheville, NC
and is in her second year of doctoral studies at Nova Southeastern
University in Ft. Lauderdale with specialization/concentration in
conflict resolution and peace studies. She has over six hundred
articles published on the web and one book published thus far with
many more in the wings. Hobbies include; reading, writing, music, and
playing with her Australian Cattle Dog, Abu.
Author: Jeffrey A. Friedberg
The Secret Pillars Of Writing is a short read with some helpful information regarding plot and character development
Author: Jeffrey A. Friedberg
Jeffrey A Friedberg, author of The
Secret Pillars Of Writing, hails from Philadelphia, PA where we
worked as a private investigator. (2010, p.80) He holds a Bachelors
degree in English and Sociology and is a thirty second degree Mason
and member of the Sublime Prince of the Royal Templar. Friedberg
enjoys karate, judo, and firearms. He is single and living in
Albuquerque, NM.
The Secret Pillars Of Writing is a short read with some helpful information regarding plot and character development. There are examples provided for most of the suggestions, some better than others, but that may be just personal choice. Mr. Friedberg tends to overdo the telling the reader three times rule (You know the one where you must impress the important points at least three times for the reader to be able to recall them?) and the sheer volume of that redundancy is boring, at least to me.
I’ve read many books about the craft
of writing and I would not place this one at the top of my list of
suggestions for others interested in learning more about writing to
seek out and read. For instance, on page 35 Friedberg (2010) states
that “Each sentence must have a hook and a tease. There also has to
be a hook and tease in each paragraph, …“. It is my opinion that
with all of this hooking and teasing going on so often there would be
very little room for plot, character, or story line development.
However, despite it’s lacking in serious, credible, or new,
information it did manage to impart some key ingredients to persons
new at the art of writing. My suggestion is that Mr. Friedberg pick
up a copy of Stephen King’s book On Writing and learn more before
attempting to write another book about writing.