Part memoir, part writing advice, and all excellent, Never Say You Can't Survive will find a devoted reading base among aspiring writers. CJ Anders discusses turning trauma into beauty, funneling stress and pain into transcendent writing. Best know for her fiction, Anders' inaugural non-fiction work is a must read.

“When you’re telling the story, you get to draw all the lines.”

As an aspiring writer, this book was so powerful. I was only 15% in when I found myself writing down tons and tons of quotes. Charlie Jane Anders wrote this book in a simple, non-condescending way that really gave me the kick I need to start my story.

Write whatever the fuck you want. It’s your story to tell.

Thank you to Net Galley, Tordotcom, and Charlie Jane Anders for this advanced review copy! Never Say You Can’t Survive releases on August 17th.

Full Disclosure: I received a copy of Never Say You Can't Survive by Charlie Jane Anders from Tordotcom via Netgalley in exchange for possibly providing my feedback. Confession: I had already started reading it when it was published as a series of articles on Tor.com, so getting a copy of the book was a bonus.

I'm not a writer. I'm a reader. If you read my reviews, you know this. I am not necessarily the target audience of this book. HOWEVER, I am here to tell you that you don't need to be a writer or a want-to-be writer to enjoy this book. I LOVE pretty much anything that Charlie Jane Anders writes and getting insight into her writing process was a fun experience. I enjoyed all the behind-the-scenes details of her books. And, all the nerdiness/geekiness warmed my heart. It felt like have a conversation with a friend about good writing. You don't have to be a writer to enjoy that.

Bonus points for Charlie Jane writing a book that makes you feel like you can conquer the world by just being you.

Never Say you Can;t survive is a manual for writing creatively during difficult times. But in reallity it is a brilliant resource for anyone during all times! It is all about the writing process and includes sections on plots, characters, writers block and so much more. I loved this book, if anything will get you out of a rut and get your creative juices flowing again this book will. It is different from every other instruction book on writing in that it is written straight from the heart and soul, and has real feeling. It is written in a friendly conversational manner but really cuts to the chase. In these difficult pandemic times the author reminds us that we are not helpless and can use our minds and imaginations to help us through. We can write our way to possible new futures and a new and better way of living. The author uses personal experience, memoir and anecdotes to help demonstrate how to flourish in these times. Most importantly, Never Say you Can;t survive is written with humour and heart, and will appeal to writers of all levels and experience.

Charlie Jane Anders is a fantastic storyteller; therefore, I am grateful I had the opportunity to read "Never Say You Can't Survive". This book is a writing manual, and the author offers so much insight into what it means to be a writer. At times, it also feels like a self-help book, in the best way possible. I don't even know if the author intended her words to apply to life in general, but there were so many moments when I just wanted to take out a marker and highlight her words so I could return to them in the future. I couldn't physically highlight my e-galley, so I decided to jot down notes instead. As an aspiring writer and current college student, I feel so inspired by this book, and I'll definitely incorporate Anders' advice into my future academic and creative writing.

Another aspect I loved about "Never Say You Can't Survive" was its colloquial, friendly tone. Anders possesses the rare skill of explaining her creative process in a patient, amusing manner. Other writing manuals I've come across have felt patronizing, but I get the impression that Anders genuinely cares about helping people refine their skills.
The book was just such a comforting read, and it made me feel like I was having a one-on-one chat with a mentor. I'd recommend it to any writer, honestly.

This wonderful writing book includes five sections which cover getting started, what to write about, what constitutes a story, feelings, and writerly tricks. Some of the individual topics include imposter syndrome, uncertainty, creating characters, voice, ideas, endings, emotion, revision, plotting, common story problems, character change, world building, weirdness, writing about other experiences, and relationships.

The book is a compilation of writing essays written for Tordotcom to share advice for writing despite obstacles such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The book includes plenty of examples and exercises and Charlie Jane Anders’ encouragement is like having a personal cheerleader. Each essay has a conversational tone making the information more palatable than a typical writing craft book. I especially liked the chapters on keeping writing fun, writing about different experiences/cultures, and writing the story only you can tell.

