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Sometimes the Magic Works
- Lessons from a Writing Life
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
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Publisher's summary
In Sometimes the Magic Works, New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks shares his secrets for creating unusual, memorable fiction. Spanning topics from the importance of daydreaming to the necessity of writing an outline, from the fine art of showing instead of merely telling to creating believable characters who make readers care what happens to them, Brooks draws upon his own experiences, hard lessons learned, and delightful discoveries made in creating the beloved Shannara and Magic Kingdom of Landover series, The Word and The Void trilogy, and the best-selling Star Wars novel The Phantom Menace.
In addition to being a writing guide, Sometimes the Magic Works is Terry Brooks's self-portrait of the artist. "If you don't think there is magic in writing, you probably won't write anything magical," says Brooks. This book offers a rare opportunity to peer into the mind of (and learn a trick or two from) one of fantasy fiction's preeminent magicians.
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Critic reviews
“Terry Brooks is adamant about dedicating oneself to the craft, while showing awe and humility for the creative process.... Every serious writer should refer to this book regularly for inspiration as well as solid crafting advice.” (Elizabeth Engstrom Cratty, Director of Maui Writers Retreat)
“A marvelously pragmatic initiation to the art of writing.” (Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina)
“[A] succinct and warmhearted autobiographical meditation on the writing life.” (Publishers Weekly)
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An uncanny mirror and a celebration of book love
- By Cherilyn Parsons on 07-28-19
By: Pamela Paul
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Hero on a Mission
- A Path to a Meaningful Life
- By: Donald Miller
- Narrated by: Donald Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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There are four characters in every story: the victim, the villain, the hero, and the guide. These four characters live inside us. If we play the victim, we’re doomed to fail. If we play the villain, we will not create genuine bonds. But if we play the hero or guide, our lives will flourish. The hard part is being self-aware enough to know which character we are playing. In this book, Donald will use his own experiences to help you recognize if the character you are currently surfacing is helping you experience a life of meaning.
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Modern & Practical Spin on Viktor Frankl’s Work
- By BenjaminClark on 04-11-22
By: Donald Miller
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Draft No. 4
- On the Writing Process
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: John McPhee
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Draft No. 4 is an elucidation of the writer's craft by a master practitioner. In a series of playful but expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he's gathered over his career and refined during his long-running course at Princeton University, where he has launched some of the most esteemed writers of several generations. McPhee offers a definitive guide to the crucial decisions regarding structure, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces and presents extracts from some of his best-loved work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny.
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McPhee is the Craft
- By Darwin8u on 09-19-17
By: John McPhee
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Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
- By: Umberto Eco
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this exhilarating book, we accompany Umberto Eco as he explores the intricacies of fictional form and method. Using examples ranging from fairy tales and Flaubert, Poe and Mickey Spillane, Eco draws us in by means of a novelist's techniques, making us his collaborators in the creation of his text and in the investigation of some of fiction's most basic mechanisms.
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big ideas presented simply
- By Ashton on 01-31-14
By: Umberto Eco
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Reading Like a Writer
- By: Francine Prose
- Narrated by: Nanette Savard
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire listeners to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
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Practical, literate, generous
- By Gare on 04-13-08
By: Francine Prose
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Georgette Heyer
- Biography of a Bestseller
- By: Jennifer Kloester
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Georgette Heyer remains an enduring international best seller, read and loved by four generations of readers and extolled by today's best-selling authors. Despite her enormous popularity, she never gave an interview or appeared in public. Georgette Heyer wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, when she was 17 in order to amuse her convalescent brother. It was published in 1921 to instant success, and 90 years later it has never been out of print.
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Heyer as a person
- By Jerri C on 06-15-15
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Bookworm
- A Memoir of Childhood Reading
- By: Lucy Mangan
- Narrated by: Lucy Mangan
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one. She was whisked away to Narnia and Kirrin Island and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy and played by the tracks with the Railway Children.
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The author’s sarcasm
- By Phil B. on 10-01-24
By: Lucy Mangan
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The Memoir Project
- A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text For Writing & Life
- By: Marion Roach Smith
- Narrated by: Marion Roach Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.
