As you might guess from the title, Chuck Wendig uses whatever words best suit him at any given time, and some of them are of Anglo-Saxon origin. This book, and - since I quote him more than I probably ought - this review are to be avoided if that bothers you.

It's probably a little funny that I keep on reading books about writing when I haven't written a word of any significance in … oh, a few years now. My novels have languished, to say the least. But I am still endlessly fascinated by these books of writing advice - I did feel like a writer once. "It is necessary to know where the comma goes, and how sentence construction works to create pace and rhythm, and how to know the rules in order to break them and to break the rules in order to know why we needed them in the first damn place." Yes, exactly - I'll take care of commas, don't you worry.

"Some of this book will help you. Other parts will be worthless to you. Discard what you find distasteful, and hold the rest to your chest like a beloved child. Do whatever works." "Real talk time? A lot of writing, storytelling, and even publishing advice is bullshit—but never forget, bullshit fertilizes. Ideas have value to those who can use them. So even if I just make you challenge or reconsider your processes without adopting the specific pieces of advice, hey, I’d call that a win." Writing: "It’s a trick. A ruse. And in order for it to work, it has to feel real. We can’t see the wires or the mirrors."

EXACTLY.

Wendig uses Star Wars to make several points - which is brilliant. Odds are if you're reading this book, you know Star Wars well enough to know exactly what he's talking about when he discusses story structure. This is good writing as well as good teaching.

I have a huge number of quotes saved from this book - and as I always say (sorry, to those paying attention), if I have a lot of quotes and notes it means that a book was either really bad or really good. For this one, a lot of the quotes are because they felt like Chuck Wendig found a way to scrape the thoughts right out of my brain and word them better than I ever dreamed of.

In discussing character - possibly the strongest part of this book, or at least my favorite - he echoes something Joss Whedon (I think?) said in the commentaries on the Firefly DVD's (if you haven't listened to those, you need to. If you haven't seen Firefly, I have nothing more to say to you): "Every character believes himself the protagonist." It's an important point, and an attitude I've found in some of my favorite writers. Barbara Hambly, for example. I always have the feeling that if the focus of the story were to turn on any given character, even an unnamed background character - that woman herding geese, that man gossiping over beer - that a book could feature any one of them - and it would be a really good book. Her featured characters are never pigeonholed into "sidekick" or "quirky friend" (though there are plenty of those) - they're the protagonists of their own stories, and it's obvious.

"Sometimes you just have to start telling the story. The act of writing, of telling the tale, is also the act of laying traps. And it is in these traps that we capture our muses. In other words, we capture them, they don’t capture us."

Wendig goes directly from a joke involving Patrick Swayze movies to - well, this: "A story can exist without a character, but only in the way that a human body can exist without a brain or a heart. You take those things away, the body remains a body, and it remains, by some definition, a human one. It just isn’t alive. It has no purpose, it has no thought, and it certainly has no soul." (EXACTLY.) "I often refer to a 'give-a-fuck' factor when writing characters — meaning, we need reasons to care." This is why I hate reading books when none of the characters connect with me. I don't have to like all of them - or even any of them, I suppose - but I need to be given reason to keep reading, to be interested in what happens next, and next, and after that. "Forget liking them, but do remember that we have to live with them." Well, yes, thanks, that does say it better than I did. "Look for the little story. Look for the story about people. Then you can wrap it in a generous swaddling of space ninjas and swamp monsters and explodey-boom-boom-pyoo-pyoo-zap."

And, obviously, this book is really, really funny at times.

If I used all the quotes I saved in this review, it would save me saying much - they speak for themselves, loudly, about the quality of this book - but it would also probably get me sued. And this would be even longer than my usual. Which is long. But I will leave you with one more quote that proves that Chuck Wendig is brilliant and this book is to be taken seriously: "The Princess Bride, by the way. Go watch it right now. Never don’t watch that movie when you have the chance." EXACTLY.

"Rock out with your Spock out, you crazy diamond."

My thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Chuck Wendig is a gem of a writer, and this book cements him as a gem of a writing advice giver, as well! Using pop culture references as a touchstone for readers, this book guides the reader through the creation of a Damn Fine Story. I enjoyed it so much I went out and bought a copy, and there's very few little that's a higher compliment than that.

***Trigger warning: profanity

Damn Fine Story by Chuck Wendig is a delightful writingcraft book whose aim is not to offer 'writing advice’, which Wendig stresses time and again is just that- advice. Not gospel. He very much encourages finding what works for you. No, this book is all about helping you be a better storyteller.

With his trademark irreverent humour, Wendig walks the reader through a variety of exercises to help stretch your storytelling muscles. You learn what makes a good story, and how to weave those elements into a tapestry all your own. Along with pop culture examples (Die Hard, Star Wars), Wendig has plenty of personal anecdotes to illustrate his points.

I absolutely love Wendig’s writingcraft books. I have all of them, and consider them a must, along with King’s On Writing and Cameron's The Artist's Way. His humour is a plus for me. I love the little footnote asides. I was lucky enough to snag a hardcopy of this gem shortly before I had a chance to meet the author on tour along with Kevin Hearne and Fran Wilde, so I was able to get it signed!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and F+W Media for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I purchased a hardcopy of this book for my own collection because I enjoyed it so much.

Chuck Wendig is so funny and readable that it’s easy to get caught up and devour his books about writing whole, trying to get to the next funny bit. But slow down and work through the tips, because he’s got some of the best and most useful advice out there. I'll be re-reading this.

Fantastic craft book. Chuck Wendig is a prolific writer and shares a lot of his tips (as well as his struggles) at his blog (TerribleMinds). A lot of that material made it way into this book. I tend to read a lot of craft books because I'm fascinated by other people's processes and what works for them. It's different for every author and with every book but when someone who cranks out solid books at a pretty regular page shares his thoughts of what works for him, I"m down with reading it.

Readable and useful.

One of the most helpful ways of learning about story is dissecting stories already out there. Even more helpful are stories that the majority of readers would have a basic knowledge of the storyline. Chuck Wendig's book, Damn Fine Story, is a great book on writing. He uses examples of films, such as Die Hard and Star Wars to illustrate his points. He also gives some family anecdotes that are really interesting. Be sure to read the footnotes when finishing each chapter because it's hilarious.
After an 8 mo. writing block, this book helped me break through some really tough feelings about myself as a writer. It helped me think a little more clearly about the direction I want to go as a self-published author. I highly recommend this book for beginners and seasoned writers.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy for an honest review. I wish the author well with this publication.

This is an enjoyable book, obviously more so to people who spend time thinking about writing but the anecdotes and tone of the writing make this an accessible entry point to anyone interested in story.

An incredibly useful and inspiring book for anyone who wants to write, whether it be for novels, essays, books, poems or newspapers.
Some very practical exercises and techniques that I have not found in other books on the same subject.
An easy book to read and digest, as I think most people who would read something like this want to be getting on with a project very quickly afterwards, if not while reading the book.
Would definietly recommend to artistic friends.

If you want writing advice, this isn't a bad place to stop. If you want advice on how to put a story together, this is a great place to stop. It has all sorts of anecdotes and examples about how good stories are put together, and sometimes about how well-known stories fail (think The Phantom Menace et al). It works just the same whether you're talking writing a book, a screenplay, or sometimes even a good joke. Oral storytellers would benefit too -- Wendig gives examples from his father's oral stories too.

If you're easily offended, though, maybe you want to avoid it. Wendig swears freely and relates stories his kid thinks are awesome, often scatalogical. He's irreverent and sometimes he spoilers stories like Star Wars, or doesn't but doesn't in a way that takes aim at them, and... Yeah, just, if you have any sacred cows, you might want to avoid.

My main criticism is that sometimes the jokey asides just felt like filler. I enjoy Chuck Wendig's humour and randomness at times on Twitter... it felt out of place in the middle of a chatty seminar on storytelling. Time and place, dude. Time and place.