While Anders is a speculative fiction writer and some of the craft advice relates specifically to storytelling, NEVER SAY YOU CAN SURVIVE is an excellent resource for all writers whether they write genre, literary, non-fiction, or poetry.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Tordotcom for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

Necessary reading for any creatives out there, whether writers or just livers-of-life. It's inspiring, it's helpful on a craft level, it's just nice to be in the community that CJA has built (and continues to build!), particularly when things don't exactly feel at all light or hopeful most days.

One of the things that marks my writing experience are periods of existential loneliness, times when I think I'm fooling myself about this whole author thing. Then a friend, an article, or a Tweet will come at me from left field saying "I got you. You *are* a writer. Feeling weird is normal. I believe in you." Those moments help me go on, and they're one of the three reasons you'll love "Never Say You Can't Survive" by Charlie Jane Anders. This book is full of those moments.

I'm not a professional book reviewer, I'm just a guy trying to be a professional writer. So when Anders put the offer out to let me review her new book on Netgalley, I jumped at it. It was important for me to know what she could teach me about my own journey. Never Say You Can't Survive is chock-full of stoic wit, and there are three reasons you'll love it as soon as you start reading.

Make no mistake, however. This might be be a book by and for writers, but everyone else should read it, too. Anders captures the discomfort, weirdness, and rollercoasters of emotion you travel on your journey to feel comfortable in your own skin. 'Weirdness gives me the strength to keep going,' she says as a chapter title, and peppers the book with great music references that I thought only I knew. It's her way of saying 'you are seen.' That was very comforting to me, and it'll make you feel good, too. Are you othered? Different? Just to the left of normal? Never Say You Can't Survive is a party and you're invited. That's the first reason you'll love this book.

The second reason is that along the way to Whoville, Anders offers helpful tidbits about the process of writing that I found insightful. I'm always on the lookout for ways to hack the work, but as Anders brings out in 'Find Your Voice and Make It Loud,' writing style is not an austere matter. As you develop your writing style, don't be afraid to experiment, be expressive, write about what makes you feel good no matter what anyone else says. Your writing style should be a snuggly blanket that keeps you safe and warm from the inhospitable outside world. After all, it is painful to have to pretend that the world makes sense. We all know it doesn't, but Anders isn't afraid to say that quiet part out loud. 

A third and perhaps the largest reason you'll love Never Say You Can't Survive is the idea that you must be you, in order to be you. You cannot write the book that feels close to your heart if you aren't in touch with your heart. Writing is an act that forces you to peer into the abyss, and let the abyss peer into you. Writing is an act that forces you to uncover what you're really trying to say, and what that says about you. That can be a scary, difficult, and yes, a liberating process. Don't run from it, Anders says.

As Robert Mailer says in his novel 'Boonville,' it's never easy to be yourself. Never Say You Can't Survive acknowledges this hardship, while refusing to be shackled to it. Yes, it's hard, Anders wants you to know. But that is what makes it good. The struggle is real. You're getting closer to who you're supposed to be. Welcome the struggle. There are many reasons you'll love Never Say You Can't Survive, but these three will help you get started.

I felt a little guilty when I was notified that I had been granted an advance reader copy of Charlie Jane Ander’s essay collection, Never Say You Can’t Survive. I am not a writer and I have no aspirations to be a writer. I have no qualifications for judging this book. However, I have never let a lack of qualifications get in my way of judging things. The short version is, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any creative person.

I have always enjoyed listening to people talk about their creative process, and Never Say You Can’t Survive is that – a writer talking about the craft of writing. Anders frames her essays around using writing to survive hard times. As a non writer, this was the piece that was the most interesting to me. Through the chapters of the book, she melds the elements of the storytelling with surviving a harsh world with your soul intact. Do you feel out of control in the world you live in? As an author, you are the god of your own world. Are you being swamped with rage at injustice? Channel that rage into a story. The joy of the book is when she gets into the details of the why and the how to construct that soul saving story. Anders uses examples from her own books, and other works to illustrate her points. I feel like Never Say You Can’t Survive is going to make me a better reader and reviewer.

