Product Description

Attention aspiring and working writers alike!

Finish your work in four easy steps with this explosion of inspiration.

How can aspiring writers-whether aiming for a short story, novel, screenplay, or nonfiction work-gain the confidence they need to follow through on their creative visions....

The answer can be found in this book by a writing coach and university writing professor whose "Bang the Keys" workshop stems from an innovative four-step system that offers practical advice for demonstrated results every time.

Step 1: Begin with the strongest idea.
Step 2: Arrange the work into a concrete shape.
Step 3: Nurture the project with love, so that others can love it, too.
Step 4: Go finish, and then let it go so it may live independently in the world.

Also included are practical writing exercises that will give readers the tools and the inspiration to finish the writing projects they start ... or bust their fingers trying!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330798 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781592579143
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Few writing guides prove as thoughtful and intimate as Jill Dearman's, and fewer still dare to be so insistently sensible and efficacious. Part anthology, part manual, part scourge, Bang the Keys distills the know-how of a gifted writer and teacher."
-Robert Polito, Director of the New School Graduate Writing Program, author, Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (Vintage), winner of the National Book Critics Award for Biography.

"A beloved Renaissance chick with wit and passion enough to warm a biodome, Dearman proselytizes to Struggling Writer Nation with utter pragmatism and inventiveness. Dare to resist her injunctions if you can -- there's no better battle plan for sentence-making anywhere on the horizon."
-Michael Atkinson, film critic and author, Hemingway Deadlights (St. Martins).

"I sold my first book on a treatment and the first 50 pages. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that the first 50 pages are the easy part. It was awfully surprising to find that, for me, the big challenge in writing a novel is resistance. I have a busy New York City-type career (I'm a Forensic Pathologist) and then a second busy-ish career as a freelance writer (New York Times Magazine, New York, Gourmet, etc.), and finding the time to work on the novel was always 'difficult'. Or so I let myself believe, as I coasted along, ignoring the looming deadline as I took care of more pressing and immediately gratifying obligations. Working with Jill not only forced me to focus on my book, but it proved the initial push -- or series of pushes -- that got me rolling on it, and not just rolling, but actually excited about my book. Jill's mastered the art of being honest, but gentle. Working with Jill for a few seasons has given me enough momentum to finish the book independently. Jill has whipped my self-confidence into such a state that I'm sure I'll finish strong. I'm plenty confident now, but heck, even Tiger Woods has a coach, right?"
-Jonathan Hayes, novelist, Precious Blood and A Hard Death (Harper Collins).

"This is a book about self-discipline, about finding your calling and learning to listen to that calling ... so charming, so beguiling and laugh-out- loud funny you won't even notice that you're working your butt off . . . and getting it done! Jill Dearman is a national treasure."
-Alison Smith author of Name All the Animals (Scribner), winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Memoir.

"If you are as ambivalent about your prose as you are about everything else in your life, place it and yourself in the velvet-gloved iron fist of Jill Dearman. She will be your mother and your whore."
-Donna Brodie, Executive Director of The Writers Room, New York City, An Urban Writers Colony

"If you are sick of hearing goody-goody writing experts preaching their New Age or Know-it-All gospel, then bang on Jill Dearman's door, but quick. She seductively taps into writers' natural desire to write, which is just as natural to us as drinking, complaining and procrastinating. Then, through skill, experience and intuition, she hypnotizes writers into falling in love with their writing, and wanting to write again, and again. And by the end of the Dearman trip, we've learned how to hypnotize ourselves."
- Nisha Ganatra, Screenwriter and Director of the award-winning film, Chutney Popcorn; director of Cake.

"Bang the Keys overflows with contagious humor and energy. In fact, after a few pages you will likely throw it aside and run to bang your own keys! But my bet is that you will return to it and that it will stay on your shelf for reference."
- Suzannah Lessard, author Architect of Desire (Dial Press), former staff writer, The New Yorker; teacher of Creative Writing at The New School, Goucher College and other universities.

