The Playful Way to Serious Writing: An Anything-Can-Happen Workbook to Inspire and Delight

I have free-lanced as a comic book writer since 1997. The money has been alright, but what I have sought is the sheer, incomparable fun of making up stories, of having characters I made up come alive. Last year, I hit a dry spell. I could come up with decent ideas and force myself to write them down, but the fun, the magic, had disappeared. Everything I came up with was drab and contrived, the writing was mechanical, riddled with clichés and cardboard solutions. I didn't know what to do. My mood soured, slowly the world started turning to stone. One day in December I came across Roberta Allen's THE PLAYFUL WAY TO SERIOUS WRITING. From then on, things began turning around. Her book describes the most original and powerful cure for writer's block that I have found. Every day I'll do two, three exercises from the book to get me started, and sometimes I'll use the techniques to do the actual work. Most importantly, using her method, I have discovered that the juice, the magic, the white light, that special something that makes it all worthwhile, has returned.

In this book, Roberta Allen says "pressure brings energy to the surface." The book explains how tapping into the energy of a moment is the key to bringing out the flow of writing. The book has many photos and lines to stimulate response. It's an energizing book to read, and the kind that you stop reading so you can go write! I've read and taught many writing techniques to get people writing and this book was a fabulous find. Though using a timer seemed unnecessary to do the writing, I tried the five-minute technique. The emotional energy I felt in a word, picture, or memory DID move the writing forward in a playful, yet productive way. This technique injects a gaming element into what could be a drudge. I normally write non-fiction and poetry, but have never been able to enjoy writing fiction. Using this approach of "finding the energy" has energized my fiction process as I follow the energy to new action, characters, and scenes.

As a child who grew up in the fifties loving to play with words more than with my Barbie doll, I was inspired and delighted by this "Anything-Can-Happen" book by Roberta Allen.I literally stumbled on "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" while putting together a writing workshop for children. After testing out a number of the exercises on myself, my own imagination began to soar.This book is designed for all ages sparking a sense of energy and freshness that can be applied to any form of writing.The children delighted in these exercises and were writing even when not "assigned." I am a Lutheran Pastor and a trained psychotherapist working in a congregation that is racially, economically, and educationally diverse. I especially appreciated the way Roberta Allen made her book accessible to a wide population. Her photography as well as the way she uses words, numbers, and shapes makes this book highly adaptable.I recommend this book to anyone who loves to write, anyone who hates to write, and to anyone who needs more play time in their lives. This is definitely one for your holiday gift list!

I teach a writing workshop, and this time around, we've been using The Playful Way. It's a wonderful book, full of interesting and...as others have mentioned, FUN exercises. I really like the combination of written and visual cues and feel as though they honor different writers' ways of seeing the world. Some beginning writers do fine with verbal suggestions, but for others, having a wonderful photo to use as a catalyst can make all the difference between a moving pen and a static one. I also like the use of a timer, though I must say my students sometimes balk at it. They get so involved in the exercises, they just want to keep going!Whether you're a beginning writer or an old pro, The Playful Way to Serious Writing will help you to get and keep the pen moving.

I have reviewed a lot of how-to books for writers; this one truly fills a niche. I've read how-tos that could help in one's personal life (like "Word Works") and how-tos like Syd Field's that give great advice for screenwriters and also might help novelists. I've also contributed to an e-book called "Musings" that ruminates on life, love and the written word. This, however, is the first I've seen that is quite this flexible. As a former teacher, I can see "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" by Roberta Allen as a tool for elementary teachers, art teachers, photography teachers, English and creative writing teachers. Allen is a photographer and artist as well as a writer and this book is the most visual, the most appealing and the most practical exercise book yet. That it is also fun is definitely a plus. I shall probably use my copy when speaking to genealogy groups about how to turn their heritage into readable stories. I plan to take a couple of the exercises in the book to my critique group (boy, will they be surprised!) and I plan to use a couple of Allen's graphically delightful pages when I tutor my Korean students. These pages weren't meant for that but think of the ESL possibilities in phrases like "a goatee" and "a potbelly." Immigrants often have the English basics. It is the colloquial phrases that throw them. If you happen to run across this book on the shelf of your bookstore, grab a copy and open it. Leaf through the pages. It will get all of your creative juices flowing. Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"