The essays are dense and rich. If I had a physical copy, which I will at some point, it would have looked like one of my grad school text books with passages highlighted, underlined, and sticky notes jutting from the pages. There are points when I was reading that I would replace the word writer with the word adult and the advice worked. If I could, this review would be a series of quotes that resonated with me as a person and as a reader, and quotes I want to stick in front of the creative people I know who doubt their own brilliance.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Charlie Jane Anders is one of my favorite authors. This is the first nonfiction book I've read of hers. It is a book about the writing process. Anders focuses on how writing can be helpful during difficult times and then on how to write. I read this on my kindle and found myself constantly bookmarking sections that I wanted to go back and reread. There is just so much practical information about writing: developing characters, revisions, plots, writer's block. But what I think sets this book apart (and above), is how Anders wrote it as if giving advice to a friend. It's as if, she is sitting in a coffee shop sharing wisdom with a friend. Her writing is personal and funny and helps to remove the mystique from writing. I think that anyone interested in writing, either in appreciation of books in general or in writing their own stories would enjoy Never Say You Can't Survive.
I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a kind, thoughtful, encouraging book for aspiring writers that is honest about the difficulties, and the joys, of writing, and the importance of telling stories.

I really appreciated Charlie Jane Anders' timely advice, much of which serves to give permission to tell the story you want to without fear of other people's opinions or your own failure. She connects with the joy of writing and telling stories, even in the midst of national and/or personal unrest.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley for the purposes of this review.

There are a lot of really great books on writing out there, and most of them are very similar to one another and/or so specific to the writer's own experience that they aren't really relevant for most writers. Charlie Jane Anders manages to strike a balance between useful and personal in this book, which felt like a breath of fresh air - the passion she has for writing and storytelling shines in this book and makes this a wonderful read.

Beyond just talking about how important writing and stories are to surviving a difficult existence, the author also suggests specifics for how to get unstuck while writing and places a lot of emphasis on the revision process. Her frank and honest tone when talking about her own process help the reader visualize different ways for finding an emotional core to the story. She never implies that the writing process is easy, despite her own success in the publishing world and this humanizes the messiness of the writing process as a whole.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who writes or anyone who wants to write, especially those who struggle with imposter syndrome or who have struggled to get the words on the page. I believe many writers will find this book enormously healing and will take great comfort in the author's words and tone when talking about the necessity of story.

I didn't read this book because I want to write. I've written, a bit, and decided not to pursue it seriously because it seriously cuts into my reading time. I read this book because I really like Charlie Jane Anders.

What I learned was, this wasn't the right reading choice for me, because it actually is about exactly what it says - how to write. Anders provides encouragement, inspiration, and solid, specific strategies, so for a person who does want to write, this will be exactly the right book for you. For me... I decided I'd rather reread "Victories Greater than Death," so that's what I'm doing now.

This was the most fun book on writing I've read, and I've read a lot of books on writing. Charlie Jane Anders avoids saying the same-ol-same-ol that so many how-to-write books say. Where most books tell the reader to finish something, absolutely finish stuff, she'll compare unfinished work to blind dates where the chemistry didn't click. In other words, Anders doesn't make the reader feel guilty for all the pages that never went anywhere.

Even when giving advice the reader has heard before, she makes it amusing. I know I've picked up other how-to-write books and lost interest halfway through, partly because they say nothing new and partly because the writing is less than inspiring. All through Never Say You Can't Survive I kept coming up with new ideas. This book made me want to write.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ms. Anders, and Tor for allowing me to read this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

Never Say You Can't Survive is a lot more than a manual about writing and life – it is solid gold sprinkled with fairy dust.
I am a bestselling published author in three genres, and a totally story structure geek, and I can honestly say that this is the first book that I have read in a long time that made me stop in my tracks, think hard about the writing process, and come out the other side inspired and motivated.
I took five pages of detailed notes on everything from characterisation and the psychology of community support systems to the power of positive literature in a time of international crisis.
It is difficult to select specific examples from a book where every page seems to have a unique thought-provoking insight into story development, but I particularly enjoyed the chapters on using plot devices and turning points and how to leverage the ending to drive the revision process. Also, how to use the power or emotion and sensory description to add layers of interest to any scene. The chapter on worldbuilding was remarkable!
I would heartily recommend this book to any writer who wants to develop their story craft and build amazing works of fiction – and have fun doing it.