The Playful Way to Serious Writing By Roberta Allen copyright 2002 $14.00 200 pages Nonfiction Paperback ISBN: 0-618-19729-x Houghton Mifflin 215 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10003 www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com Writers' bookshelves are filled with titles that cover plotting, style and grammar, how to find an agent, and how to break into the rarified circle selling regularly to the big markets. Few focus on the simple creative act of putting words on paper, and even fewer focus on creativity rather than technique. "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" is a rarity, a book aimed squarely at the elusive conduit between the mind of the writer and the words that somehow appear on a sheet of paper. "Craft can be taught," Allen holds,"... words can be revised ... but energy -- the impulse to write -- is what really counts." Allen is a visual artist as well as a writer of fiction and nonfiction, so not surprisingly, her book is filled with unusual images and graphics. The book sets the tone for Allen's free approach to writing by using a typeface that resembles handprinting. "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" is set up like a workbook with exercises and appropriate spaces for you to jot down your responses. The exercises can be done over and over again, and the author advises that you'll come up with different results every time. Scribbling is allowed, even invited. But what the author is really urging us to do is to color outside the lines with words. This is what Allen calls her "energy method," a technique designed to help the writer "... break that shell of fear and write with the exhilaration that comes with the release of pent-up energy...a way to bypass the inner voice that stops you, the critical voice that might make you rework the same sentence all day." Almost all of the exercises have time limits. Allen feels that time limits force the writer to concentrate and help him connect with the kind of creative energy that makes for interesting writing. Open the book to a page at random. You might find yourself looking at a series of photographs of a woman's face. You are asked to write for fifteen minutes (set your timers) about an important decision the woman has made. Turning the page you may find a group of drawings or a photograph of a collection of objects. What do you find unusual about these objects? Set your timers for five minutes and go! Interspersed with invitations to write are short sections where Allen talks about her writing and offers suggestions about how to summon up your own creative energy. But the real focus of the book is on you. Allen sees her book as a jumping-off point and even suggests that you try jumping around in the book itself. Work the exercises back-to-front, inside out, and edgeways if you care to. If an exercise turns you off, turn the page. You might find yourself looking at something that will cause your creative spark to burst forth into unexpected flame. Few writers will be able to complete the journey from cover to cover in this playful book without finding something somewhere to inspire them. In fact, in their response to some of the exercises, they may find the inspiration for a brand new project. This is a good book for the beginner, and would make an excellent text for a creative writing class. In fact, Allen has tried many of the exercises in the writing courses she teaches. As for more experienced writers: Anyone battling writer's block will find his or her investment in this book well repaid. And it could be the ideal volume to keep close by for those times when inspiration flags. "The Playful Way to Serious Writing" may seem out of place alongside the stodgy books on marketing and craft on your writer's bookshelf, but it truly does deserve a place of honor there. This book's job is to remind you that when everything else is cleared away, writing is a creative act. And it can even be fun. Reviewed by Bill Stephens GWN Book Reviewer bill_stephensca@yahoo.ca Four typewriters out of five January 14, 2003