"Ready to write your book? Jill Dearman is the savvy coach and good friend every writer needs. With warmth, tough-love, and humor she provides the inspiration, information, practical tips, exercises, advice, and motivation to get you started and to sustain your writing practice for a lifetime."
-Deborah Landau, Director, Creative Writing Program, New York University and author of the poetry collection, Orchidelirium (winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry).

"Jill Dearman has the nurturing power of a Jewish mother (without the guilt) and uses it to help you believe that there is no more important task than for you to finish that writing project! If you've been procrastinating for years -- and who hasn't been? -- then get your hands on this workshop-in-a-book. Her approach just works."
- Beth Greenfield, memoir forthcoming from Random House, 2010.

About the Author
Jill Dearman writes regularly about the craft of writing for The Writer Magazine. Her prose has been published in North Atlantic Review, The Portland Review, and New York Stories, and her feature articles have been published in the NewYork Daily News, Time Out New York, and Publishers Weekly.

Customer Reviews

A fantastic book for writers at all levels of experience
This is a book for all writers--from experienced professionals to someone who's always thought she had a story to tell. "Bang the Keys" is filled with clever advice and--added bonus!--it is wonderfully entertaining to read. I don't think I'm the only professional writer who finds it hard to get started on a project or whose mind periodically seizes up. Dearman's really inventive and she's a delightful companion, even when you only know her through the written page. Her ideas for getting your brain working are playful in the best way, because writing should be fun, shouldn't it? I wish I lived in New York and could be in one of her classes, but since I can't, this book is the next best thing. For someone just starting out as a writer, whether hoping it will become a career or just a source of joy in life, Dearman offers wise, unintimidating guidance. For those of us who have been doing this for decades, she's a welcome reminder of the playfulness and creativity at the heart of what we do. A great book.

Everything I Didn't Learn in Grad School
In grad school I learned a tremendous amount about the craft of writing. But what of actually sitting down to write? Overcoming anxiety that I didn't have what it takes? Resisting the urge to check facebook instead of writing? Bang the Keys covers all that territory, and exuberantly so. Replete with wit and whimsy, the book is entertaining enough just to read cover to cover. But for all its wry references (everything from The Simpsons to Milan Kundera), the real value of Bang the Keys is in its wisdom, all couched in doable exercises and an overall regimen that can't fail (if followed). Many exercises are geared toward character- and narrative-driven writing projects. My current project is lyrical in nature, so these exercises did not apply to me. But following the spirit if not the letter of Dearman's advice, I have successfully maneuvered through those doldrums that any writer hits after the initial manic energy of beginning a new project wears off. Now I'm over halfway through a first draft, at work steadily and unmanically, and I have Bang the Keys to thank for keeping me focused.

Plenty of Bang for the Buck
Truly reverent regarding the creative process, and intelligently irreverent regarding damn near everything else, Jill Dearman's Bang The Keys is a refreshing, inspiring, well-organized writing workshop in a book. Jewish mama, high school BFF, and drill sergeant by turns, Dearman demonstrates compassion for the struggles faced by writers and offers not tea and sympathy, but real tools and real strategies for living in this world and doing our work. Because, as Dearman makes clear, it is in our work that we find our hope and our health, our solace and our joy.

Dearman's informal, almost winking-at-the-camera at times, style recreates the workshop atmosphere, and the book would work well as a writers' group guide. The exercises are the strength of the book, and taken as a collection of writing assignments, these exercises transform the workshop into a playground. Dearman has done what any therapist or coach would suggest - make the writer want to write. Seduce us with writing, make us remember the pure joy of creating, and then make sure we have fun with it!

Dearman's intimacy with the gamut of formats - from playwriting to poetry - is clear. The BANG formula is adaptable and responsive to creative endeavors, regardless of format. Dearman's enthusiasm for and generosity towards other writers is also clear, and the role this giving back plays is an important one. Finding ways to feed the creative community is an important challenge for all of us - finding a way to do this in a demanding and overstimulating world isn't easy, but that makes it all the more valuable. Be inspired. Buy this book, read it and share it with your friends. And then go bang the keys!