Write Away, by Elizabeth George

I've read writers on writing before, and found many of those works suberb--Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" springs to mind here, as well as, surprisingly, Stephen King's "On Writing"--but, while this one was certainly a competent description of the writing process by a competent writer, it failed to charm in the process. That is, Elizabeth George, in addition to writing New York Times bestselling novels, teaches writing; she's clearly good at both churning out solid, well-written mystery novels and teaching others to do so. However, her style of writing is not artistic and neither, as it turns out, is her style of teaching writing. With each chapter meticulously labelled and organized, this book reads better as an actual manual of writing technique than as a pleasure read. Maybe, then, if I were looking to write my own novel, I'd appreciate it, and turn to it when I got stuck for THADs ("Talking Head Avoidance Device") or maybe plot-charting strategies, but, as someone not actually looking to write myself, it was rather prosaic to be thoroughly enjoyed. I never thought I'd say this, but give me Stephen King any day.