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amazing what you can learn from brevity
- By Schwartz-Burrill on 09-15-11
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At the Existentialist Café
- Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
- By: Sarah Bakewell
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1933: Three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
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Consistent look at incoherent philosophy
- By Gary on 06-19-16
By: Sarah Bakewell
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Significant Zero
- Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
- By: Walt Williams
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.
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it's a bad autobiography not what the title says
- By Chelsea on 11-22-17
By: Walt Williams
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How to Write Short
- Word Craft for Fast Times
- By: Roy Peter Clark
- Narrated by: Roy Peter Clark
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In How to Write Short , Roy Peter Clark turns his attention to the art of painting a thousand pictures with just a few words. Short forms of writing have always existed - from ship logs and telegrams to prayers and haikus. But in this ever-changing Internet age, short-form writing has become an essential skill. Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, and even self-descriptions for online dating services.
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Ironically long
- By Amazon Customer on 03-14-16
By: Roy Peter Clark
What listeners say about Sometimes the Magic Works
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bruce
- 05-14-21
I wish more writers did this
Did I learn anything that I had not heard before? In my career as a reader I have probably come across all the ideas in one place or another. But it is so fun to hear how an author experienced them. Stories about getting started are probably the most interesting for me. One thing I did not hear in his presentation is how other writers have influenced him (aside from Tolkien's gambit of not focusing on kings and gods). When I read Brooks I am often at a loss to find how he has built on the millennia before, someone whose style informs his. My final comment is that his grandson is right: you can see the whole world from those horses.
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- Ben J.
- 01-17-23
meh...
It's alright. Some nuggets of wisdom here and there, but also some meandering about.
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- dcalves1
- 05-19-21
The Magic Worked
My best guess is that Terry Brooks wanted to inspire writers to reach higher. he certainly inspired me. my wife died 8 months ago and I haven't really been able to write. I'm working on my 6th book finally. and I'm ready to record two others for audible. I might not have been able to get back without the magic. And I agree . . . Hunter rules!
I highly recommend both the life communicated in this book by both Terry and the excellent narrator.
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- Tina
- 09-22-22
One of the Best Writing Books I've Read
As a writer who can easily write and imagine stories by flying by the seat of my pants, I have read SO MANY BOOKS about structure. Intuitively, it felt like if I could just find a creative approach to structure that would work great, but, like Goldilocks, most were too structural and rigid or too nebulous to really help with plotting. I kept feeling that if I could just find an author's process that I could relate to...see clearly, then the structure piece would fall into place.
This was the book that finally helped me determine my own process. I had read Robert Olen Butler's From Where You Dream. Butler suggests working with images that your imagination gives you, but then I got lost in how to work with those based on how he suggests. Starting with the images felt right. I write mostly in my imagination and can see the movie playing out in scenes. What I wanted was something more concrete at the story level to make editing easier.
Terry's approach is similar to Butler's. Working with the imagination at the beginning. Letting those images come in. But after that, he starts asking questions. Then moving to really looking at the story. Clarifying the story, characters, other elements so there's a blueprint. I do this scene by scene already. Now I can see that all I need to do is expand this process to the entire book! Very exciting!
This is VERY different than "thinking" through the plot points of a story, which is more logic-oriented. I'm still on the imagination side of the house "allowing" my subconscious to deliver the goods.
Terry's and Robert's processes rely on "dreaming" the story in the imagination. Which is how I work, and. why this book really helped. It even clarified what I was grappling with all along. I just felt there had to be a better way than going back and pulling stuff apart to tighten everything up.
Another thing I loved about this book is his candor about being a writer/author. It offers real-world examples and thoughtful solutions on everything from relating to readers of your books, to writing those books and considerations about how the publishing industry actually works. Although it is an older book, these are strategic considerations and believe they are still valuable today.
Audible suggested this book to me based on prior purchases and WOW, am I so glad I bought it based purely on instinct. I have never read any of Terry's books...did not even know he was the creator of the Shannara novels.
Definitely one of my favorite writing books!
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