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Read This if You Want to Be a Great Writer
This book demystifies the writing process, empowering you to write your own novel or short story. The author explains expert technique in a clear and jargon-free way, with examples from the fifty greatest writers of our time.
For aspiring writers of all ages and abilities, Read This If You Want to Be a Great Writer will motivate and strengthen your writing talent.
For aspiring writers of all ages and abilities, Read This If You Want to Be a Great Writer will motivate and strengthen your writing talent.
136 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2018
44 people are currently reading
656 people want to read
About the author
Ross Raisin
13 books82 followersRoss Raisin is a British novelist. He was born in Keighley in Yorkshire, and after attending Bradford Grammar School he studied English at King's College London, which was followed by a period as a trainee wine bar manager and a postgraduate degree in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Raisin's debut novel God's Own Country (titled Out Backward in North America) was published in 2008. It was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and won a Betty Trask Award. The novel focuses on Sam Marsdyke, a disturbed adolescent living in a harsh rural environment, and follows his journey from isolated oddity to outright insanity. Thomas Meaney in The Washington Post compared the novel favorably to Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and said «Out Backward more convincingly registers the internal logic of unredeemable delinquency.» Writing in The Guardian Justine Jordan described the novel as «an absorbing read», which marked Raisin out as «a young writer to watch». In April 2009 the book won Raisin the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. He is currently a writer-in-residence for the charity First Story.
In 2013 he was included in the Granta list of 20 best young writers.
Raisin has worked as a waiter, dishwasher and barman.
Raisin's debut novel God's Own Country (titled Out Backward in North America) was published in 2008. It was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and won a Betty Trask Award. The novel focuses on Sam Marsdyke, a disturbed adolescent living in a harsh rural environment, and follows his journey from isolated oddity to outright insanity. Thomas Meaney in The Washington Post compared the novel favorably to Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and said «Out Backward more convincingly registers the internal logic of unredeemable delinquency.» Writing in The Guardian Justine Jordan described the novel as «an absorbing read», which marked Raisin out as «a young writer to watch». In April 2009 the book won Raisin the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. He is currently a writer-in-residence for the charity First Story.
In 2013 he was included in the Granta list of 20 best young writers.
Raisin has worked as a waiter, dishwasher and barman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 18, 2018
I must confess I felt a certain skepticism approaching this book, it had a certain clickbait feel to the title, not to mention that the publisher (not the author as I first worried) has a series of books on being "great" (at photography, art and Instagram)
However I was pleasantly surprised. Ross Raisin captures some pretty deep insights about writing, and presents a range of topics with a good balance between brevity, without being so shallow as to be pointless. Also the use of examples and excerpts worked well, and the match between lesson and sample was perfect.
I would recommend this piece for a writer who is a wee way along their journey, not a complete beginner, but perhaps is struggling to balance the myriad of aspects of writing into a coherent singular product. The depth won't bore, but provides enough wisdom to help a writer along.
However I was pleasantly surprised. Ross Raisin captures some pretty deep insights about writing, and presents a range of topics with a good balance between brevity, without being so shallow as to be pointless. Also the use of examples and excerpts worked well, and the match between lesson and sample was perfect.
I would recommend this piece for a writer who is a wee way along their journey, not a complete beginner, but perhaps is struggling to balance the myriad of aspects of writing into a coherent singular product. The depth won't bore, but provides enough wisdom to help a writer along.
May 31, 2018
I have this grand ambition to start writing more in my limited free time and I’ve been looking for resources to help me refine my writing skills and this book has been super helpful. I love that it is full of advice and tips from authors I already admire, such as Eimear McBride and Zadie Smith. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who aspires to write fiction or anyone who wants to be a more thoughtful reader of fiction. I’ve definitely noticed that I am picking up on things I may not have thought that much about before.
January 29, 2021
It's pleasing to read a writing guide that accepts that fiction comes in all shapes and sizes, and that it is foolish to assume you know exactly what the final article will look like when you first put words to a blank page.
Read This if You Want to be a Great Writer is quite a title: it certainly struck me as a tall order and rather conceited. Then again it is part of a series where the title is always a variation of 'Read This if You Want to be a Great [BLANK]'. Regardless this book offers some excellent suggestions and, more importantly, allowances for pantsing (writing books by instinct rather than formal plan).
While I can't say I'm a 'pure' pantser, I'm not much of a plotter either. The one thing that I've always observed about the writing process is that it is vital to begin by just playing with ideas. Raisin's opening proposal that plans are more necessary after the first draft is completed, made me feel like a massive burden had been lifted.
There were a few more suggestions that proved hits with me such as applying 'spaced learning' to research so that you don't get bogged down with looking things up, getting started with important scenes regardless of the linear approach and, of course, allowing yourself time and space to figure out the right length of the story you're telling without pressure to fulfil stylistic expectations.
This all being said, Raisin does reveal a 'high literature' sensibility which comes through in his worthy book examples and admiration for experimental fiction in spite of broader appeal. It is my view that these kinds of books rely on critical praise and award and rarely connect with a general readership. Raisin appreciates books that are famously 'hard work' like Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler and McBride's A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and only mentions genre dabblers like Margaret Atwood and Elmore Leonard in passing quotes. While I praise Raisin's sense of writer freedom, some might perceive his overall attitude as literary laissez faire.
Even so I found this book thoroughly invigorating and a quick artful read. I recommend Read This if You Want to be a Great Writer to pantsers looking for validation and plotters curious about how the other half lives.
Read This if You Want to be a Great Writer is quite a title: it certainly struck me as a tall order and rather conceited. Then again it is part of a series where the title is always a variation of 'Read This if You Want to be a Great [BLANK]'. Regardless this book offers some excellent suggestions and, more importantly, allowances for pantsing (writing books by instinct rather than formal plan).
While I can't say I'm a 'pure' pantser, I'm not much of a plotter either. The one thing that I've always observed about the writing process is that it is vital to begin by just playing with ideas. Raisin's opening proposal that plans are more necessary after the first draft is completed, made me feel like a massive burden had been lifted.
There were a few more suggestions that proved hits with me such as applying 'spaced learning' to research so that you don't get bogged down with looking things up, getting started with important scenes regardless of the linear approach and, of course, allowing yourself time and space to figure out the right length of the story you're telling without pressure to fulfil stylistic expectations.
This all being said, Raisin does reveal a 'high literature' sensibility which comes through in his worthy book examples and admiration for experimental fiction in spite of broader appeal. It is my view that these kinds of books rely on critical praise and award and rarely connect with a general readership. Raisin appreciates books that are famously 'hard work' like Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler and McBride's A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and only mentions genre dabblers like Margaret Atwood and Elmore Leonard in passing quotes. While I praise Raisin's sense of writer freedom, some might perceive his overall attitude as literary laissez faire.
Even so I found this book thoroughly invigorating and a quick artful read. I recommend Read This if You Want to be a Great Writer to pantsers looking for validation and plotters curious about how the other half lives.
February 11, 2020
An enjoyable read all in all with great examples of literature to provide a more practical element to Raisin's points. As he writes at the very end of the book, he intended to make writing more approachable to people, and that was certainly achieved.
Don't go into it expecting that reading this will change your world, or that it might tell you all the secrets on how to become the GOAT of novelists - but it does have good points and small reminders that will pull you back a little and give you a bit of a frame to hold onto when you have gone a little too far in your creative process.
I especially enjoyed the last part about editing that included probably the most helpful tips in the book, and the design of the whole text is simply gorgeous - it would most certainly make a good gift to any of your aspiring writer friends.
Don't go into it expecting that reading this will change your world, or that it might tell you all the secrets on how to become the GOAT of novelists - but it does have good points and small reminders that will pull you back a little and give you a bit of a frame to hold onto when you have gone a little too far in your creative process.
I especially enjoyed the last part about editing that included probably the most helpful tips in the book, and the design of the whole text is simply gorgeous - it would most certainly make a good gift to any of your aspiring writer friends.
July 7, 2018
This book is full of good advice for new or more experienced writers. It explains some of the most complicated aspects of the novel-writing business in clear, easily-understood terms.
It never falls into the simplistic easily-digested advice of some other books about writing, most of which is inaccurate, impractical and/or has too many exceptions to be really useful. There are no easy rules, all books and all writers are different from each other. Raisin is honest about that.
He analyses his examples to illustrate his points in a very clear way. The texts are well-chosen, well-written, and very varied. I had to get used to reading the right-hand page (the text) before the left-hand page (the analysis), which took a bit of getting used to. That's my only criticism of the layout of the book, which is a beautiful object and otherwise very well made.
It never falls into the simplistic easily-digested advice of some other books about writing, most of which is inaccurate, impractical and/or has too many exceptions to be really useful. There are no easy rules, all books and all writers are different from each other. Raisin is honest about that.
He analyses his examples to illustrate his points in a very clear way. The texts are well-chosen, well-written, and very varied. I had to get used to reading the right-hand page (the text) before the left-hand page (the analysis), which took a bit of getting used to. That's my only criticism of the layout of the book, which is a beautiful object and otherwise very well made.
July 11, 2024
This is an enjoyable short book on writing, full of good advice.
Two things I like about it:
1. It explores different approaches. Many books by famous authors focus on their preferred method; this book helps you making your toolbox diverse. It was particularly useful for me, as I was stuck on something, and trying something different unblocked it.
2. It provides plenty of examples from a variety of authors.
It focuses mostly on the process of getting your first draft done. There is a small section about editing, and none about the business aspects of the profession.
As such, this is not 'the one and only book a writer will ever need' (nor it claims to be), but it made a fine addition to my bookshelf.
Happy writing!
Two things I like about it:
1. It explores different approaches. Many books by famous authors focus on their preferred method; this book helps you making your toolbox diverse. It was particularly useful for me, as I was stuck on something, and trying something different unblocked it.
2. It provides plenty of examples from a variety of authors.
It focuses mostly on the process of getting your first draft done. There is a small section about editing, and none about the business aspects of the profession.
As such, this is not 'the one and only book a writer will ever need' (nor it claims to be), but it made a fine addition to my bookshelf.
Happy writing!
June 24, 2018
At last, a book on writing that's practical, helpful and persuasive. Particularly useful fore me were the sections on debunking the "special first page", dialogue, and editing. The book is peppered with examples from others' writing, many I'd not come across before, several of which will have me scurrying to add to my To Read list.
And it's a beautifully produced book, as well.
And it's a beautifully produced book, as well.
December 15, 2019
Raisin encourages readers to see the writing process as a messy exploration of imagination, but he then gives us many practical considerations for the process, along with examples from great authors who have done it. I write for a living, and I still took a lot from this read.
January 20, 2019
I wouldn't normally read this kind of thing, though I'd grudgingly admit that the 'Read This...' series is brilliantly awful and effective as a marketing / packaging idea (Buzzfeed-meets-self-help-meets-curation-meets-giant-flattery). Point being: they almost bait you with their Trumpian overclaim, leaving you morbidly curious as to whether they do actually have anything novel to teach you. I bet that photography one sells by the ton. Anyway, this one is written by Ross Raisin, whose 'A Natural' I thought was very solid and who interviews extremely well - so I got it.
All told: sensible, sober stuff. I especially like the decision to slaughter a few Aspiring Writers' Sacred Cows: 1) that you have to 'find your voice' (you almost certainly will) 2) that your first line has to be a spectacular pyrotechnic feat 3) That dialogue needs to be realistic. Also, the advice to: just get it down first / try to enjoy it / don't try to edit as you go / read a lot / follow contemporary lit, etc.
I really like the one page examples from a wide spectrum of decent literature too, including Carson McCullers (with only the odd dud, e.g. some chatty banality from Zadie Smith). In fact the direct examples from actual novels are the most useful thing about this - very rare in this field. Perfectly sensible and manages to not be pious or annoying. Well done, Ross.
All told: sensible, sober stuff. I especially like the decision to slaughter a few Aspiring Writers' Sacred Cows: 1) that you have to 'find your voice' (you almost certainly will) 2) that your first line has to be a spectacular pyrotechnic feat 3) That dialogue needs to be realistic. Also, the advice to: just get it down first / try to enjoy it / don't try to edit as you go / read a lot / follow contemporary lit, etc.
I really like the one page examples from a wide spectrum of decent literature too, including Carson McCullers (with only the odd dud, e.g. some chatty banality from Zadie Smith). In fact the direct examples from actual novels are the most useful thing about this - very rare in this field. Perfectly sensible and manages to not be pious or annoying. Well done, Ross.
July 26, 2025
Read This if You Want To Be a Great Writer is part of the ‘Read This’ series, this one being written by Ross Raisin, who provided a guide to plan and write a short story or novel of fiction. The book includes examples from 25 authors such as James Joyce, Zadie Smith, Charles Dickens, and Raymond Carver, and explores processes such as planning and research, techniques relating to characters, points of view, plot, and dialogue, and a guide to editing. I recommend this book because it explores pretty much every aspect of a novel, although not in much detail. I didn’t pick up many things I haven’t already learnt, but I did a creative writing degree so I was already aware of a lot of the processes referenced. It’s still a very useful and helpful, quick guide for anyone wanting to improve their writing. ‘The meaning of the place is in its relation to the characters that live within it.’
October 25, 2019
So, I've been writing for many years.
And in that time I've soaked up a fair amount of information on the writing process, and how much it differs for so many people.
As such, this book didn't tell me anything much new. In a sense, I suppose it's good because it covered a lot of thought processes with writing and things to consider. But I don't think I've gained much from reading it.
I appreciated the use of examples to illustrate points, but, they felt a little too much like case studies to draw much meaningfulness from them.
and the examples used were not from books I would ever in my lifetime read, so that added to the disconnect I felt.
And in that time I've soaked up a fair amount of information on the writing process, and how much it differs for so many people.
As such, this book didn't tell me anything much new. In a sense, I suppose it's good because it covered a lot of thought processes with writing and things to consider. But I don't think I've gained much from reading it.
I appreciated the use of examples to illustrate points, but, they felt a little too much like case studies to draw much meaningfulness from them.
and the examples used were not from books I would ever in my lifetime read, so that added to the disconnect I felt.
January 31, 2020
I read a lot of books on writing; a LOT of books, and this one really stands out as a corker. Why? It seemed as if the author not only nailed the best topics ever, but also had something really insightful to say about each of them (on craft) which resonated. It felt as though they’d heard all the waffle and BS others have been regurgitating and we’re fed up with it. My only wish was the section on writing Sex wasn’t so brief. Or is that a (not so subtle) reference to male bedroom performance? Either way, it’s a great book. I hope more people read it and agree.
March 26, 2020
Ably pulling together illustrative sections of writing from an Impressive list of authors, Ross Raisin the reader/writer through the range of considerations needed to become a great writer. He points out pitfalls to avoid alongside hints at how to improve written quality such as ‘not making the author visible’ which echoes Neil Gaiman’s view that in storytelling, the author should be invisible.
should sit alongside a host of other good guides for writers to be read again and again, as a solid writers assistant.
should sit alongside a host of other good guides for writers to be read again and again, as a solid writers assistant.
October 13, 2018
Because I have so many writing craft books, I'm leery about so-called "new" ones. One would think there would only be so many books about … writing books. And one would be wrong. This one gives new insights into the craft, citing particular books. Where other books may belabor the point, this one swoops in for the kill.
January 15, 2019
A well written intro to becoming a writer, there are many small gems of information (like how to organize your character timelines or plots) to general information (like what is first person narration). Only a few things stuck out for me, but if you’re considering taking the leap of faith into writing, this would be a fantastic place to start.
January 26, 2023
I find this book so helpful. It's a brilliant tool for any aspiring writer and also for more experienced writers wishing to hone their craft. It's full of advice and suggestions to help you get your writing where you want it to be. I would not be without this book now. It's beside me on my desk as an invaluable reference whenever I can't find the words or am not sure how to use them. Excellent.
March 3, 2019
Educational and probably handy to have on my bookshelf to grab when needed. Favourite sentence: "as I write this, mind you, I have just noticed that my five-year-old daughter is outside playing with a knife". Makes no sense out of context but worth mentioning to me.
July 3, 2019
informative and great layout, but kind of plain. writing isn't all blank paper and fine lines; it's colour and imagination. it's hard reading books about reading and writing so this simply executed book is great.
September 8, 2019
I did not manage to absorb the points, likely because I am doing speed reading. The pro of the book is that many examples were given for better understanding. The con is you may need to have some foundation in the topic to relate to the models.
July 26, 2020
I read this largely because I'm a Ross Raisin fan. It's well laid out, but doesn't have any earth-shattering wisdom. I also have to quibble with the "greatness" of some of the selections. Still, it's probably a good book for writers just starting out.
September 25, 2020
This is a quick read with some good tips for writing. I really liked the diversity of the examples and how closely they are analysed. Sadly this is a library book - I'm disappointed to have to let it go!
February 7, 2023
To be fair, I’d say 3.5 stars. Even though it gives good general advice as to how to write—with some very useful insight into certain processes—, it doesn’t go deep into any part of writing, and also covers writing novels, which is something you may not be looking towards by buying this book.
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March 17, 2025Mình đọc cuốn này để phục vụ quá trình đọc chứ không phải quá trình viết. Cũng vui nhưng sẽ phù hợp hơn với những người có nền tảng lí luận văn học ở một mức nào đó rồi chứ không phải lơ mơ như mình. Được cái phân tích hay hơn kiểu ngữ văn cấp 2 cấp 3 ở VN đi nhét chữ vào mồm tác giả.
September 1, 2018
Nothing was helpful. Dry. Just examples. Reads like a research paper.
October 28, 2018
A fairly good overview of the elements of writing.
October 6, 2019
Bought this at the Amazon store in NYC just for fun... turned out to be a really well structured book using 25 books as examples... many of which just hit my TBR list.
March 8, 2020
Loved it. Highly recommended.
February 17, 2022
Helpfull and gave me a craving to read and write even more
December 31, 2023
This book is full of examples of extraordinary writing.
June 15, 2025
shout out engl2666 !
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews